The New England Forest Rally is a performance rally event in New Hampshire and Maine, United States. Originally known as the Maine Forest Rally, it first appeared in 1991 as a winter rally. In the past, the event was part of the SCCA ProRally and Rally America schedule, through 2023 it has been sanctioned by the American Rally Association.
The event is held mainly on logging roads with some of the longest stages in North America rallying. As the event is held during July, the road conditions are often dry and dusty.
In 1994 the Maine Summer Rally was added. The event ran as a 60% National/Divisional and as a full National event starting in 1995. In 1996 an in-town spectator stage was added to the summer event to the delight of the spectators. The most recent in-town stages, held at the Mexico Recreation Area, have featured a 1 meter high man-made jump.
At its peak, the Maine Forest Rally had the highest number of starting cars in the SCCA ProRally series. The 2001 event, with 121 National and ClubRally starting teams, broke the 111 car starting record held by the 2000 Maine Forest Rally. As a bellwether of the event's success, it was voted the SCCA's ProRally of the Year in 1992 and again in 2001.
In 2007, the name of the event was changed to the New England Forest Rally to better reflect the continued growth of the event by expanding to include stages in the city of Berlin, New Hampshire.
During the 2023 Rally the death of competitor and champion co-driver Erin Kelly occurred on the final stage of the competition on Friday just outside Bethel, Maine. Kelly was co-driving with her long-time driver and rally partner, TJ Pullen, at the time of the incident. The 47-year-old Kelly and Pullen had rallied together for several years and won the 2018 ARA East Regional NA4WD championship. The remaining competition was canceled.[1]
Unrelated in the Fall of 2023 ARA and NEFR discussed the availability of roads in the area and the difficulty in finding ways to limit transits. The organizer faced shrinking road availability and used every road available. An exhaustive effort was undertaken, but no solutions were found. Without more stage roads available and rising costs for road usage, the direction was clear. 527 total miles with 112 Stage miles was untenable.
In the Spring of 2024 with no new organizer forthcoming TENNY Consulting LLC a rally organizing group known for the McCreary Gravel Rally based in Stearns, Kentucky took ownership of the event and began the work of reimagining the New England Forest Rally. Work began in earnest on the July 11-12 2025 Regional Rally in August 2024. The event is to be centered around Errol NH in cooperation with local authorities and land owners in the same way they have demonstrated in their organizing of local community based events such as the McCreary Gravel Rallies.
The 1999 event saw 1984 World Rally Champion Stig Blomqvist drive the late Carl Merrill's Ford Escort Cosworth to victory over 83 National and Divisional teams.
In 2007, freestyle motocross star turned rally driver Travis Pastrana drove a Subaru Rally Team USA WRX STi to victory.
Ken Block, co-founder of DC Shoe Co. and rally driver competed at the New England Forest Rally regularly.
John Buffum, the most successful American-born rally driver ever, was a key organizer of the event, and in 2008, he drove his Group B Audi Quattro on the first stage of the event.
| Year | Driver / Navigator | Vehicle | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Paul Choinere Jeff Becker | Audi S2 Quattro | 1:15:43 | ||
| 1995 | Carl Merrill John Bellefluer | Ford Escort Cosworth | 1:57:41 | ||
| 1996 | Paul Choinere Jeff Becker | Hyundai Elantra AWD | 1:55:31 | ||
| 1997 | Frank Sprongl Dan Sprongl | Audi S2 Quattro | 1:48:30 | ||
| 1998 | Paul Choinere Jeff Becker | Hyundai Tiburon | 1:37:47 | ||
| 1999 | Stig Blomqvist Lance Smith | Ford Escort RS Cosworth | 1:39:58 | ||
| 2000 | Paul Choinere Jeff Becker | Hyundai Tiburon AWD | 1:27:52 | ||
| 2001 | Seamus Burke Frank Cunningham | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI | 1:28:44 | ||
| 2002 | Mark Lovell Steve Turvey | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 3:51:18 | ||
| 2003 | David Higgins Daniel Barritt | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII | 1:40:42 | ||
| 2004 | Paul Choinere Jeff Becker | Hyundai Tiburon AWD | 1:29:24 | ||
| 2005 | Patrick Richard Nathalie Richard | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:15:22 | ||
| 2006 | Ramana Lagemann Michael Fennell | Ford Escort RS Cosworth | 1:06:08 | One stage cancelled. | |
| 2007 | Travis Pastrana Christian Bjorn Edstrom | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:11:40 | ||
| 2008 | Niall McShea Marshall Clarke | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution | 1:26:23 | ||
| 2009 | Travis Pastrana Christian Bjorn Edstrom | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:06:55 | 2 stages cancelled. | |
| 2010 | Antoine L'Estage Nathalie Richard | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X | 1:31:41 | ||
| 2011 | Antoine L'Estage Nathalie Richard | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X | 1:32:34 | ||
| 2012 | Antoine L'Estage Nathalie Richard | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X | 1:10:11 | ||
| 2013 | Ken Block Alessandro Gelsomino | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | 1:34:34 | ||
| 2014 | David Higgins Craig Drew | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:24:53 | ||
| 2015 | David Higgins Craig Drew | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:30:19 | ||
| 2016 | Seamus Burke Martin Brady | Mitsubishi Evolution IX | 1:29:33 | ||
| 2017 | Travis Pastrana Robbie Durant & Grzegorz Dorman | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:29:36 | ||
| 2018 | David Higgins Craig Drew | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:13:28 | 3 stages cancelled. | |
| 2019 | David Higgins Craig Drew | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:22:30 | ||
| 2020 | not held | ||||
| 2021 | David Higgins Craig Drew | Ford Fiesta S2000 | 1:23:11 | ||
| 2022 | Brandon Semenuk Keaton Williams | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 1:27:27 | ||
| 2023 | Brandon Semenuk Keaton Williams | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 31:11 | Second leg cancelled due to a fatal accident.[4] [5] | |