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We are #UnitedByHorsepower.
@andy_lilienthal & @mercedes_lilienthal
Our rigs: #TravelTractor, #TerraTractor, and 2022 Crosstrek
#crankshaftculture

Official AROO Rally Cup #1 results posted: We took

Official AROO Rally Cup #1 results posted: We took 2nd place in Standard Class! 👊 @andy_lilienthal was the driver, and @mercedes_lilienthal was the navigator.

The Mint 400 had some awesome race cars and equall

The Mint 400 had some awesome race cars and equally cool cars on display. We put together a gallery of some of faves. Link to story in bio.

We spent part of last week at our first Mint 400 d

We spent part of last week at our first Mint 400 desert race. Andy was there to cover Chad Hall's run in the @chevrolet Silverado EV ZR2 race truck. It was a great experience, and you can see his coverage at @thegearjunkie with link to story in bio. Photo by @andy_lilienthal

Happy International Women's Day! We're celebrating

Happy International Women's Day! We're celebrating all the women out there, especially those breaking boundaries. If someone says you can't do something, prove them wrong.

The Chevrolet Silverado EV race truck at the Mint

The Chevrolet Silverado EV race truck at the Mint 400. It's got all the chops to go racing, but is almost a production truck. Rolls on 37" BFG KM3s, Method wheels, lots of KC lights, and a roll cage are among its mods, not to mention a lifted suspension and Multimatic shocks. Race day is tomorrow!

You know, just a other day in Las Vegas. OK, OK, t

You know, just a other day in Las Vegas. OK, OK, these two "cars" were right at the beginning of the Mint 400 parade down the strip. Chewbacca looks to be having a good time though.

MAJOR NEWS: We're partnering with @subaru_usa to c

MAJOR NEWS: We're partnering with @subaru_usa to conquer the TransAmerica Trail! This will be another endurance-based endeavor, but a much different one than the 2022 @alcan5000 rally with the manufacturer.

The TransAmerica Trail, or TAT for short, is a cross-country trail system spanning appr. 4,253 miles across the United States—primarily off-road. We’re in the process of modifying a 2025 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness with the automaker, including key upgrades and specific gear to help make our month-long effort a successful one.

We've been working behind the scenes on TAT for multiple months, and we're excited to finally share the news! @andy_lilienthal will be the driver, and @mercedes_lilienthal will be the navigator.

Check out @mercedes_lilienthal's latest feature via @ovrmag as we share tons of TAT details (link in bio)! Lots more coming via social media and more as we explain more about the TransAmerica Trail, how we plan to navigate it, the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness and why we chose it, and what products/upgrades we're doing to it so it's ready for our self-supported mission. Things kick off in just over three months! 📸: @mercedes_lilienthal

@subaru_usa
@bfgoodrichtires
@bajadesigns
@rallyinnovations
@primitiveracing
@arb4x4usa
@rigdsupply
@ecoflowtech
@reikawheels
@maxtraxhq
@factor55

A few snaps from today's @portlandcarsandcoffee --

A few snaps from today's @portlandcarsandcoffee -- do you have a fave?

The 2025 @oregonautoshow is NOW! Catch it in actio

The 2025 @oregonautoshow is NOW! Catch it in action this weekend as the latest vehicles and unique rides are showcased. It's at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland and ends today.

Part 2 is LIVE. Just over seven months ago, we, @a

Part 2 is LIVE. Just over seven months ago, we, @andy_lilienthal, as the driver and @mercedes_lilienthal, as the navigator, embarked on an insane trip: visiting 10 countries in about 5 weeks—9 of those being Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland for the 2024 Superlative Adventure Club Baltic Sea Circle Rally. The BSCR is the northernmost rally in the world: nine countries, 16 days, and nearly 5,000 miles. And, we were the only EV team this year (driving an early-gen 2024 German-market Volkswagen ID. Buzz van) and the first non-European team to compete in and successfully finish the BSCR with one. This is Part 2 depicting daily happenings. This story (link in bio) is the second of four installments of Crankshaft Culture coverage, sharing what happens. We roll north in Norway to Nordkapp (the North Cape), the northernmost point you can drive to in Europe. We almost didn't make it! Mercedes documents Days 5-8 via verbiage as well as reel videos. Part 1 is also on our website, and Parts 3 and 4 will come later.

RALLY RECAP: After two challenging days driving in

RALLY RECAP: After two challenging days driving in the Canadian snow, darkness, ice, and more, we, @andy_lilienthal as the driver and @mercedes_lilienthal as the navigator, came from behind to win the 2025 Thunderbird Rally Calculator Class! We also finished near the top teams that only used a calculator or paper to figure out incremental times to complete the 560-mile road rally boasting 72 checkpoints and 8 TSD regularities.

