ThirstyFish

It has been some time since I posted a rally photo. The pictured car is a modified Coupe Quattro driven by the Gardner-Mantopoulos team as Zero Car in the International Rally NY, 2010 event.

Auto racing began with the introduction of gasoline-fueled automobiles. The first organized races were were held in Paris in 1890's. Throughout the early 20th century, numerous motorsport events were introduced and in the latter half of the century many commercialized professional events were born. As interest grew, manufacturers began to develop high performance versions of their production cars such as the Mini in the 1960's and the Ford Escort in the 1970's. With the establishment of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1973, many rallies were standardized to follow the same rules. Many rally organizations follow FISA (WRC) or similar rules.

In 1980, Audi introduced the first permanent all-wheel drive production car called Audi Quattro. Quattro was allowed into Rally Events by FISA in 1983, and won the championship in the following two years. Since then, AWD cars have dominated rallies and have become popular among car buyers.