Best option for a starter car

Try to stick with a proven platform, it will save you headaches down the road (instead of on the side of it).

Fwd- VW Golf or Jetta, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla

Rwd- 510, Xratty, RX7, Volvo 240, pre 86 Corolla, Celica or Supra, or Toyota, Nissan, Ranger PU (not kidding). You can build the shit out of a truck for not much $..ever see CORR or stadium racing?

AWD- Legacy (2.2NA, turbos harder to source parts),GC/GM/GF Impreza, Audi 4kq or 80/90 5cyl (find a parts car too). GTXs, Galants, DSMs,and All Tracs are far harder to run cost effectively due to parts availability.

Whatever you start with, accept that it most likely will wind up in a ditch or on the lid..Be ready to fix it. Much easier to do with readily available parts.. Think spares.. Straight and rust free are key to a good foundation to build upon.

.02

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Build the car, race the car, crash the car, fix the car..Repeat

Barrett, what do you think of the FWD SubRat, I drove Gean and Brent's that I think you own now and rather liked it. I kept forgetting it was FWD and that messed up a few turns LOL but other than that in its basic form I thought it was better than a Golf of equal (low) build level.

It could be that later on as the cars evolved the golf could get a lot better and the rat might only get a little better so that may be a big problem in the long run but as I said in the short term for a starter car the FWD thing was not bad at all.

I wonder if there are decent gears and power upgrades for the N/A subrats?

Derek

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In the long run reality always wins.

Hey Garrett,

Welcome and best of luck. I like your age description.....! You can count on us down here in Afton VA for support: rules understanding, car advice, issuing log book, getting hooked up with events and other personnel, etc. Been at this almost 30 years and my son about 8. If you can, get involved in the rallcrosses down in Orange VA; not too far from you and usually 6 events per year.

Also, please try to make it out for Rally West VA on the weekend of Aug 3-4; we could use your help and will make sure you get put to work and see things to learn the ropes. I'll PM here with out phone number and email; I prefer phone.

Regards,
Mark B.

derek Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Barrett, what do you think of the FWD SubRat, I
> drove Gean and Brent's that I think you own now
> and rather liked it. I kept forgetting it was FWD
> and that messed up a few turns LOL but other than
> that in its basic form I thought it was better
> than a Golf of equal (low) build level.
>
> It could be that later on as the cars evolved the
> golf could get a lot better and the rat might only
> get a little better so that may be a big problem
> in the long run but as I said in the short term
> for a starter car the FWD thing was not bad at
> all.
>
> I wonder if there are decent gears and power
> upgrades for the N/A subrats?
>
> Derek

Derek,

Funny thing is after I posted, I thought "Damn, forgot about the Fwd Subies".. but I know how so many folks despise the sea of blue already..Some of us liked/drove them before they we're cool..

They do make a great starter car. The one you mentioned is getting ready for a 2.2 swap, shorter gears (4:11 or 4:44), and a LSD in the near future.

Also, they come with a good bit of travel stock, and getting more is pretty easy with out f-ing up the front end geometry/axles a la VW.. That's the biggest issue with the Mk2..You start to get them near the proper rally ride height and the axles fall apart. Even with custom axles (as you know better than most), they can still be a bit of an issue.

Don't forget the 2wd Pickups..

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Build the car, race the car, crash the car, fix the car..Repeat

I will say this about the Golf and making it go really fast:

As I got faster and faster I broke a lot of stuff, when I broke that stuff I took parts and ideas off subarus to make the golf better.

When I go out and look at my 2005 Legacy GT street car I see many ways the car is much better than any rally car I have ever messed with. Rally has been in the blood of Subaru for so long now the lessons learned have made their way into the basic cars and thus it is much less work to make them into good rally cars then almost any other brand.

Now when I talked to the Brits back in the day they all said get a GpN MisterBichty Evo IV but we never got that car and the support for MrBitchy is not the same as for Subrats so there you have it.

At the end of the day there is one very good reason there are so many Subrats on the stage - they are easy to make fairly good, add safty gear, struts and go rally, not many other cars you can do that with. A WRX has good brakes, good power, good strut tops, etc.