Twenty-eight talented teams vied for top spots in Novice, Paper, Calculator, and Unlimited classes. We learned this rally circuit allows Novices to run unlimited equipment (i.e. rally computers, apps, or anything else they want) compared to other rally organizations. This allows new teams the chance to learn as they go, honing skills with real-time aids that tell them if they're early or late as they drive. We were told most of the novice teams ran unlimited equipment.

After Day 1, we were behind by only 14 points but made up the difference and then some to get gold. This was our first time competing with this rally circuit, Rally BC/West Coast Rally Association. Can't wait for the next one!

BIG congrats to all winners and finishers. It was no easy competition! Also, thanks to all the rally volunteers, sweeps, and the organization. It was well-run and fun, creating unlimited wintertime memories.

Partners:
@bfgoodrichtires
@reikawheels
@primitiveracing
@rallyinnovations
@_lightforce
@namelessperformance
@ecohitch_usa
@packasport
@factor55
@cravenspeed

RALLY RECAP: It's Day 1 of the 2025 Thunderbird Ra

RALLY RECAP: It's Day 1 of the 2025 Thunderbird Rally in Canada! This time-speed-distance competition is a fast-paced snow road rally. Today's run consists of 4 TSD regularities with transits in between, totaling 320 miles (515 km) if you stay on course.

As car #8 of 28 total vehicles, we, @andy_lilienthal and @mercedes_lilienthal, left before 10:38 am so we could calibrate our odometer. We wanted to arrive within time to start our first TSD rally at our 11:38 am out time.

We encountered a little dry pavement, lots of gravel, and increasing amounts of slippery snow-packed roads. We toured through stunning scenery as I called out incremental times and route directions Andy had to hit perfectly (not early and not late). Who knew there'd be so many CGs (cattle guards)?

The sun waned into darkness, and we, along with the entire rally group, faced our toughest challenge of the event: the Headwaters regularity. This nighttime TSD stage gave us heavy snowfall, with several inches of soft snow already on the ground. We fought hard to keep pace, but conditions were too treacherous to do so.

I started taking time allowances for lost time. Then we started seeing stuck rally cars. Vehicles with more ground clearance pressed on, and we made it just over eight miles in before our vehicle slid into a snowbank.

Thankfully, our @primitiveracing skid plates proved their worth, keeping snow out of the engine bay and protecting our underside. We used @maxtraxhq recovery boards and a shovel, and along with our @factor55 HitchLink 2.0 recovery point and @warnindustries Epic hard shackle and the kindness of a fellow competitor in a Jeep Wrangler, we got unstuck and continued on as 1 of 6 rigs that made it through. The other vehicles were turned around, and all but the first checkpoint of that regularity was scrapped. That's rally.

It's about car culture and the rally community. People helped each other get unstuck and checked on one another. It's one of the many reasons why we love TSD rally so much. After nearly 11 challenging hours on the road, we made it back, unpacked, and made it in time for a quick dinner and a beer. Stay tuned for Day 2 and the rally finish!

RALLY RECAP: We, @andy_lilienthal as the driver an

RALLY RECAP: We, @andy_lilienthal as the driver and @mercedes_lilienthal as the navigator, are headed from Oregon to Merritt, British Columbia in Canada to compete in the two-day snow-filled 2025 @rallybc Thunderbird Rally! We left early in the morning after packing vehicle recovery gear, winter clothing and necessities, rally items for navigation, and Bert, our traveling bunny, our good luck charm.

Driving rain changed to snow flurries. Then a winter storm warning began as we crossed over Hope and finally into Merritt with our buddy car and Alcan 5000 Rally friends Shane Bowman (driver) and John Williams (navigator) in their 2019 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. We, in our 2022 Subaru Crosstrek, will run as car #8, and they are car #21.

Time to unload our gear, get some grub, and prep for Day 1! You'll not want to miss what happens during our 10-hour day. Gravel, snow, ice, and more! Stay tuned.

We, @andy_lilienthal as the driver and @mercedes_l

We, @andy_lilienthal as the driver and @mercedes_lilienthal as the navigator, just WON the 2025 @rallybc Thunderbird Rally Calculator Class!

We just got back from Canada after competing in the two-day snow-laden time-speed-distance road rally. We covered appr. 560 miles in two days of competition and crossed off 72 checkpoints over eight time-speed-distance regularities. And ... we won our class!!

