Autoblog

Monte Carlo is to the World Rally Championship what the Monaco Grand Prix is to Formula One. Aside from being held in the same tiny European principality, it's probably the most iconic, most well-known rally stage in the world. They couldn't cancel it. They wouldn't. They have. Sort of.

Headlines around the motorsport world have been shouting that the Monte Carlo stage will be absent from the 2009 WRC calendar for only the third time since the series' inception. But that's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Starting in two years' time, every stage on the race calendar will alternate years, in a bid to include as many locations as possible in the series each year without overcrowding the calendar and putting additional stress on the teams. (And the motoring press, for that matter, thank you very much.) Whereas this year saw no less than 16 rally stages in the WRC, next year will be reduced to 15, and the 2009 and 2010 calendars will be burdened by only 12 rounds each. Yet over the course of the '09 and '10, 24 countries will have hosted WRC stages. So in point of fact, while the Monte Carlo stage is cancelled for the 2009 schedule, it returns in 2010 and will apparently alternate every year thereafter.

Follow the jump to view the full calendars for the 2009 and 2010 seasons of the FIA World Rally Championship.

[Source: Autosport]

We were sad to see our time with the ROUSH 427R come to an end, but all the crying, whining, and pouting that we engaged in after turning over the keys paid off when ROUSH Performance Products offered to give us a tour of its massive facility.

Actually, to be precise, the sprawling complex that Fisher Body once called home is only one of the 18 ROUSH buildings in the Detroit area. Clearly, we're talking about a lot more than a couple of guys turning wrenches in a pole barn, so click through and take a trip with us to see what the folks at ROUSH are involved in on a day-to-day basis.

While most racing fans probably recognize Jack Roush's name from his teams' success in NASCAR, the man in the hat got his start in drag racing and holds a number of national championships in that sport. It should then come as little surprise that the first half-dozen components in ROUSH Performance Products' new Competition Line are aimed squarely at the quarter-mile crowd.

Heading up the new lineup is a two-piece upper trailing arm relocation bracket, which works in conjunction with adjustable-length upper trailing arms (with spherical bearings) to move the instant center of the rear four-link. This increases the anti-squat and improves traction while reducing wheelhop. An adjustable-length Panhard bar (also with spherical bearings) keeps the rear axle centered when the ride height is changed, while relocation brackets allow the use of a heavy-duty cast "girdle" axle cover (a popular modification with drag racers). Brackets are offered to relocate the rear sway bar to allow the use of small 15" wheels and drag tires. With the use of dedicated drag tires comes an NHRA requirement for a driveshaft safety loop, and so ROUSH is offering up one of those as well. A second wave of components is on the way, but no word yet on when they might drop.

Even with ROUSH's typically high level of engineering, proper validation is always a must, and so the team proceeded to rack up some 135 trips down the strip in the process of performing track testing. Yea, we're sure that it was really tough convincing employees to put in those hours.

[Source: ROUSH Performance Products; press release is posted after the jump]