Rally racing is an extreme sport with many obstacles ranging from mechanical failure, driver mistakes, weather conditions, stage conditions, all the way to intoxicated spectators. One thing that really hit home after the Olympus Rally was realizing how close knit the community surrounding it is; the drivers, their families, the communities where these events take place, the fans who drive for hundreds of miles. The drivers who compete come from all over the United States, and Canada with one thing in common; to compete against the conditions for the best time. With this determination and adrenaline we can sometimes forget about the danger involved. The Olympus Rally takes place on the Washington coast in the hills, mountains and valleys that line it. It is such a gorgeous place to experience. However, these roads are filled with large gravel and rock, mud, and stumps, and even creeks and are extremely treacherous. During the event on Smith Creek Road (Stage 6), Matthew Marker “#65″ of Elk Rapids, MI and his co-driver went off the course. Matthew was taken from the rally community during that stage. This is the first fatality in rally in the United States since 2003 when a driver and co-driver died. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Matthew’s family and friends and those who were close to him. NWTuner.com has made a donation to his family and we encourage you to purchase a bracelet and/or vinyl decal in his remembrance. Amanda Skelly is organizing this and you can see the event and contact her through Facebook or via email.

Matthew Marker coming down Smith Creek Road into the sun.

Saturday was a full house at the Parc Expose which was located at the Ocean Shores Convention Center for the Olympus Rally, with over 50 cars entered, drivers and fans gathered. David Higgins and Dave Mirra seemed to be of the most crowded around drivers (Who finished first and fourth overall at the conclusion of the rally at Stage 6).

Stage 6 uphill/downhill was full of 3-4 inch gravel. Leaving the few spectators in these areas ducking for cover after cars sprayed them.

Antoine L’Estage has no fear down the mountain and into the sun.

Fans at the Parc Expose.

Dave and Richard Hintz and their 1999 BMW M3.

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Twenty-five years ago the world came to Grays Harbor for the Olympus Rally, the final race in the 1986 World Rally Championship. On Saturday April 30, the Olympus Rally returns to the harbor as a round in the American championship.

More than 60 teams, including top drivers from Europe, Canada and the US, will battle it out over the forest roads from South Bend to Taholah. Leading drivers include 2010 North American champion Antoine L’Estage, former British and US champion David Higgins and Vancouver B.C.’s Pat Richard, a former North American champ.

The rally starts and finishes in Ocean Shores. On Saturday, April 30, the racing will take place on the Oakville-Brooklyn Road. Sunday, May 1, the rally heads north the Quinault Nation for stages near Taholah.

Rally is different from other racing. First, there’s no track, rally racing takes place on “special stages,” unpaved roads that have been closed to traffic. There aren’t any grandstands or concessions, but there’s also no admission charge.

Inside the car you’ll see two helmets. One is the driver who slides the car through the corners, accelerating and braking at the edge of control. That’s not a passenger sitting next to the driver, that’s the co-driver. Rally co-drivers are part of wakes rally unique. While the driver races through the forest, the co-driver calmly provides instructions about the road ahead.

The cars look familiar; they’re all street legal small sedans that have been specially prepared for safety. Take a look inside a rally car and you’ll see a web of steel tubes to make the car stronger and protect the crew. 300 horsepower, all-wheel-drive Mitsubishis and Subarus will compete for the overall title, but you’ll also see Hondas, VWs, Mazdas and Fords battling in the two-wheel drive class.

The top two-wheel drive teams include the BMW M3 driven by Enumclaw’s Dave Hintz with his brother Rick Hintz co-driving; Lynnwood’s Tom Burress and his co-driver brother Don Burress in their turbocharged Volkswagen Golf; and 19-year old supermoto racer Dillon Van Way and his co-driver Jake Blattner in a new Ford Fiesta turbo.

World Rally co-driver Alex Gelsomino will be participating in one of the course opening cars.

