Here we are again, in the depths of Northern Michigan's thick wilderness for another installment of Rally America's first event of the year. THIS. IS. SNO*DRIFT!



The weather was perfect this year, averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of 25* as long as you stayed out of the wind. With about a week's worth of snowfall prior to the event, fears of repeating last year's "Ice*Drift" had all but faded by Friday afternoon's Parc Expose.

We arrived on time for once, before most of the cars had even pulled into the soon to be packed parking lot. The sounds of fully modified engines firing one by one eventually making their way to the lot, followed closely by the distinct smell of burning race fuel. Smiles donned the faces of not only the fans, but every driver you saw walk by. People from all walks of life gathered to view what is sure to be another fantastic event. Black, white, yellow and red, young and old, all brought together by an undeniable passion for motorsports.

I might as well get it out of the way now; I failed with the pics.. I had just about everything you could possibly imagine I would need to capture every ounce of action for this event. That is, except for an extra CF Card. Rookie error, I must admit, but one that will definitely never happen again. I was able to get a few shots at Parc Expose, and a few from the first stage we viewed. But at the end of Stage II for the event, my card's file system had become corrupt. Being in the middle of nowhere, it's not like I could swing by the nearest Best Buy and pick up another... I'm still quite bitter about the whole situation, but am getting over it. As they say, "there's always next year." Believe me, I WILL be fully prepared!

Enough rambling, here are the pics I was able to get before my CF Card bit the dust.

Parc Expose:

Dave Mirra's freshly redesigned 2011 STi Hatchback



Holy downforce


Let's play Where's Waldo? (err, Where's Dave Mirra!?)




Identity crisis?










Hey, me too!!


One of my favorite cars, 1980 Volvo 242




Rolled out to our normal first spot, cracked a couple growlers and setup the tripods. Obligatory group shot:



And here are the few action shots I nabbed before the card took a dump.













And of course, what really makes the weekend such a great time. Grillin', cigars, good friends and better whiskey!


Hope you enjoyed the pics. The full album can be viewed here: /There will also be a compilation video (For real this year) coming soon, keep an eye out for updates.

 

Ahhhhhh soooo jealous you got to be there!! Sucks about the card, but the pictures you have are nice

 

Thanks man, I appreciate it. Still got a ways to go with figuring out action shots but I'm getting there. I'll have a lot more practice in, and hopefully a nice new lens in prep for Sno*Drift '12

 

Haha the trick, I've found, is to just take a ton of consecutive shots. Do you go to that same spot every year?

 

That looks like a blast!
I wish there was stuff like this near me..
Seems like there was quite a few people there!

 

It's definitely getting bigger every year. With names like Pastrana and Block in the mix it was only going to keep growing. Sadly, both have moved on to bigger things, so that trend will probably die off. I actually don't mind it going that way though, kieeps the fanbase composed of true Rally fans rather than fanbois in Monster t-shirts.

Yes and no. The action pics you see above are from a spot we've gone to the last two years. There is also a place we refer to as "the money spot," which you will see in the video once it's posted. Otherwise we try and mix it up.

Next year we're hoping to have press passes which will enable us to go anywhere we want.

 

was Dave Mirra reall in the pic? if I had t guess the guy in the grey bennie? haha that guy is the shiz...got a few of his signature BMX bikes back in the day when I use to ride street and dirt jump

 

WE HAVE A WINNAH!

Higher res so you can see his face better:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5172/...4d2f16c6_o.jpg

 

yeah with the better pic you can deff. tell it's him.

Seems like all the BMX and motocross riders went to drifting

 

RALLY!

Sorry, I HATE drifting Sno*Drift is just what they call the event. Not to be associated in anyway with the "bastard child of motorsport" that is drifting. lol


Rumor has it, next up to make the switch from Extreme Sports to Rally......

*drum roll please*





Shaun White