We competed as part of the Calculator Class, which means Mercedes needed to use her brain, long-form equations, and nothing more than a simple calculator to figure out exactly to the second when we need to arrive to one point from the last. Hard work and little sleep!

There were two cars in our class: us in our all-wheel-drive Subaru Crosstrek, and a talented Canadian team, more experienced than us, driving a front-wheel-drive Acura CSX (which we didn't get in the U.S.).

After Day 1, we were behind by only 14 points, but we pushed hard in challenging road conditions and won our class! This was our first time competing with this rally circuit, Rally BC/West Coast Rally Association.

Andy was a driving champ. We faced driving rain, slushy bits, and deep snow for this quick-paced rally. It was a driver's event for sure. We honed our communication with kilometers (vs. miles) as this is the first time we competed with that distance unit together. We got stuck in a snowbank only once at night when the snow was really deep. But no harm was done to our car and we carried on as only 1 of 6 cars that completed the last TSD regularity. That part of the stage (except for its first checkpoint) was scrapped due to tough conditions with several cars getting stuck.

We're so excited to have scooped a class win when our goal was to finish strong. HUGE congrats to all winners and finishers for a job well done! Also, a big thanks to all of the rally volunteers, sweeps, and the organization. These events can’t happen without you.

Partners:
@bfgoodrichtires
@reikawheels
@primitiveracing
@rallyinnovations
@_lightforce
@namelessperformance
@ecohitch_usa
@packasport
@factor55
@cravenspeed

A quick snapshot of a few of the 28 entries to the

A quick snapshot of a few of the 28 entries to the 2025 Thunderbird Rally. Day 2 starts soon!

Even after several years of ownership after we bui

Even after several years of ownership after we built it up, our #TerraTractor Pajero is our steadfast companion. It doesn't matter if we're rallying in the Arctic during -43° temps or road trippin' to Canada and back, we're continually impressed by this workhorse 4x4.
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#mitsubishi #mitsulife #pajero #JDM #RHD #diesel #turbo #boosted #crankshaftculture #everyvehicleisanadventure #unitedbyhorsepower #adventure4x4 #adventuremobile #4x4 #4wd #turbodiesel #mitsubishipajero #mitsulife #mitsulove #mypajerobuild #peoeep

Our '22 Subaru Crosstrek 2.0 (6mt) isn't the faste

Our '22 Subaru Crosstrek 2.0 (6mt) isn't the fastest car, but it's been a great cross-county cruiser. We recently went from Oregon to Wisconsin and back in pretty much every driving condition and it didn't flinch.

Our own @mercedes_lilienthal's latest @nytimes pri

Our own @mercedes_lilienthal's latest @nytimes print feature chronicles three small indie shops that started from scratch without college degrees and became successful. Buddies (@buddiesbk) in Brooklyn, NY, Out of the Box Coffee House (@outoftheboxcoffee) in Wisconsin Rapids, WI, and Biscuits To Baskets (@biscuitstobaskets) in Toronto, Canada, are totally different from each other and their owners have unique tales to tell about their background and evolution. Grab a copy on newsstands today (or visit our link in bio for the online version) to check out this uplifting story. Praying for those affected by the L.A. fires. 🙏

Gear Garage: We're testing @full.windsor's Magware

Gear Garage: We're testing @full.windsor's Magware camping products! Their plates, bowls, and utensils nest together with magnets, making them space-saving and rattle free. Stay tuned as we travel with them and serve various foods on them. Article soon!

Six months to the day, we, @andy_lilienthal, as th

Six months to the day, we, @andy_lilienthal, as the driver and @mercedes_lilienthal, as the navigator, finished the 2024 Superlative Adventure Club Baltic Sea Circle Rally! Nine countries, 16 days, and nearly 5,000 miles of EV rallying. We created an article on our daily depictions and video content. This story (link in our bio) is Part 1 of our @CrankshaftCulture coverage showcasing our daily experiences. Mercedes documents each day via verbiage as well as reel videos for the rally prep and Days 1-4 of the northernmost rally in the world. Parts 2, 3, and 4 will come later!

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Recent Posts

The Cars of the 2025 Mint 400
We’re Running the TransAmerica Trail in a 2025 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness
Part 2: Days 5–8 of the 2024 Baltic Sea Circle Rally with a Volkswagen ID. Buzz EV
Part 1: Days 1-4 of the 2024 Baltic Sea Circle Rally with a Volkswagen ID. Buzz EV
A Very Presidential 1987 Nissan President — and it’s For Sale

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