Bill Wood posted on October 20, 2011 00:00
Tech House and Speed by Bill Wood: Episode 91
Guests: Gunnar Jeannette (00:00), Will Orders (13:19), Bjorn Waldegard (25:38), Jari-Matti Latvala (39:23)
(click play above to listen)
It's a very international show this week on Tech House & Speed, the web's only topical weekly webcast with content specializing in sports car competition including rally, drifting and time attack. We talk with drivers in Finland, Sweden, Australia and Birmingham, Alabama. It's a truly worldwide look at the sport! In Segment One we talk with Gunnar Jeannette, the ALMS LMPC champion this season. He was in Birmingham, Alabama testing with Ford and Grand-Am. Ford is debuting a new Ford Focus ST for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge next season. We talk with Gunnar about the test, his championship that went to tiebreakers, and his upcoming vacation that might include squirrel suits or parachutes.
In Segment Two we go to Australia to talk with 2011 Australian Junior Rally Champion Will Orders who announced last week that he'd be bringing his two-car team to the U.S. next year to run in the Rally America Series. It's part of a B2B operation with his team sponsor Summit Innovations which makes software to support fast food operations. The trip to the U.S. is as much business as it is competition. It's a new way to look at rallysport and Will Orders explains.
In Segment Three we go to Sweden to talk with World Rally legend Bjorn Waldegard, the first man to win a World Rally Championship for drivers. That was in 1979 and Waldegard has been a rally competitor ever since. That includes five wins in the prestigious Safari Rally. He'll run in the upcoming Safari Classic Rally in November with teammate Travis Pastrana. It's a special effort to support the non-profit Race for Change, an organization that helps women around the world with microfinance to help them purchase homes or start businesses. It's an important conversation with an important motorsports legend.
Finally in Segment Four we go to Finland to talk with Ford World Rally Team driver Jari-Matti Latvala who is fighting with teammate Mikko Hirvonen to get the 2011 WRC title for Hirvonen. Latvala did a great job on the tarmac at Rally France. He tells us how the lessons he learned on the tarmac of France will help him this weekend on the tarmac at Rally Spain. He also talks about his future with Ford and the M-Sport team that runs the Ford Program. This promises to be a headline making conversation.
If you have missed any part of this episode or guests, you can go to iTunes where this and past shows are available for your convenience. Tech House & Speed archives are also available "On Demand" or via RSS syndication at www.ByBillWood.com, www.TechHouseandSpeed.com or at www.RaceFanRadio.com! Enjoy!!