2017 Ford Focus RS – HD Road Test Review

From the moment the Focus RS fires up with pops from its race exhaust system, you know you are in for something special. How could a normal car, one that is practical and affordable, be so hilariously fast, playful and potent? 350HP to all four wheels makes this a hyperhatch.  Or maybe a boiling hot hatchback.  This is car on that can sprint to 60-mph in the 4’s and have WRX STi levels of grip as its flung around corners.  Yet one whose Drift Mode and ultra-hightech rear axle also give you tail-out adjustability like a stunt car. Now that …

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2016 Abarth 124 Rally Prototype 5

Best of Geneva – 2016 Abarth 124 Rally Prototype – 300HP Kicks Off 2017 Abarth Racing Revival

  In case the hot new Abarth Fiat 124 Spider were not enough to get your heart revving, Abarth Racing has brought along an even hotter version! A rear-drive rally racecar that started life as a ragtop!?  Sounds like a winner to us.  And it definitely looks like a winner too. A slightly raised ride height, boosted engine putting down 300Hp, plus a locking rear differential promise exciting, tail-out action to rally fans next year. Custom fender extensions, sill extensions and brake air vents behind the back axle speak to this car’s gravel-slinging dreams.  As does its gigantic, fire-spitting single …

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RM NYC 2015 - 1986 Ford RS200 - Final Road-Legal Group B Rally Star 21

Group B Debrief – 1986 Ford RS200 – Road-Legal Rally Legend Up For Sale

Imagine if suddenly all the power-cap rules for a major racing series were abolished overnight. A mad rush of skunkworks projects would be fast-tracked, with racecars zinging out their red-hot turbochargers through the World Rally Championship stages just 18-months later. Porsche, Ferrari, Lancia, Ford, and Audi all dove into the Group B program with both feet. The results on track were mixed for many of these cars: the lack of power cap rules meant that intagibles like chassis control, visibility and reliability were paramount for winning rallies in the short Group B time on the global stage. The excitement of …

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LANCIA Rally Reunion - Stratos, Integrale, Fulvia and 037 Together for Amelia 2015 52

LANCIA Rally Reunion – Stratos, Integrale, Fulvia and 037 Together for Amelia 2015

What else to say about this incredible quartet of rally heroes!? Please enjoy these 52 photos from one of the best rally legacies of all time.   LANCIA Rally Reunion – Stratos, Integrale, Fulvia and 037

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Amelia Island 2015 – 1983 Lancia 037 Group B Rally Hero

The Lancia 037 is a rare standout among the four all-star Lancia rally cars reunited for the Amelia Island 2015 Concours. Rare because unlike the others, this machine ditches almost all sense of road-car in favor of an extreme supercar package. In proportions and width, this mid-engine, rear-drive turbo monster is what happened when the Lancia and Abarth racing teams start from a blank sheet of paper — engineering an all-star from the ground up. As one of the first cars anywhere to use carbon-fiber composites, the “zero-three-seven” was named after is project code in the Abarth speed labs. The …

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1988 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V 59

Meet The 1988 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V WRC-Winner in 60 High-Res Photos!

In the World Rally Championship record books, no single vehicle or manufacturer has been more dominant than the Lancia Delta. Winning the championship from 1987 through 1992, this tops every winning streak by other big hitters: Subaru, Peugeot and Citroen included. Being able to meet the actual race-winning vehicle is special in any circumstance, but to be able to photograph and document the vehicle in detail is beyond special. It is inspiring to see the Lancia Delta in its full Martini Racing livery, even today almost thirty years later. Inspiration from the Lancia Delta Integrale formula spanned the globe after …

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300HP 2017 Toyota Yaris WRC Marks Return to Top-Flight Rally Racing

 Toyota is coming back to the World Rally Championship is search of even more podium glory!  Over the previous Toyota Team Europe racing campaigns, the big T racked up an extremely impressive 43 victories before bowing out after the 1999 season. For 2017, Toyota is back with a TMG-fettled Yaris hatchback to take on dominant players like Citroen and VW. 2017 Toyota Yaris WRC   World Rally Championship return for Toyota Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) will return to the FIA World Rally Championship in 2017 with a car developed and built entirely at its technical centre in Cologne. Over the …

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2015 Volkswagen Polo R WRC Is Packing 318HP For Monte Carlo Season-Opener

   Pretty sexy upgrades for the Polo R WRC in 2015 — with the giant wide-body and open-box fenders venting the red-hot brake and turbo heat. These rallies are very long, with Monte Carlo in particular a major challenge for race engineers, teams and drivers alike. After all: what other series races off-road — even in the snow?!   2015 Volkswagen Polo R WRC THE FULL “MONTE”: THE NEW POLO R WRC MAKES ITS DEBUT AT A RALLY CLASSIC 16/01/15 First big test for the second generation Polo R WRC Volkswagen drivers Ogier, Latvala and Mikkelsen first onto the “Monte” …

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Toyota Rally Racing Hall of Fame gif

Toyota Rally Racing Hall of Fame – 101 AMAZING and RARE Photos!

Of all the any forms of motor racing, rallying has been Toyota’s true center of excellence. This hall of fame showcase extends back to the 1957 Toyopet Crown in the Australian Rally – when is a deep set of roots. From there, the Celica, Supra and Celica GT-Four have all been world-beating rally cars in their decades. By the late 1990s, Toyota’s Corolla GT-4 rally machines were so dominant that they ran Mitsubishi and later even Subaru out of the World Rally Championship. Rallying in this sense has a broad definition, one that definitely includes the Paris-Dakar and dozens of …

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