Spectator guides are available online at www.olympusrally.com. Printed copies are available at Five Star Ford in Aberdeen and Hanson’s Motors in Olympia. Come out for a race in the woods, the rally takes place rain or shine.

Jim Culp (www.olympusrally.com)

The second day of the Global RallyCross: Twin Peaks event sponsored by BestBuy was wet, the clouds squeezed out their last drop before mid-day as the weather turned for the better. The track was wet and muddy for the heats to start running as spectators filled the stands and lined the fences of the entire facility. The fans proved the Northwest has a passion for motorsports no matter the weather or venue. The stands had over 1000 fans not including however many were walking around the pits or inside the Old Mill watching cars fly through the only dry part of the track.

You can see the starting conditions of the corner out of the Old Mill on Day 2 at Twin Peaks.

The Dirt Fish guys took their car for a fun run on the track with the media, they took a couple of laps before more practice commenced.

Dave Mirra signs some posters for young fans.

Tanner Foust signs some posters at the autograph session in the Cooper Tires trailer.

Inside view of the Old Mill, they told us this building was close to or over 100 years old.

Stephan Verdier washes the dirt off of his Subaru.

We had the chance to catch Dave Mirra skipping out on the autograph session and walked the corner out of the Old Mill with him. He was worried that it was extremely slick because of the weather but after closer inspection felt that he could really take the corner sideways and take off out of the corner, which later that day left him with another damaged car as he had to be towed back to the pits.

While walking the track with Mirra he had some comments on Foust’s words after he overshot the jump the previous day while jumping over the blue Ford Fiesta, from Mirra’s own experience he says that you never blame the builder of the jump if you take the jump too fast and launch your own car 120 feet instead of 70 feet, the problem isn’t with the jump he said. Mirra felt very confident on the part of the course that we walked with him.

Richard Burton takes the joker with a car approaching underneath him.

Michael Jernberg takes the corner hard in his Skoda Fabia in “The Link” as 2 cars trail him.

Andi Mancin loses boost as he attempts to go over the joker and flips his car.

Andi Mancin appears from the rubble unharmed and waves to the crowd as they cheer him on.

Ultimately, Tanner Foust came away with the first place win on Day 2. We hope to see this event continue to come back to the Northwest for years to come and we have a feeling this track will be a hit with the folks in the Pacific Northwest. Until next time.

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The Twin Peaks Global RallyCross event in Snoqualmie, Washington this past Friday saw great attendance on Day 1 despite the thirty percent chance of rain that realistically turned into a day with thirty percent of no precipitation. The rain showers made for slick conditions as the drivers forged through mud that formed in the dirt areas of the course. The part of the course known as “The Link” quickly turned into a slew of cement like mud as the 2WD and 4WD cars struggled through to cross the finish line and complete laps. The 70-foot jump was the centerpiece for fans who showed up as the 4WD cars took their joker laps, sometimes even two cars jumping at once which made for some intense action. Andreas Eriksson took first place for Ford Racing in the 4WD class, beating out Tanner Foust on an action packed last lap where Foust ultimately injured his shoulder putting him out of the race in what is known as “The Boneyard.” The Boneyard is a high speed dirt corner that drivers take after the jump. For the 2WD class Mikael Eriksson won in his Porsche beating out Cody Crane in his Honda CRX by seconds.

Andreas Eriksson jumps his Best Buy Ford Fiesta.

Tanner Foust lands the jump in his Ford Fiesta at Old Mill Adventure Park.

Stephen Verdier takes the corner wide into “The Boneyard.”

Safety official watches the action closely, awaits to alert drivers with yellow caution flags.

Dave Mirra takes the 70-foot jump and loses his back bumper.

The slew of mud the drivers had to navigate through.

Dave Mirra takes the corner in the switch-back by-passing the joker. Earlier in the day he had some back luck going around the jump and rolled his car and landed back on the wheels.

Mirra leaves the course for the Subaru Rally Team to repair the car.

Foust flies through The Boneyard in his Rockstar Ford Fiesta.

