Flatirons Rally

It's Bill!

Thanks to our friends on All Wheel Drive Pirates, we found a name for our new Rally mascot; Bill.
He seems to be one lucky buffalo, too!
Bill made his first appearance on our car for the Oregon Trail Rally.

We have stickers available in a full color vinyl decal that is approximately 4”x5”.

He's a great way to show your support for the Flatirons Tuning Rally Team as we compete in the Production GT class in the Rally America series.

To view the stickers, click HERE

Oregon trail Press Release

From SpecialStage.com

Flatirons Tuning Rally Team Emerges Victorious at Oregon Trail
Author: Flatirons Tuning Rally Media
Photos from www.Rally.Subaru.com

The Flatirons Tuning Rally Team wins Production GT amongst strongest field so far in the 2007 Rally American National Championship to move into the championship lead.

The Flatirons Tuning Rally Team secured their bid for the 2007 Rally American Production GT National Championship with their second straight win of the 2007 season. With 2006 Champion Matthew Johnson returning to competition after a crash at the 100 Acre Wood Rally that destroyed his competition vehicle, as well as fast regionally based competitors Canadian Norm LeBlanc and Washington based Jamie Thomas adding to a full field of the Rally American National Championship regulars the Oregon Trail Rally saw the most competitive field to date.

"Oregon was going to be a very important rally for us from the very beginning. After shaking the car down at 100 Acre Wood and not really getting a good chance to measure ourselves against Matt [Johnson] we weren't really sure how we'd do. I know how to drive on these roads from when I ran my own Production GT car and we made some key improvements to the car but we still needed to see how we would do against Matt since he will probably be the driver we will have to beat for the championship." Stated Flatirons Tuning driver Stephan Verdier when asked about the importance of the event.

Adding to the challenging nature of the Oregon Trail Rally was a series of spectator stages held a Portland International Raceway on Friday night, making Oregon Trail the only 3 day rally on the calendar and presenting teams with an important strategy challenge. "The stages at PIR are tricky, you can't really win the rally here, but you can lose it, we saw 3 of the high budget Open class teams blow motors and drop out of the rally before we ever hit the first real stage of the rally. Matt [Johnson] came out charging hard and looked to be taking big risks, we wanted to play it safe and try to get into rally mode and get adapted to our new suspension. We lost more time then we wanted to but it was important to make sure we didn't damage the car when the real stages begin. We planned to go out and push on Saturday and try to make up time and maybe pressure Matt into making a mistake so we could close the gap." Noted co-driver Scott Crouch while commenting on the team's strategy for the rally.

Leg Two of the rally started with the Flatirons Tuning Rally Team taking the Production GT stage win on the first stage of the morning by 6 seconds over Johnson. On Special Stage 8 the Flatirons Tuning Team kept the pressure up and took the stage wins on five of the six stages to take the overall lead in Production GT. "On Saturday I was really pushing the car and trying to attack while not taking too many risks. We were able to beat Matt on the first stage which was important for us," said Verdier.

Sunday saw the teams tackle just four stages to make up the third and final leg of the rally. Again the Flatirons Tuning Rally Team was on the attack as they ended up taking Production GT stage wins on 3 of the 4 stages to finish the rally with an almost 2 minute lead. "We had a couple of minor mechanical issues with the differentials sometimes putting us into front wheel drive but I don't think it effected our times very much. It was too bad that Matt [Johnson] broke his transmission on Saturday and wasn't able to battle with us. I feel confident that if we can do better on the starts of rallies though that we can compete for the championship with Matt even though we have only gone head to head on one stage with both cars running at 100%. We will take the car back to the shop and get the differentials worked out and continue to develop the car towards maximum specification and hopefully we can once again battle for a class-win next month at the Olympus Rally." Stated Verdier after the podium celebration in Hillsboro, OR.

The Driver:
Stephan Verdier, of Long Beach, CA, is a former top Production GT championship contender and has taken two overall rally wins to date in his rallying career. In addition to his duties as the driver for the Flatirons Tuning Rally Team, Verider also competes in the Formula D Drifting series where he will debut a new rear wheel drive Subaru WRX STi as well as participating in a variety of Time Attack races. Along with his Motorsports exploits, Verider is a former French National Downhill Skiing competitor as well as former 2 times Winter X Games Skier Cross competitor.

The Co-Driver:
Scott Crouch is the General Manager of Flatirons Imports in Boulder, CO, home to the largest Subaru Dealership in the Rocky Mountain region. Scott has been co-driving for over three years and won the 2005 Rally-America Production GT National Co-Driver Championship as well as was on one of the first 12 teams to compete for Rally Gold at the ESPN X Games in 2006. Scott is the proud father of three children and is supported by his wife Libby.

The Team:
The Flatirons Tuning Rally Team is supported by Flatirons Tuning, a performance shop for Subarus, Mitsubishis, and Hondas, based in Boulder, CO. The Flatirons Tuning team is also supported by BPM Sports ( http://www.BPMsportsusa.com), a top Subaru tuning company based in Australia, COBB Tuning (http://www.COBBtuning.com), one of the top Subaru tuners in the United States, Tire Centers International, a nationwide tire chain with over 100 commercial centers nation wide, and Prodrive, a Subaru performance and rally parts supplier.

