The premier United States national rally series is making its annual visit to Oregon. Round 4 of the Rally America Championship comes to town, May 13-15th, for the extremely popular and challenging Oregon Trail Rally. Top drivers in several classes of competition vehicles will come from across the U.S. and Europe to drive on the best rally roads in America.
Rally racing is known as the most exciting motorsport in the world and continues to grow in popularity across the US. The Oregon Trail Rally is known as one of the toughest tests for rally racing teams as they take on the challenging Northwest forestry roads. While the event is held in late spring, unpredictable weather conditions have always been a factor for competitors. Coupled with the tight and twisty nature of the special racing stage roads quite often make this event a battle of attrition.
This year’s event will follow the familiar format of Spectator Special Stages, presented by Dick Hannah Subaru, in the heart of the city at Portland International Raceway (PIR) on Friday, May 13th, followed by exciting special racing stages on Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15th, on the closed forest and county gravel roads south of the Columbia River Gorge.
After two very successful years staging the event east of Portland, the Oregon Trail Rally will return again to the beautiful Columbia River Gorge region. Oregon Trail Rally Chairman Matt Tabor is excited about returning to this scenic area of the state. “Each year we continue to grow and improve our event, making it a competitor and fan favorite while providing an economic benefit to the local community. We want to thank the people and county officials in Hood River and Wasco Counties for their continued support for our rally.”
Returning for the 2011 season is the Subaru Rally Team USA with BMX Legend and X Games star, Dave Mirra, and a driver familiar to longtime rally fans, Britain’s David Higgins. Higgins brings exceptional rally experience to the team having won the 2002-2003 Sports Car Club of America ProRally Championship and the 2004 British Rally Championship. Rally fans can expect just as much action out of the Subaru Rally Team USA as in years past.
Meeting the Subaru blitz will be returning 2010 Rally America National Champions, Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard from Quebec, Canada. Earlier this year they were named to the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association All-American team for their success last season. They’ll be at Oregon Trail defending their title in an improved Rockstar Energy Drink sponsored Mitsubishi EVO X. The team had a phenomenal 2010 winning the American, North American and Canadian Rally Series, in addition to securing a bronze medal at X Games 16 Rally Car Racing event.
For any newcomers to rallying, a rally consists of “transit zones” and “special stages.” To get to special stages, street legal rally cars transit the same roads as the general public and follow the same traffic laws. Special stages are temporarily closed roads where competitors are allowed to travel as fast as they safely can, racing one car at a time against the clock from start to finish. Trained, expert volunteers ensure the safety of the public and the competitors and provide a timing mechanism to score the event on the heavily manned special stages. The total elapsed special stage times for each team will determine both individual class and overall victories in the event.
The three-day contest includes 17 timed competitive special stages, with the action taking place at Portland International Raceway, presented by Dick Hannah Subaru, on Friday and on the challenging forest and county gravel roads around Hood River, The Dalles and Dufur on Saturday and Sunday. The event is the most popular on the six event national schedule and normally attracts more than fifty domestic and international teams and legions of fans. Those fans will have plenty of opportunities to meet their favorite drivers and watch the rally action over 120 miles of competition roads and fan friendly super special stages at PIR.
Fans will have a chance to meet the drivers and see the cars close up at the Parcs Expose to be held at Portland International Raceway on Friday, May 13th, near the Kmart in The Dalles on Saturday morning, May 14th and in downtown Dufur on Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15th. Dufur will host a number of community fund raising events in conjunction with the race: a Saturday evening BBQ, and a Sunday morning breakfast.
The Oregon Trail Rally cannot happen without the help of a dedicated group of volunteers. Volunteers get the best seat in the house, a free event t-shirt, and an invitation to the private Awards Banquet Buffet on Sunday night. Volunteer sign-up is available online at, http://www.OregonTrailRally.com/.
Be sure to follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/OregonTrailRally and on Twitter: twitter.com/OregonTrailRly
Additional information on the 2011 event will be posted on the events website, http://www.OregonTrailRally.com, as details become available.
Event Schedule (tentative):
Thursday, May 12
11:00 – 13:00 Fan Appreciation Show Pioneer Courthouse Square
Friday, May 13
18:00 – 20:45 Fan Spectacular Portland International Raceway
Saturday, May 14
10:00 – 11:00 Parc Expose The Dalles
11:00 First Car starts Day Two The Dalles
11:00 – 20:00 Competition Stages (Free) Hood River/Dufur Area
19:30 First Car Finishes Day Two Main St. Dufur
Sunday, May 15
10:00 – 11:00 Parc Expose Main St. Dufur
11:00 First Car starts Day Three Main St. Dufur
09:00 – 15:30 Competition Stages (Free) Dufur Area
15:30 First Car Finishes Event Main St. Dufur
Rally Headquarters: Shilo Inn-The Dalles. Phone: 541-298-5502
About Rally Racing
Rally racing is one of the world’s most challenging and popular motorsports. It is considered by many as the extreme sport of automobile racing and it’s often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” Unlike any other type of car racing, rally teams compete in any weather, on challenging forest, mountain or desert roads.
Racing takes place only on “special stages,” using demanding back roads temporarily closed by local authorities for the event. “Transits”, driven at normal highway speeds with teams fully subject to all traffic laws, connect the “special stage” sections together speeds. Vehicles can only be serviced and repaired at designated “service” locations and for set periods of time.
Rally vehicles are production-based cars and trucks from manufacturers around the world. All competition vehicles are installed with mandatory safety features to protect the competitors. They compete both for the overall victory and wins within a class structure that groups together vehicles with similar performance.
Each vehicle carries a driver and a co-driver/navigator. Using a detailed route book and a sophisticated rally computer, the co-driver keeps the team on-course and advises the driver of any hazards ahead. This role is as critical as the driver’s skill, since the team is traveling at full racing speeds over roads they have never before seen, in any type of weather.
About Oregon Rally Group
Based in Portland, Oregon, the Oregon Rally Group is a non-profit organization that organizes and promotes all forms of Rally (Stage Rally, Rally Cross and Road Rally) events in the Oregon and beyond.
About RallyCar
Based in Golden Valley, Minn., RallyCar sanctions the premier performance rally series in the United States, the Rally America National Championship Series. In 2011, RallyCar is conducting six National Championship events at venues across the country, from Portland, Oregon to Newry, Maine. RallyCar competitors reach speeds of well over 100 mph in modified street cars on natural-terrain courses consisting of gravel, dirt or snow. Additionally, RallyCar sanctions the 2011 U.S. Rallycross Championship featuring rally cars racing door-to-door on tricky tarmac/dirt race tracks. More information about rally and rallycross can be found at, http://www.rally-america.com/, and videos can be viewed at, http://www.youtube.com/rallyamericaseries.
RallyCar’s 2011 Rally America National Championship is proudly supported by Subaru of America, Inc., VP Racing Fuels, Best Buy, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Danza del Sol Winery, Ford Racing, Team O’Neil Rally School, RECARO USA, Hawk Performance Brakes, Exedy Racing Clutches, Racewatches.com and Rally-Tire.com.
For further information contact:
Oregon Trail Rally Chairman: Matt Tabor, 503-638-7373
Oregon Trail Rally Media Officer: Robert Mahony, 503-987-0323
Rally America Director: J.B Niday, 763-553-2742 or jbniday@rally-america.com
Rally America Marketing/Media: Ananda Siverts, 206-302-8289
