Filed under: Motorsports, Ford, Subaru

Travis Pastrana has no shortage of critics who claim the daredevil is skating on thin ice. Okay, that was a terrible segue into this year’s Sno*Drift, the opening event in the Rally America Championship series, but yes, Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom did skate to a fourth straight Sno*Drift victory on Saturday, trumping the second place team of Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard by more than a minute. Not too bad for a guy who just had surgery for a broken collar bone. Meanwhile, William Bacon and Peter Watt finished third overall as the highest-placing privateers. Ken Block, sporting his trademark goatee and a new Ford Fiesta rally car, retired after just seven stages due to suspension failure.

Organized around the snowy gravel roads of Northern Lower Michigan, Sno*Drift 2010 wasn’t so much with the snow thanks to a warm spell and thorough soaking of rain, followed by a quick dip into sub-zero temperatures-all within a week of race day. Roads turned into rivers of glare ice, and since studded tires aren’t allowed in the series, automotive hilarity reminiscent of Snoopy on Ice was the order of the day. Just ask Pastrana’s team mate Dave Mirra, who crossed the final mark literally dragging his Subie’s front bumper and headlights thanks to a late-stage disagreement between himself, Sir Issac Newton, and a tree.

More to come on Pastrana, Block, and Rally America; in the meantime spy the Rally America gallery while we search Wikipedia for frost bite remedies and tips on removing champagne from blue jeans.

Photos by Christopher Smith / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Pastrana puts competition on ice at Rally America Sno*Drift originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sedan, Hatchback, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Rumormill

According to Automobile Magazine, Ford is putting Mercury on its list. Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves. Specifically, the list in question contains the names of 10 vehicles the Blue Oval plans to build off its global compact car platform. Mercury will supposedly be getting one of the new C-segment vehicles based on the architecture used for the recently unveiled 2012 Ford Focus, which also shares its guts with the Ford C-Max and Grand C-Max MPVs.

Says Lincoln-Mercury spokesman Mark Schirmer, “Certainly, one [variant of the global compact car architecture] will be a Mercury… It’ll give us something to put into showrooms, and help energize the Mercury brand.” We’re glad to hear that, as the Mercury brand is in some serious need of rejuvenation.

Best guesses for what form the new compact Mercury for 2012 might take range from a slightly upmarket version of the Ford Focus (we certainly hope it’d be more than just a shoddy badge-job) or something along the lines of the Lincoln Concept C from the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. If it’s going to be one or the other, we cast our official vote for the latter. We’ll see.

[Source: Automobile Magazine]

Report: Mercury planning C-segment vehicle for 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Hatchback, Ford, Racing

Ken Block’s inaugural outing in his new Ford Fiesta Rally car took place on Thursday ahead of today’s opening of the Sno*Drift Rally America Series, and the crew at Monster have released some footage of Block’s maiden run.

After the jump, you’ll find a two and a half minute clip of Block pounding down the icy roads of Gladwin, MI, blowing past trees at triple-digit speeds and topping out in sixth gear during one insanely long straight.

Live updates from the event are available at Rally America’s website. Follow along today and tomorrow, but in the meantime… jump.

Continue reading Video: Ken Block tests his Ford Fiesta Rally ahead of Sno*Drift

Video: Ken Block tests his Ford Fiesta Rally ahead of Sno*Drift originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Ford

Racers and project car builders have two fresh engine options to choose from in the Ford Racing parts catalog. Fans of the classic 302 cubic inch V8 and a lighter budget can opt for the 340 horsepower X302 crate engine. At $3,495, the X302 offers the classic cast iron block and aluminum cylinder heads mated with forged aluminum pistons and die cast aluminum valve covers.

Those in need of a bit more oomph can opt for the new 427 FE, based on the Boss 351 block with four-bolt main bearings carrying the forged steel crankshaft and rods. The block is topped with Ford Racing aluminum cylinder heads with 10.5:1 compression ratio, netting 535 hp and 545 lb-ft of torque and commanding $8,800. Both engines get the standard Ford Racing one year warranty. Press releases are after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Ford releases two new crate engine options for racers

Ford releases two new crate engine options for racers originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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