Press Release from SpecialStage.com

Flatirons Tuning Rally Team Debuts On Top of the Podium at 100 Acre Wood
Author: Flatirons Tuning Rally Media

The Flatirons Tuning Rally Team completed their debut as a new team in the Rally America National Championship by winning the Production GT classification in their first event. After rebuilding the team due to suffering a severe crash at the Colorado Cog Rally in 2006, the newly renamed Flatirons Tuning Rally Team headed to the 100 Acre Wood Rally based in Salem, MO, with one simple goal, to finish.

"This was a really important rally for us as a team. We have never rallied the car, I haven't even driven in a rally car for over a year, and have not driven a Production GT car in almost two years. Also, Scott has never co-driven for anyone else besides Tanner. We really needed to be able to finish this rally and get everybody working together and I needed to start working with the car again," stated the team's new driver, Stephan Verdier, when asked about the significance of the rally for the team.

After many late nights and hard work by Flatirons Tuning technician Jon Brouillet to get the car ready and to the event, the team set quickly to the task of getting the cobwebs out and finding some speed on the stages. "Stage One was really important for us. I knew Stephan would be fast, that is why we wanted him as a driver, but I wasn't sure how we'd work together as a team and if we'd be on the pace from the start," commented co-driver Scott Crouch.

Over the first three stages the Flatirons Tuning Team put up second place times, finishing solidly behind defending 2006 Champion Matthew Johnson, but also definitively in front of the rest of the challengers in Production GT. "It was hard running so much further back from Matthew, but we were running in second and it took me a while get used to rallying again and to get my confidence back," noted Verdier. Verdier later joked, "Scott was doing a better job of calling the notes than I was driving."

To complicate matters for the team the transmission in the Flatirons Tuning 2004 Subaru WRX rally car was popping out of fourth gear, a big problem on the high speed roads that make up the 100 Acre Wood Rally. "It was really hard to find a rhythm and attack the stages since I had to drive with one hand on the shifter, but still we managed to win a stage for Production GT and get closer to Matthew [Johnson] on the last two stages Friday," said Verdier.

Saturday marked the second day of the 100 Acre Wood Rally as well as a change in the conditions. Rain had set in over the Ozarks soaking the roads that the rally was run on. The challenging nature of the stages with the difficult conditions became obvious on the first stage of the day as the Production GT leader, Matthew Johnson, crashed out of the rally. "Seeing Matthew on the side of the road out of the rally was a gift and a curse. We came to the rally to run it as a shakedown for the rest of the championship, but part of that meant we needed someone to measure ourselves against, which for us was Matthew, since he is the driver to beat. We were happy to be in first in Production GT, but nobody wants to take the lead at the expense of a crash," commented co-driver Scott Crouch.

With the lead in hand the Flatirons Tuning crew took the rest of the stages as time to practice and really work on trying to find a comfortable rhythm on their way to the finish. When all was said and done, the Flatirons Tuning Rally Team stood atop the podium. "With all the hard work that the service crew put in to keep the car running and for this to be our first event, we couldn't be more happy to take the win in Production GT. Hopefully Matthew [Johnson] and Jeremy [Wimpey, Johnson's co-driver] are alright after their big crash. We can't wait to go to Oregon where the car will be a lot better and hopefully we can battle with Matthew and find a way to keep winning," exclaimed Verdier after the rally.

THE NEW DRIVER:
Stephan Verdier, of Long Beach, CA, is a former top Production GT championship contender and has taken two overall rally wins to date in his rallying career. In addition to his duties as the driver for the Flatirons Tuning Rally Team, Verider also competes in the Formula D Drifting series where he will debut a new rear-wheel-drive Subaru WRX STi as well as participating in a variety of Time Attack races. Along with his motorsports exploits, Verider is a former French National Downhill Skiing competitor as well as former 2 times Winter X Games Skier Cross competitor.

THE CO-DRIVER:
Scott Crouch is the General Manager of Flatirons Imports in Boulder, CO, home to the largest Subaru dealership in the Rocky Mountain region. Scott has been co-driving for over three years and won the 2005 Rally America Production GT National Co-Driver Championship as well as was on one of the first 12 teams to compete for Rally Gold at the ESPN X Games in 2006. Scott is the proud father of three children and is supported by his wife Libby.

Final Ride

It was Scott and Tanner's final ride together at the 2007 Snow*drift Rally.
They took an impressive second place, finishing only 6 seconds behind Travis Pastrana!
Check out more photos from the race,
thanks to FlatOverCrest's Andrew Harvey

Jeremy & Tanner

SEMA 2006

Yep, it is time for SEMA!!

We can only imagine what we will find, and rather than just telling you about it, we decided that it would be a lot more interesting to show you, and even let the manufacturers tell you themselves! 

So we are going to take a lot of pictures, and put some podcasts together too. We will be publishing them every couple of hours to our SEMA 2006 Blog. 

Check it out, and start checking back on November 1st for an insider’s look at SEMA.

Crash Pictures!

Here are the photos you have all been asking for!

(click on the tumbnail to view larger image)

       

Click here for more "on-scene" crash pictures!

The Crash!

This is the video footage taken from inside our rally car during Steamboat Colorado COG Rally.
Unfortunatly, this movie does not have a happy ending.
Tanner, Scott and the Flatirons Rally car ended up rolling down the side of a mountain. We are sad to say that the car has been totaled, but they made it out with only minor injuries.

 

 

Check back for pictures!

Colorado COG Rally!

We're heading up to Steamboat Springs
for the Colorado COG rally taking place September 22-24!

Check out this article
from Rally America for more information!

Some Videos!!

This site features some video of our rally car in the Maine Forrest Rally.

http://www.321govideo.com/mfr_2006.php