OpenPaddock RallyCast

Historic rallying has really taken off in recent years, but the one event on everyone’s bucket list is the East African Safari Classic. In this episode we talk with Andy Brown, the team principal of Tuthill Porsche, and co-driver Alex Gelsomino who will be competing alongside Ken Block in their first Safari Classic. We chat about the the cars, equipment, and preparation for this week long 5,000 kilometer event that starts February 10th. 

To get an idea of what the East African Safari Classic is like, check out this documentary video from the 2013 event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3_yBf4N6IE

Tuthill Porsche

Ken Block

Alex Gelsomino

East African Safari Classic

Hashtags are #eastafricansafariclassic and #eascr

In this episode we chat with William Petrow, the Marketing and Promotional director of the new US Rallysport Federation sanctioning body. We get into the nitty gritty about what holes this sanctioning body is designed to fill, the different car classes, and we also get a bit of an update of what’s new at the Broken Motorsports shop. I also drop in some of my thoughts from WRC Monte Carlo last weekend and what I think of the new Rally1 hybrid cars.

In this Episode we get to know Era Motorsports’ Kyle Tilley. If you haven’t met Kyle yet, I imagine you soon will. It's hard to imagine a man with this much of a passion for rallying had his first event at Ojibwe Forests Rally just last year.  Although he drives everything from LMP2 sports cars at 200MPH and NASCAR Cup cars on circuits, it's rallying that Kyle loves most and is going all in for 2022. 

In this episode we chat with Oregon Trail Rally clerk of the course AJ Rossiter. We talk about taking on being a clerk of the course and what it entails, why he’s set aside his helmet and set his sights higher, as well sharing some of our favorite moments from the final round of the ARA championship. You’ll also hear from some of the competitors in this episode that I caught at the end of the first running of the Maryhill Loops stage.

We often talk about the rally family, but in this episode the term is much more literal. We talked with Mark Piatkowski and his dad Andy Piatkowski about Mark's road to becoming the new LN4 combined class champion. We discussed his start in rallying, going from NA4 to Super Production and back to NA4, the value of wrenching on your own car, the challenges of getting to rallies across the country while also working a day job, and his decision to go from a regional to a national entry.  So grab a cold one and turn up the volume as we warm up by the fire at the virtual rally pub we call the RallyCast.

As most of you know, I’ve been around rallying for over a decade, but oddly it wasn’t until last month that I competed in my first ever TSD rally. Fellow Oregon Trail Rally organizer Mike Nagle wrangled me into joining him for the iconic Nor’Wester Auto Rally put on by the Rainier Auto Sports Club. Although I had a general understanding of TSDs, I had no idea just how challenging and enjoyable these regularity rallies could be. 

So in this episode we chatted with Ron Sorem, the Routemaster. We talked about the history of the Nor’Wester Auto Rally and how he and his team go about selecting such awesome roads. You’ll also hear more of the “Team Mike” experience from an audio diary we made as we did the event.

This is part 2 of our stories from the 2021 Ojibwe Forests Rally. After the event we caught up with Mark Piatkowski who explains his crazy 1.8 second win over Ele Bardha and his hopes for a national championship. We then chatted with co-driver Steven Harrell about his 3rd place in the hotly contested regional overall, as well as his earlier adventure in the desert with Ryan Millen. Finally we bring back co-driver and our former co-host Ian Holmes claimed his first regional Open 2WD class win at a national event. 

This is Part 1 of our chats from the Ojibwe Forests Rally 2021, and in this episode we caught up with Stephen and Katie Gingras about their close fight for the regional overall, and we get a taste of what LSPR is going to look like. I also introduce you to Derek Johnson Love, a longtime supporter of Open Paddock, and now taking  on a larger role behind the scenes to make the RallyCast sound better.

In this episode we chat with driver Dylan Gondyke. Dylan started out crewing, but that was short lived as once he saw stage rallying with his own eyes, he needed to do it himself. He tells us about learning AWD and crashing his co-driver’s car, his dramatic first event at NEFR 2019 that defined everything we love about the rally community, and how just two years later he and Ben Chuong are regularly fighting for regional podiums.

You can follow Dylan Gondyk’s onboards and build videos here on YouTube

And the team social media on Instagram

In this nearly two months late episode, I chatted with Danny Norkus who’s had a fantastic season so far including his first ever overall win at Colorado earlier this year with Travis Nease as well as a 2nd in class at SOFR with Chris Greenhouse. I also caught up with reigning Eastern Regional Limited 2WD class champion Santiago Iglesias right after his Southern Ohio win, and it turns out he's got quite the regional battle on his hands with a young Patrick Gruszka who’s currently leading the points.

Then I ask the question, "is Barry McKenna’s 2021 Ford Fiesta WRC too fast for the ARA championship and the Vermont Sportscar built WRX STIs he's competing against?" I did some real math to find out. Special shout out to Nathan Usher and his https://sneakattackrally.com site for all the data.  So grab a cold one, as it’s going to be blazing hot out west again, and enjoy another round from the virtual rally pub we call the RallyCast Podcast.