As I am the world's official number one motorsports hyperfan, January tends to be a bit of a dull month... however there is one big competition starting this Saturday, that helps pass the time: the Dakar Rally. I do enjoy watching the daily reports from the desert, as a whole host of machinery, from bikes to trucks and lorries attack some of the world's toughest terrain.

Although this year's competition has forsaken Africa, and will now run through Argentina and Chile, it has lost none of its mystique. Have a look at the above video, for a preview of the route.

This year's running of Dakar looks to be a straight fight between Volkswagen and Mitsubishi. I'm not sure there is a clear favourite though. In the 2007 Dakar Rally (remember it was cancelled in 2008), Volkswagen proved to be very fast but a little unreliable. Last year, they won the 2008 Dakar Central European Rally and will be looking to carry this momentum into 2009.

Mitsubishi will be tough to beat though. The current defending Dakar champions, they have owned the rally in recent years, with 12 victories between 1985 and 2007. However, this year they will be debuting a new car, the MXR09 Racing Lancer and have switched to diesel engines. It would be quite the feat if they won on the first outing with this new package. Have a look at the video to see what you think of the new Racing Lancer Dakar challenger....

Hmmm... I think I'd put my money on Carlos Sainz and Volkswagen.... Agree or disagree?

:Rod

Rallying is one aspect of Southern California's car culture that isn't usually shown or promoted in import type magazines! We often see Southern Cali's best drift cars, show cars, drag cars, and even time attack cars being featured by the automotive media. However, there are a lot of really cool cars that run Southern Cali rally events like the California Rally Series , SCCA Rallycross , Formula RallyX , and the annual Rim of the World Rally . These cars don't often find themselves...

Our own Speedhunter Andy Barnes had a bit of a baptism of fire driving at this weekend's Britcar 24H race at Silverstone in this brand new EvoX race car.... watch out for a complete Driver Blog post from him in the next few days.

After the release of the new EVO X and the Impreza WRX, there were a lot of mixed feelings. The new EVO X got a lot of praise but the Impreza failed to amaze. After reading magazines and seeing tv shows like Top Gear, I started to like the EVO more and more. I know that the Impreza can look good, after seeing pictures that Mike shot during Time Attack events on Tsukuba. But I still tend to gravitate to the EVO and even more so after seeing this example. The car belongs to Girodisc who produce brake...

Everybody has seen the crazy aero canards on the DTM cars especially in the rear. The only car that comes close in the Japanese Time Attack grid is this Cyber Evo driven by Tarzan Yamada. The canards are made by Voltex, they even test the durability and function in a windtunnel. So these aren't their for show but they actually work and help Tarzan to drive his car to the limit. -Jeroen Willemsen Voltex

Typically, Japanese cars like the Evo X look best when equipped with Japanese aftermarket wheels, but this car shows that is not always the case. The wheels on this particular car are from Complete Custom Wheel (CCW). The wheels in this photo are known as the CCW Classic, a popular wheel for Corvette owners who participate in motorsports. I think they look fantastic. What about you guys?...