Any one else following the pair of Outlander XLS' running in the Alcan 5000 Winter Rally? From what I have read so far, it is a pair of bone stock XLS Outlanders running from Washington State to Alaska and most of the way back on a time speed distance rally. Not a full out race,but there is some racing in between timed legs of the rally. It will be intersting to see if the Outlanders are durable enough for this. I think this will help answer a lot of the questions that so many people have had around the 4WD system and its durability. Looks like swithing to 16" winter tires is the only modification they made other than roof racks and timing equipment in one of the vehicles.

http://www.team-mitsubishi-alcan.com/

 

wow! its the first time ive read about somethimg like this....extreme rallying indeed
im already hooked and i hope team mitsubishi gives a good showing
now the outties will have a chance to show the stuff theyre really made of

 

Go Team Mitsubishi Alcan hope they do well so they can prove to the world what the outlander is capable to do and how reliable it is.

 

They already pulled a WRX out that was stuck.

http://www.team-mitsubishi-alcan.com.../matts-blog/88

 

That's really cool. It's nice they have all those sponsors kicking in some gear.

Having owned Subura's they are pretty good in the snow, so I have a feeling that pulling thatone out is more due to driver error than vehicle performance.

Are those XL's or XLS's? The wheels look to be the 16"ersfrom the XL model. Maybe they just used the smaller rims for better control in the snow.

 

thats awesome....would love to do something like this myself

 

You know,I've been womdering how functional our skidplate isin thesnow? It seems to be able to do the job just fine, but makes me doubt itevery time I tap on it and hear that plastic sound. Anyone have any experience when encountering heavy patches of snow with the front skid plate, how does it hold up..ect.

 

From reading about the vehicles, it does appear that they had custom skidplates made for their Outlanders. The plastic is not going to do much!

 

Our plastic skid plates are for deflecting small rocks and road debris rather than serious offroading. The platic ones work well for that, but believe me they won't hold up to a dirt pile or snow pile more than once. I tore one off of a Pathfinder going into a high snow drift and I've seen friends rip holes in theirskid platesin similar situations. If you plan to offroad invest in a metal one.