For episode 76 of the Flatirons Syndicate Motorsports Podcast, Jon and Tasso talk with Preston Osborn, the Competition Director of the American Rally Association.  

2022 is all ready off to a fantastic start for the ARA.  Most of the Rally's that have opened registration so far this year have not only had good attendance, but have in fact sold out.  And fairly quickly too.  It seems like a lot of people have been working on and building rally cars in the last couple of years, and this has brought a lot of new cars and new faces to the ARA events.  

And there are still a lot of familiar faces too.  

But this year, there is a new development in the top class of cars.  The WRC implemented a completely new rule set for their unlimited cars, which requires a hybrid drive train.  This has opened the door for a few people (Ken Block most notably, but also Barry McKenna as of 2021) to bring in a recently retired previous generation of WRC car to compete in the ARA.  

So are WRC cars about to take over the ARA open class?  

We talk about that and the future of the ARA with Preston.    

Thanks for listening and Stay Tuned!