By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

So you have exactly 11 minutes and 35 seconds to kill today and you’re looking for the visual equivalent of chugging a cup of coffee to keep you awake. Why not fill it with an awesome dirt-sliding, barrier-skimming, holy-crap-that’s-a-huge-cliff type video? Well I have just the video for you. This is Falken Tire’s coverage of “Monster” Tajima’s Pikes Peak run in his time attack Suzuki SX4. Some how his engine builder managed to wring 897hp and 654lbft of torque out of a 3.1 litre twin turbo. Which, as it turns out, is just enough horsepower to climb a 15,000ft mountain face in just over 10 minutes. You’re welcome!

One of the biggest Japanese automakers is now stepping up to the World Rally Championship level for a full season, and has confirmed its drivers for 2008. Per-Gunnar Andersson and Toni Gardemeister have been given the privilege to put the Suzuki SX4 through its maiden rallies in the 08′ season. While the few outings that the Suzuki made during 2007 were less than spectacular, these early experiments laid groundwork for the SX4 for 2008. This past season, Toni finished an impressive 13 out of 24 in the WRC standings—more impressive than it sounds, considering he was driving a three-year-old Citroen and only competed in four events. With a full blown program ahead of him, who knows what he will accomplish in this upcoming season. It’ll be a big adjustment for Andersson as he moves from the PWRC level to the WRC ranks, as the cars have more horsepower and are more technically advanced than the junior-class cars he’s used to.

While no North American TV coverage has yet been announced, there will bits and pieces of the series trickling through the net, plus possibly more extensive coverage if The Racing Network ever gets off the ground.

The start of the 2008 season is just a few days away—I can’t wait!

At the beginning of the 80′s, AMC was in trouble. In a last-ditch effort to boost flagging sales, the company decided to retool its tried-and-true Concord body by dropping in a modified Jeep drivetrain and beefing up the suspension. The oddball offspring of this experiment ended up being one of the most innovative cars of its time: the AMC Eagle was the only true full-time 4WD passenger car on market—its ability to run in 4-wheel mode indefinitely on any surface was what set it ahead of the part-time 4WD’s offered at the time by various import makes. Love it or hate it, the Eagle was far ahead of its time, and set the precedent for the trendy "crossover" vehicles that would start cropping up nearly twenty years later. Eagles are burly survivors, and a lot of owners on CarDomain use them for off-roading even to this day: Mike’s page documents the transformation of his Eagle from drab grocery-getter to four-wheelin’ battle wagon, and Dubs is in the process of swapping an AMC 360 into his wagon and fitting it with a custom jacked-up suspension. For extreme wheelin’, the shorter-wheelbase Eagle sedan and SX/4 hatchback are even better choices because they don’t easily get hung up in the dips: get a load of Ethan’s unstoppable SX/4 in both snow and desert in Utah. Shawn’s SX/4 is kept a bit milder for daily driving, though that screaming green paint is a nice touch. While Chris’s rust-free SX/4 is an amazing mostly-original survivor, the cleanest Eagle on the site is probably Aaron’s wagon, looking pretty bling with its 17" Ford Explorer rims.

16 events later, Sebastien Loeb has proved to the world that he is equal to the likes of Tommi Makinen and Juha Kankkunen, winning his fourth consecutive championship. In just ten short years, Loeb has climbed the ranks of the World Rally Championships to become the most successful driver in WRC history. It was a dogfight between Loeb and Marcus Gronholm for much of the season, and the final winning margin was only four points. In the space of just 16 events, that’s some very impressive driving. With the fight for the manufacturer’s championship sown up already, Ford told all of their drivers to go all out this weekend. Mikko Hirvonen took that to heart and ended up winning the final rally, totaling three wins for his entire season. He was quoted in saying "that he had learned a lot from Marcus [Gronholm] being on the same team and hopes to fulfill his duties with Marcus retiring this season." He ended up finishing 3rd in the drivers points behind Loeb and Gronholm.

The coming season promises a lot of exciting developments. With Marcus Gronholm retiring and Suzuki, having successfully tested its SX4, making a full commitment to the 2008 season, there will be new drivers moving into the limelight. Look out, Sebastien Loeb: you could just have a whole new batch of hounds chasing you in the new year.

By Jen

Editor

Suzuki’s all-wheel drive SX4, whose name bears a suspicious resemblance to the AMC’s 4wd Eagle SX/4 of 25 years ago, is shaping up to be a hot little up-and-coming rally car: in the Suzuki booth was a twin of the World Rally Car that made its debut in the Championship this fall.