Okay, seems most have one or two major obstacles ...

Lets look at just one here - Money, glorious money, that which governs us !

Many folks mentioned money as an obstacle keeping them from more of an involvement in rally. I wonder how this obstacle breaks down ( no pun intended).

1:Money to build and or maintain the rally car ?

2:Money getting back and forth from event/s and lodging ?

3:Money to enter and run an event/s ?

4:Or ? Money related to rally/s ...

---

As always IMHO

SEAN TENNIS KF7JJR
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
SAAB 99, SAAB 850
SAAB V4, SAAB 99T

It's always going to come down to money for rally.

Because if you didn't rally, there wouldn't be the money for tires, oil for an extra vehicle(rally car), extra gas, hotel/camping fees (if applicable)... any expense you spend while going to or at a rally is where the money shortage comes in.

You can say you dont have money for hotel then you cant rally. Then camp. Don't buy a set of tires for that event. You need X amount of money to run a rally. How you divy X up doesnt really matter, as long as the running costs, travel costs, and entry costs are all covered.

---

Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

Number one can be easily spread over time.
Two and three are the ones for me. I hope to recruit a codriver with a tow vehicle in the future. I probably won't run events that require more than one work day off. My personal cap on entry fee is around 650-750. I won't pay more than that. An entry fee that's as much as a intercontinental airfare just is hard to justify.

---

Grant Hughes

To start with, money to even have a space to store and work on a rally car. Damn expensive California real estate!

---

-----------------------------
http://www.max-attack.com

Shenan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To start with, money to even have a space to store
> and work on a rally car. Damn expensive California
> real estate!

Why not move someplace less inflated where rallys are closer. Win/win.
>
> -----------------------------
>

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Skipping from part one to here...

Over 20 years racing but never even saw a rally.
Went to Ivor's (one day) school to see if I had "it"
and if my previously broken back and neck could take
the jumps and bumps.
Found a car I could afford and saw it had a 95%
finishing record (but it was always the last one running).
Brought it home, looked it over and changed
nearly nothing since I knew nothing about rally
but did do some mechanical - like tighten or rivet
- no setup changes.
Time from pickup to race ~ 2 weeks.
Ran that car 16 events in one year while using what it taught me
along with what I knew to build my current car.
The new car has run almost 40 events since 2002 with 90% finishes.

If I had built the first car, I would have used
road racing ideas, DNF'd the first 10 times out
and spent 3X more than the car I bought cost.

Well said Randy. See you at the Pines.

john vanlandingham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why not move someplace less inflated where rallys
> are closer. Win/win.

True, but when I moved here we had 3 rallies within 1-2 hours drive. Plus I like it here, and I'm stuck at least a few more years until I finish school. And the industry that I would like to get into someday is concentrated here. So, I'm screwed.

---

-----------------------------
http://www.max-attack.com

randyzimmer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Skipping from part one to here...
>
>
> If I had built the first car, I would have used
> road racing ideas, DNF'd the first 10 times out
> and spent 3X more than the car I bought cost.

Since I know nearly nothing about road racing and only a tiny bit about rally, all of which is totally outdated and passé, I was curious about that statement 3 times as much and DNF 10 times.

What would your rooadracing background have made you do, or made you think you had to do?

I am presuming you're meaning if you squirreled youself away by yourself and never asked anybody anything, even folks who aonly know this irrelevant to "todays" rallying


See exploring what an experience guy like youse "woulda" done "wrong" can help us when some poor schmuck who may be living in Bumfuck Egypt begins planning "on their own" and one could point to your answers and say "See?"

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

john vanlandingham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am presuming you're meaning if you squirreled
> youself away by yourself and never asked anybody
> anything, even folks who aonly know this
> irrelevant to "todays" rallying
>
>
> See exploring what an experience guy like youse
> "woulda" done "wrong" can help us when some poor
> schmuck who may be living in Bumfuck Egypt begins
> planning "on their own" and one could point to
> your answers and say "See?"

Actually, you have to buy Randy's 'book' to find out.

---

Grant Hughes

NoCoast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> john vanlandingham Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -
> > planning "on their own" and one could point
> to
> > your answers and say "See?"
>
> Actually, you have to buy Randy's 'book' to find
> out.

Oh I thought the book told you what you should do, not all the possible ways you shouldn't do....

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

does it tell you what you 'should' do? or just 'how' to do it 'on the cheap'.

what you 'should' do and the 'cheapest' way aren't always the same thing, but I dunno...I hear there's some pretty good tricks in that book, for a cheap suby, at least.

I guess if it told you BOTH, then that would be really cool...cause then you could start out cheap and then upgrade if/when you got more $$.


I like these two threads.

---

Jon Burke - KI6LSW
Blog: http://psgrallywrx.blogspot.com/

Hi John,
Just got back from The Pines where we snagged a finish from a DNF.
(who woulda thought driving on a flat 20km woulda caused some damage?)

Did I ask for help in rally? Well, a little. I had some friends who wanted me to try it for years and had influenced me when I started in serious competition in 1977 but went the other route. They hadn't competed since the 80's but knew enough to help me buy that first car rather than the below...

After working for a guy making SCCA Championship winning cars and then some Trans-Am cars for Sharps, I knew every part of the car needed to be maximized and every rule exploited, even to the point of lobbying for favorable rule changes.

Left to my RR roots, I would have started from a bare shell, started chopping and widening, (depending on what was legal and if not, fudging) moved pickup points, worked out geometry, bought massive, unreliable power, light everything, massive brakes, a dually and a 55 foot trailer.
Problem was I couldn't afford any of those things but if I had, I would have had a narrow power band (while it lasted, if it even started at all in 20 below weather) a science project that was prone to failure in a new place each week and a truck and trailer that if it did fit on the road, would break in half in a season.

My rally friends helped save me from myself.
Every time I read a post about picking a favorable rally class I see another RR and autoX me. That culture is all about finding what others don't have rather than skill, daring and adapting.

does this mean I killed 2 threads?
Part 1 and part2?

Shenan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> john vanlandingham Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Why not move someplace less inflated where
> rallys
> > are closer. Win/win.
>
> True, but when I moved here we had 3 rallies
> within 1-2 hours drive. Plus I like it here, and
> I'm stuck at least a few more years until I finish
> school. And the industry that I would like to get
> into someday is concentrated here. So, I'm
> screwed.
>
> -----------------------------
>


You poor bastard. I moved down here from Sleezattle and got stuck here for all the same reasons. Wait another 15 years, though, you'll stop liking it here...

-Dave