Cody Crane catches some air screaming around the jump in his Honda CRX.

Dylan Van Way powers through laps with smoke barreling out of the back.

Marcus Dodd powering through flinging up mud and rocks.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when we post coverage from Day 2 action at Global RallyCross Twin Peaks, you won’t want to miss the photos and commentary.

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The current generation Legacy was introduced for the 2005 model year and is starting to show its age. It has received much praise by automotive journalists and tuners alike for its excellent performance, reliability, and value. Well, Subaru has just released an all-new Legacy Concept at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.

While its still officially in “concept” mode, it’s no secret that these concept vehicles are really thinly disguised versions of upcoming models – dressed up with fancier wheels, cooler electronics & gadgets, and unique paint jobs. So, we can assume that much of what we see in this new Legacy Concept (minus all the really cool stuff, that is), will make it into the next generation Legacy.

The exterior gives off a very heavy or bloated appearance. It no longer has that lean, athletic stance of the current Legacy. Instead, when viewed from the front 3/4 angle in particular, it looks like an Infiniti G sedan has mated with a Chevy Malibu. Dimensionally, the Legacy Concept is larger in almost every way (wheelbase alone is up over 3-inches). Interestingly, this Legacy Concept forgoes the trend of big blingy wheels and is sportin some rather goofy lookin wheels. Note: If these wheels are big, then this car really IS big and bloaty because they look dinky and small, IMHO. And, did you see those laughable stubs for side view mirrors? I mean WTF?! They’re supposedly part of a technology feature that’s shown off on this concept, but it sure doesn’t do much to help the odd proportions of the car. When viewed head-on the concept’s design isn’t half bad. But, it has a meaty, muscular appearance that isn’t quite befitting of a sporty mid-size sedan. Instead it looks butched out in the way crossover utility vehicles try to look rugged.

The hoodline is raised significantly, losing that sloped, sleek lowered hoodline of the current Legacy. This makes sense as Subaru claims that the Legacy Concept was equipped with a 3.6L 6-cylinder boxer engine, rumored to be producing horsepower in the upper 200s to 300s. Unfortunately, Subaru told reporters not to expect the big 3.6L as it was merely for effect here, and to expect engines similar in-size to existing engine offerings. If that’s so, why such a honkin nose? I don’t get it I think they could’ve done more to make it sexier. The overemphasized bulging wheel arches or flared fenders, look overdone, as well.

The badonkadonk, on the other hand, looks pretty good. You can sense some design cues of the B9 Tribeca, particularly in the creased rear license plate and bumper area. It’s interesting to note that the concept car is missing an integrated rear license plate lamp. So, I’m sure the design will change slightly to incorporate this necessary feature, and lose some of the concepts “tight” appearance. On the plus side, the lighting used for the headlamps, accent lighting, and brake lamps are all pretty impressive. Check them out…

The interior looks pretty good, showcasing a lot of cool technology that will more than likely not make it into production. Check out the tricked-out rear view mirror and cool CP or display for rear passengers on the back of the center console/armrest. You can definitely sense a similar design here to that of the interior of the Infiniti G sedan. Take a closer look at the doors, with its Infiniti washi-esque blades of metal accents, and the general layout of the dash. You will see that Subaru carried over its “info strip” at the top of the dash that’s seen in the new Impreza & Forester. The steering wheel looks much better than the Momo steering wheel used in the current Legacy. And, again, check out all those gadgets! How ya like the bright blue lighting?

Overall, it’s an improvement over some of the other designs Subaru has toyed around with. But, I think it still needs some work. Let’s hope that this car continues the sporty trend and packs a crapload of performance like the Legacy 2.5GT & Legacy Spec-B models did. Without the performance edge, Subaru may run the risk of abandoning its loyal Subie tuners once again (like it did when it released its 2008 WRX and then quickly went back to the drawing board for 2009!). Given todays tough times, I don’t think they can afford to do that again. Share your thoughts below.