So let me know if you need someone to show a FWD Subrat can be fast at Doo Wops

Derek

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In the long run reality always wins.

So Derek,

Would you still recommend a mk2 Gti with group A's as a beginner car?
Your opinion might not matter to me at this point since I am nearly committed to buying one but since you are one of the few drivers in the US I admire I would like to know anyway...

Thanks,
Oscar

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

How did my age description become that?

Garrettmc Wrote:
I live in
> northern VA and want to go see some events but it
> doesnt seem that 2007 events have been listed
> anywhere, unless im just slow. > - Garrett

Garret, if you want to shoot the shit sometime, I am in NoVa about 5 miles from McLean and we can talk about rally, kick tires and share some advice from one young rallyist to another.

703-371-5084

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____________________________________________________________-

One. Class -- 2WD

www.quantumrallysport.com

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Quantum-Rally-Sport/281129179600?ref=nf

I would recomend a golf as I think they are a well proven FWD car to rally in with good parts avaible, just understand that at some point many issues will need to be addressed, they are not get out your check book and buy off parts ready to bold on.

I had an issue with the rear bolt on the a-arm, I had many issues with this and finaly had to have a custome button built of a larger size and get Art Burmister to make some inserts that could last.

The car nees a plate limited slip or poss welded diff for sure

Something needs to be done about axles when you make power.

The A-arms need plating

The rear beam needs something and the fuel tank is in the way... This likely caused my last exit from a rally, I am fairly sure that I bent the rear beam in a mid turn bump and that is what caused the rather nasty crash at the next high speed right turn... I was taking it easy as I was leading Gp2 at that point and we had already rolled the car in the monring stages - I had plenty of drama for a day but still we got caught out and that sucked...

The Strut Tops suck and need help

The motormounts suck and need help

All of these things can be fixed but take time and effort.

That said when done I know the Golf will make results, no one ever anywhere ever has made top results in a FWD Subaru... Having driven one once with out a stop watch back to back with a mild buit golf in a 2nd gear course I thought the Subaru showed promise but how much I do not know further testing would need to be done and that is kinda what I was asking Barrett about. If when he is done fixing it up I would love to drive it and the Golf he built around the ORV park with timing and see what the results are.

My thoughts above are more about WRX's running AWD - people run them cause the are easy to run and though it bores me to death I understand why that is what we got in rallys right now. Also if people drove the WRX's has hard as they could then they would likely not bore us so much...

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In the long run reality always wins.

Derek - I'm contemplating looking into getting this car - weighing the pros and cons. At first blush, what do you think of it?

http://www.specialstage.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=255&cat=13

Thanks for any help or advice,
Eli

I can tell you that Rem is trustworthy and the car should be built well.

I've recommended that car to many wanna-be rallyists locally. You couldn't replicate it for $6500.

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Grant Hughes

I think the value is there.

I would ask if he has power steering what type of pads the brakes are.

I would also ask for some photos of the cage.

Rem seems like a good guy I have talked to him on the phone several times.

How can you loose vers build your self - the DMS alone is $4500 and that does not include all the hell we (rem and I) had to deal with to make them fit!

The 02A gearbox is thought to be stronger and has more parts (gear kits and diff's) around as the 020 is rather old now.

Derek

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In the long run reality always wins.

OK thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

Eli

Eli,

Rem's cage is basically good, but the door bars need to be cut out and redone. Also, to run in RA events it needs a bulkhead built over the fuel cell. The rest of the car is fine.

Note that it's a CRS-2 car, not P-Stock.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

Now i've seen his pics in the SS thread about door bars and while they look unconventional, there is no evidence that they will fare better or worse in a crash is there? (Other than people's opinions?) I really dont want to bring the design up in a public forum, esp since it isn't my car, so perhaps you could PM or email me. darthgilb@yahoo.com

I know about the bulkhead, and since I'll only be running NASA events the first few seasons, that's no problem. And about the classing, i'm aware of that too.

thanks for the input michel!




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2007 10:53AM by gilbrock.