Making TRAX at SEMA 2009 With Ken Block's STi

American Rally driver Ken Block came up with the wild idea to make the world's fastest snow cat out of a rally-prepped Subaru Impreza WRX STi so he can shred up the 'DC Mountain Lab' like no one ever has before - in a race car!

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Today was the opening day of SEMA 2009 (massive automotive trade show held in Las Vegas) and Block's Trax Sti car was on display along with a matching sleigh that had been custom designed to haul DC snowboarders behind this incredible machine...but don't fool yourself into thinking that this beast of a sled is merely a display-only item. The Trax STi was built with purpose and makes tearing through deep powder look effortless and ridiculously fun!

I caught up with Dan Anctil and WeeGee Smith from Vermont SportsCar, the shop that runs Subaru Rally Team USA and was hired by Block to build the Trax STi. Dan and WeeGee explained to me how these creations went from idea to reality and you can hear it directly from them too by clicking on the links found below.

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CLICK HERE to listen to Dan talk about building the car:
http://www.worldrallysport.com/files/sema1.mp3

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CLICK HERE to listen to WeeGee talk about building the sleigh:
http://www.worldrallysport.com/files/sema2.mp3

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More PHOTOS of the Trax STi car and sleigh on display at SEMA can be seen on World Rally Sport here: http://www.worldrallysport.com/node/4798

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I rolled up to SEMA with Gary Grahn, Crew Chief for the newly formed WHITE FROG RACING crew, and Gary recently had surgery on his foot so he was hobbling around the showroom floor on a cane, in a fresh cast getting sympathy from the all booth babes we stopped to talk to.

When we were checking out the Trax car up close with Dan, Gary enthusiastically pointed out that his bright neon yellow "Vegas" cast matched the paint on the tracks exactly. Now we just have to find some DC and Subaru stickers to slap on it and he's set!

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