Build vs Buy - the untold stories...

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ryolse

And that brings me to my biggest question. How does everyone else manage to do it? I’m asking this question very seriously too. So much that I’m willing to ask how people do it when I’ve been keeping expenses low on my $55-$65k yearly take home earnings.

If you want to see a Stage Rally from inside the car. Go the route of what 1 of the newer locals has been doing the last 2 years and become a CO-Driver for someone who somehow pulls money out of thin air. And when they aren't driving sell yourself to the next highest bidder. Then you won’t find yourself spending money on anything at an event. Trying to come up with a Rally that he hasn't chimed in on about having been there has become rather annoying.

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MConte05

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ryolse
And that brings me to my biggest question. How does everyone else manage to do it? I’m asking this question very seriously too. So much that I’m willing to ask how people do it when I’ve been keeping expenses low on my $55-$65k yearly take home earnings.

It sounds like you just aren't that good at saving money honestly.... I take home the same amount, I own a home, have a $1000+ a month mortgage, a rally car that has done 5 events, with two more planned in the next 4 months, and I even got my dream car a few months ago (supercharged Lotus Elise) that I make payments on. No credit cards, no student loans.

I still manage to have money to do a few events a year. Realistically I could do four events a year. This year I did two since I was saving money for a week long honeymoon at an all-inclusive resort ($$$, but only get to honeymoon once! (hopefully)) as well as helping pay for my wedding that is next week. So this year I limited myself to the two local races which are a few hours away.

I got extremely lucky with my car, and got a logbooked car in decent shape for $1800 plus some WRX brakes from a kid who had no idea what he had out in Nashville, TN. I put maybe $1-2k into it with new safety gear and the misc stuff to do my first stage rally. Crashed it on the second to last stage, still had a blast. Spent $1k on a parts car, swapped engine and driveline, got some nice suspension, and went and did two events on that setup. Then got a nicer engine, better drivetrain, and now it's pretty well setup. I have put farrrr less than what some people are asking for a built OL car (which I think some prices are outrageous... but people are paying them ), and it's very well setup for a newbie. I feel like I am only at maybe 75% of the cars capability. Hoping to learn more over the next few events, then maybe step up and build my own OL killer car using the lessons I've learned from racing in this Legacy. Hopefully sell the legacy to someone else who can use it as their first stage rally car and get as much enjoyment out of it as I have.

I have footed most of the bills for the races, my best friend who is my co-driver will chip in for gas or hotel most of the time, but the entry fees, notes, hotel, fuel, etc. that lands mostly on me, I pay maybe... 80-90% of it. But that's what I expect for being a driver, everyone else is helping YOU to have fun, so I think it's insulting to expect them to pay for things.

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ryolse
After years of beating the crap out of the car I’m confident the car/engine is reliable with the only issues having been typical sensors on a 230k mileage car. I think I'm going to buy a 4.44 transmission (and rear) in the next month as long as it doesn’t get bought by someone else first. And the reason I want the 4.44 is because I'm not enjoying bouncing off the Rev limiter at Hill Climbs only to then shift and find myself bogged down in the useless 2,500-3,000 RPM range. After that I’ll get ahead of the game try to put away $3k for Idaho next year. Followed by swapping to a Mid 2000s 2.5L NA motor.

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MConte05
Herein is a problem. You complain about not having enough to get on stage, but you want to go and drop an entire events worth of money on a transmission because you THINK you'll need it?

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MConte05
Herein is a problem. You complain about not having enough to get on stage, but you want to go and drop an entire events worth of money on a transmission because you THINK you'll need it?

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DaveK
Therein lies the issue...to build for rally or hillclimb?

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MeCalledEvan

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Doivi Clarkinen

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reecers
yea but aren't they babying the car and just trying to survive? That is what I don't understand. Why would you want a car built with gum and ductape and not even begin to push the limits. This is coming from the couch potato I am lol, but I watch as many North american rally vids as I can find.

Trust me, 20-30 years ago most of the cars, at least at the club level, were built with gum and duct tape and we were not babying them. (Right, Gene?) Back then coilovers were not the norm but an extreme exception. A hot suspension was some GAB struts and maybe some stiffer springs. I had some nice DeCarbon rally shocks that JV got me and some Volvo wagon springs on my Opel Manta. That was actually fancier than a lot of the cars. Drum rear brakes, a welded diff and Sears retread snow tires and we drove the piss out of it. I'm sure I had less than $1500 in my first rally car that I built from scratch when I first hit the stages and that includes paying somebody else (a whopping $350) to build the rollcage. Car prep has elevated exponentially over the years.

But other than the increased cost of roll cage and safety equipment, is there any reason to not start out in rally by doing something like this?

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HiTempguy
My 2 cents:

Most don't have the wherewithal/planning capabilities/long term goal setting to build a car, myself included.

This is an issue because if you are building a car on a budget, it is UNLIKELY you will have that budget set aside from the get go with the money in hand.

So you plunk down $500 at a time. A year goes by, and you've lost interest.

Also, costs go up astronomically when you run into a situation (and have budgeted) that you ARE able to do something and end up not being able to do it. Also also, project creep is MUCH easier when you are given the option to do stuff.

And finally, hitting the stages in a car (as long as it finishes) and getting seat time is much more valuable than the time spent building a car, which can reach into the thousands of hours amounts of time. Even with an already built car, if you want it to be able to finish a rally, there is some serious prep-work that needs to be put in after buying one (unless you just dropped $30+k, but even then).

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ryolse
And for the record, it was a $1k transmission when it went for sale in April and is now at $650 locally.

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starion887

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MeCalledEvan
But other than the increased cost of roll cage and safety equipment, is there any reason to not start out in rally by doing something like this?

No reason that I can think of......

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NoCoast
Then Dave moved into the shop and spread out and there's not any room to work anymore.

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NoCoast
But at this point, I can't afford a head gasket (have two sitting on the shelf) or new head bolts (do we really have to replace those?) and blah blah blah excuses.

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DaveK

Tell you what, instead of paying you in cash when you're done with the cage in Allison's car, I'll get you a head gasket and head bolts...and some cash.

Dave