From the land of WorldRallySport.com comes Francisco La Torre and this story from Rally America driver Andi Mancin.

Mancin has set out to change the face of action sports in Europe through his newly announced PROJECT 176. Mancin, who is also an avid snowboarder and snowmobile racer, has teamed up with other Polish and European action sports athletes to produce a film that incorporates elements of all their respective disciplines in the same setting.

Project 176 will package rallying with snowboarding, snowmobiling, FMX, karting and more. Although this concept is nothing new to American audiences, the ultimate goal of the Project is to popularize action sports in Europe where they are not as mainstream. At the same time, Mancin will portray rally as the extreme sport of the car racing world to a culture that has traditionally viewed it exclusively as a motorsport.

Mancin s vision for the development of Project 176 can be traced back to when he first watched the ESPN X Games on television from his home in Europe. Andi s experiences rallying in the U.S. and eventually competing in the Rally Car Racing segment of the X Games himself have been his greatest source of inspiration for Project 176. Mancin said, I wish that some day in Europe [there] will be event like X Games in USA. What I saw last year at X Games 15 I will remember 'till the end of my life!

Mancin went from watching his crossover heroes like Travis Pastrana and Ken Block on T.V. to racing against them regularly. The influence that these action sports icons had on Mancin is undeniable, but he is intent on distinguishing Project 176 from the work they have done. Mancin promises this will not be a Gymkhana rip-off. He said, We don t want to copy the ideas and videos of Ken Block. We will create our own project.

Filming has already begun and scenes for Project 176 are being shot in Poland, Greece, and Italy. The Project is using Phantom HD high speed cameras and RED Digital Cinema cameras to ensure stunning production with crisp detail and a helicopter will also be used to capture aerial footage. The rally car featured in Project 176 is a Mitsubishi EVO, but is not the same car Mancin runs in the Rally America Championship with Maciej Wislawski. Of course, the Project wouldn t be complete without a massive rally car jump, so Mancin has vowed to launch this EVO over 190 feet!

A preview of PROJECT 176 will be released sometime next month and the full video is expected to drop this September. Don t miss it.

View teaser PHOTOS from Project 176 on WorldRallySport.com:
www.worldrallysport.com/node/6102

Coming Soon - The Official Project176 website:
project176.com