Team Savage
Sinistra Motors unveiled the Savage in 1965 as a concept, to be produced in 1966. A revolutionary new 464 cubic inch V8 with three valves per cylinder powers the Savage, and a trusty 4 speed manual meant everyone already knew how to drive it.
When Luke Sinistra, the company founder, heard rumors of a rally in 1966, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. As a factory-backed team, they’d have a higher budget, and they had this concept car taking up floor space. “Cars are meant to be driven” after all, and so Luke and the Sinistra Performance Division turned the FWD muscle car into an off-roader to be proud of.
The car was given a stout lift-kit, mostly to fit their Military Surplus off-road tires under the car, the rear seat was removed, and the front buckets replaced. A communications radio was installed in the dash, and the car was given a fresh coat of wax. After all, it won’t do for our concept to be seen looking disgusting before the racing starts. The soft-top was also checked over, and verified that it will go up, and down, under its own power.
Driving for the team is none other than Luke Sinistra himself, and his co-driver is Mark Jasper, an amateur rally enthusiast with 3 races under his belt. There were a few… concerns about the driveline earlier, but Luke insists that they’ll be fine, and that he’s not afraid to show everyone that FWD can handle about as good as RWD offroad. But most importantly, he’s aiming to knock a few of the 4x4 guys down a notch or two.
(Obviously, professional team. Might be amateurs, but they’re factory backed and reusing an old concept car.)