RACING BACKGROUND

Ryan's talent behind the wheel stems from a multitude of experiences in rally racing, endurance racing, and drifting. This has led to opportunities in motorsport and driving for camera.

It all started at the age of nine, with a two wheel drive Toyota Pickup and a field to practice in. That, mixed with an early ski racing career, meant Ryan felt most at home driving on snowy and slippery surfaces. In high school Ryan started competing in county fair tough truck competitions, and during college, he built a Subaru WRX for rallycross.

From there Ryan has expanded his motorsports resume by renting race cars for events, drifting with Clubloose, and navigating rally events. One of his greatest achievements was setting the fastest 2WD rally car record up Mt. Washington with William Petrow during the Mt. Washington Hillclimb in 2014. Other highlights include piloting a Subaru Impreza in the American Rallycross Championship to third position almost completely blinded by mud on the windscreen. This resulted in a multiple car collision through the finish line, and was featured on The/DRIVE network.

Ryan’s YouTube show Born a Car features a 1988 BMW E30 rally car, which was built and raced in the Empire State Performance Rally, the 15 Hours of Barber Motorsports Park, and 24 Hours of VIR.

Recently Ryan has spent the last three seasons crewing for the #227 Forsberg Racing 370Z driven by Alex Jagger in Formula Drift. Ryan’s background in motorsports with Alex Jagger started in 2015, as his rally navigator in Alex’s Nissan 240SX rally car. Alex and his teammate Matt Bystrak were also featured in the first episode of RadVentures driving their respective drift cars.

Ryan’s shop in western Maine focuses on German cars, mainly VW and BMW. The plan is to keep some of these old chassis running and racing, in autocross, rallycross, ice racing, drifting, and stage rally. Currently Ryan is focused on building a VW Golf MK3 for stage rally, and a BMW E30 for rally and ice drifting.

IN THE GARAGE

  • 1992 VW GOLF MK2

  • 1998 VW GOLF MK3 ‘BLUEBY’

  • 1995 VW GOLF MK3 RALLY CAR

  • 1988 BMW 325IS RALLY/ICE CAR

  • 1992 TOYOTA PICKUP

  • 1996 VW GOLF MK3

  • 2001 VW JETTA MK4

  • 2003 MERCEDES SPRINTER 3500