It’s Monday Morning and today is Valentine’s day so I am going to talk about Toyota getting into bed with Subarau and their offspring being the FT-86. I also make small mention of the WRC, fuel injection, NASCAR and Ken Block since we don’t talk about the guy enough already.
Let’s Begin……
So it is pretty much all but official. The love child of Toyota and Subaru will be sold as a Scion in North America. Toyota looks like they will be naming it the Scion FT-S. By all indications the FT-S will come with the new 2.5L FB series engine from Subaru sans turbo. Subaru on the other hand looks to have agreed to market their version of the FT-86 with AWD along with a turbo. Pricing looks to be around the 20k mark for the Scion and 40k for the Subaru. Of course nothing is finalized nor official but things seem to be falling into place nicely.
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I was flipping through the channels Friday night and came across NASCAR. Normally I would keep flipping the channels but I had to do a double take. What I saw was strange but intriguing so I gave it some time to sink in. I was watching three groups of two cars that appeared to be attached nose to ass. After listening to the nice men with southern accents I realized that this thing I was watching was called ‘bump drafting’. I guess with the new surface at Daytona being so smooth and the bumpers on the new cars lining up with one another the teams decided to start this funny looking strategy. Interesting.
Also, I would like to welcome NASCAR to 1990 and the mainstream use of fuel injection. That is right, NASCAR is finally getting on the fuel injection bandwagon. Mclaren has apparently won the contract to supply the teams with the systems starting in 2012.
OK. That is enough NASCAR for the year.
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The first round of the 2011 WRC Championship series is in the books. Mikko Hirvonen of Finland took the top of the podium in this weekends Rally Sweden. Mads Ostberg of Norway finished second and Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland finished third. All three drive Ford Fiesta RS’s.
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Another Fiesta driver that we may have mentioned here in the past is Ken Block. While he finished the event 14th overall and almost 17 minutes off the pace he did garner some attention and an award. Colin’s crest was named after Colin McRae who spent time training with Ken before he died in a helicopter crash in 2007. Block broke the jump record with 37 and 39-meter jumps and was awarded the Colin’s Crest Award by the rally organizers.
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Something else interesting that came out of Sweden this weekend was what happened to Peter Solberg on Friday night when his driver’s license was suspended. Solberg was late leaving the service area and was clocked doing a 122kph on an 80kph road on his way to the 5th stage. I guess in Sweden speeding means losing your license for up to 2 months. His license suspension didn’t kick in until 48-hours after the offense so he raced the stages leading up to the final PowerRally stage when his ban started and swapped seats with his co-driver Chris Patterson to finish the rally. Peter and Chris finished the weekend in 5th place. The driving ban is only on Swedish soil so Solberg’s season will continue as planned.
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If you haven’t heard already, Tanner Foust isn’t competing in Formula D this year. A couple of factors played into his decision including Rockstar Energy wanting him to focus on his RallyCross involvement and the news that Top Gear America has been renewed for a second season. He is still committed to compete in the Formula DRIFT UAE Invitational competition later this month.
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And some local drifting news for everyone. Shawn Browne from Drift Union out in BC has confirmed that June 11th will be the Drift Union Invitational event in Penticton. He says that there will be some drivers coming up from Northern California and Washington State to partake in the festivities. It sounds like the day will consist of multi-car tandem and big entry competitions. DODOlogic will be there in one form or another to bring you coverage of the event.
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That is all for this Monday Morning. Let me know if you have any news regarding automotive events in your area. I am always looking for interesting and unique items to feature in the Monday Morning Rundown.
dave(a)dodo-logic.ca
Cant wait for Penticton!!!!