Era Motorsport Expands to a New Stage

Aug 24, 20213 min read

Rally Car Program Addition for Kyle Tilley and Tim Whitteridge

Indianapolis, Indiana (August 24, 2021) – This week will see Era Motorsport Owner and Driver Kyle Tilley undertake a new challenge with the Ojibwe Forests Rally hosted by the American Rally Association and DirtFish. This first rally event for Tilley, joined by co-driver Tim Whitteridge, will take place in Detroit Lakes, MN over the course of two days. August 27th and 28th will see the pair take on one hundred twenty competition miles of tricky dirt and sand surface conditions winding through tight knit trees and picturesque lake views. Smooth, exceedingly quick, and free flowing, this competition is known to be a driver and fan favorite, one Tilley and Whitteridge are eager to experience for themselves.

In addition to being codrivers on the rally stages, the teammates have a lot of experience together in both vintage and modern racing with Whitteridge playing a large role in engineering for both Era Motorsport programs. Whitteridge’s vast technical knowledge and passion for the sport, as well as the friendship shared by the pair are sure to be an added bonus for the duo in their first excursion into the world of rally racing.

Ojibwe Forests Rally is both beautiful and challenging with idealistic landscapes, changing road conditions, photo ready jumps, and roads that are occasionally no wider than the car. Competitors write their own pace notes in what is known as a recce where participants drive the course at slow speeds before the official competition stages begin, composing their own road map for the team to follow as they race through the forest full tilt. It is an entirely different type of partnership for the pairing of Tilley and Whitteridge, and one they are looking forward to exploring.

Unlike the other events Era Motorsport competes in, Tilley and Whitteridge will race the clock instead of going head-to-head with fellow entrants. With fifteen stages to tackle, competitors are set off at minute intervals to try to set the best time for each sector. To win the rally, the team must complete all stages in the least amount of time.

For Tilley, a life-long Colin McRae fan, this foray into rally racing is long overdue. “Rallying has always been one of my favorite disciplines in racing. There is such an art to finding the balance of the car in the varying road and weather conditions. It’s all about car control and exploring the limits of what the driver and car can do together. The variability of the courses is exciting and intriguing to me.”

The rally is open to spectators and free to the public. Fans can follow live streaming coverage at www.ojibweforestrally.com/live as well as track the car’s times and locations through each stage by downloading the RallySafe app available on both the Apple and Android devices.

DRIVER QUOTES:

TIM WHITTERIDGE I’m really excited to take our technical knowledge of motorsport and apply it to the world of rally and see how we stack up against our competition. Kyle and I share a passion for rally and we think our engineer to driver relationship will translate nicely to a driver to co-driver relationship. We're both really excited to try our hand at something completely different!

KYLE TILLEY The dynamics of driving on a loose surface has always been fascinating to me, so I’m excited to go and take on this new challenge. I’m looking forward to exploring the limits on what are supposed to be some of the best driving and rally roads that North America has to offer.

SCHEDULE:

Friday, August 27

1:30 p.m. Stage 1: Crossroads

2:05 p.m. Stage 2: Steamboat

2:45 p.m. Stage 3: Thorpe Tower

3:05 p.m. Stage 4: Refuge

5:05 p.m. Stage 5: Crossroads

5:40 p.m. Stage 6: Steamboat

6:20 p.m. Stage 7: Thorpe Tower

6:40 p.m. Stage 8: Refuge

Saturday, August 28

10:35 a.m. Stage 9: Height O’ Land