It’s not every day you happen upon a treasure trove like this one — a hangar full of some of the most sought after and legendary rally and sports cars in the world.
The cars form the collection of one man and a mission – to use, enjoy and teach others about the joys of rallying and racing.
This is also a place where you can get hands-on with real racing machines and learn how to drift among the trees yourself with the smell of gasoline all around you.
We look at the DirtFish school initiative and the cars, plus see what the Petersen Automotive Museum and Global Garage can unearth in that amazing hangar.
DirtFish: A Place You Can Go To Be A Rally Driver For The Day
First, the location. It’s all kinds of awesome with 300 acres of track and teaching facilities combined with 27 miles of drivable off-road track, the place is perfect for learning to drive.
Moving around DirtFish Rally School, we pass by the simulator room with screens, steering wheels, and bucket seats for getting to grips with the basics before you head out in the real deal — a modern Subaru prepped for the track.
On the dirt, you can see cars power sliding around and driving like the pros. Everyone who works here is passionate about cars, rallying and teaching.
Based out of Washington State, the initiative also offers women only days and tickets sell out usually within hours.
The Cars: A Hangar Full Of Rally Car Classics Allows Us To Dream
Stepping inside the treasure trove that is the personal collection of Steve, who is at the helm of the DirtFish school, we get to see some great examples of rally and race cars from the last century — some of which are genuine championship-winning vehicles.
From Ford, we see an Escort, Sierra, Capri and the awesome homologation RS200 — a crazy 445 hp, 360 lb-ft four-wheel-drive, mid-engined rally monster.
Also parked up in this innocuous location is a Mercedes-Benz 190E, BMW M3, Lancia Delta, Lancia 037, Audi Quattro, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, Renault 5 Turbo 2, various Subarus, a Citroën BX 4TC and an MG Metro 6R4.
Steve’s children also managed to inherit the gearhead addiction growing up, and appear briefly to explain how they got the racing bug growing up.
Group B racing in the mid-80s was an awesome-yet dangerous affair that was the raison d'être for some truly outstanding lightweight and monstrously powerful creations. The level of performance became its downfall as some big accidents and fatalities brought Group B rallying to an end.
Now these cars remain monuments to the great drivers and machines, and an amazing collection for a man who stuck with his boyhood dream.
Source: Petersen Automotive Museum via YouTube