Is it even worth it?

Upon finishing your project bent sheetmental awaits you!

In this you will rejoice and tell tales of shitmettal bent for years to come.

---

JohnLane

Overkill is consistently more fun

Note: my comments are directed toward the OP......

Mark Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wrong part of the season to ask...
>
> is it worth it:
>
> if you like to ALWAYS work on your car....

---In time the car *may be prepared such that it does not require constant babysitting or leave you on the side of the road with broken (insert busted junk DuJour here) making for another DNF.

Some have tried and failed at this. Hint: Don't do what Neville did.

> if you like being retardedly poor

----Win the lottery... A BIG one. Work hard long enough at something that makes money to figure out how to work smart. Then hire someone who will build and repair properly. Don't cry when it is expensive cuz it is done well. You are farrrr better spending money once on stuff that works out of the box then 'Developing.' The car you are working on has been raced in Yer-up and them fellers across the pond have already done the thinking. Build it right.

> if you like not spending anytime with anyone other
> than people helping you prep

-----Wha.... are you implying that having a...... life..... is.......

Nooooooooooooooo You have a rallycar that needs your attention. Nekkid gurlz can be seen fo free on the internetz. Real gurlz will just keep you from focusing on the rallycar.


> if you like the constantly shifting rules,
> regulations, and various other changes

-----This bit is an acquired taste. I still find it bitter.... But then I still wanna use a single layer suit and my old belts that still look new....... Having been used what... Eight times in how many years? Phooey! LOL

> if you like troubleshooting all the little crap
> that keeps a car from running properly

----Fix it right and babysitting is not such a timetaker.

> if you you like occasionally/constantly being
> treated like a retard online or at events

----Avoiding those who don't get it helps plenty.

> if you like spending exorbitant amounts of money
> on entry fees/towing only to dnf/crash early

---- Get over it!

> if you like the weird looks people give you when
> you tell them what your hobby is and how much it
> costs and how much you get back/win

----Fuck 'em!!
>
> ugh.... i sound bitter.

---- Got that tee-shirt.
>
>
----I know of a couple fellers with cars sitting in garages........ One of them is actively looking for a home and the other *may be able to be wrestled away as it has been an untouched project in how many years?

A Sierra and a Volvo.

You *may be in the woods much sooner purchasing another that is mostly there rather then building.

The Volvo is very close to ready.

Thoughts?

---

JohnLane

Overkill is consistently more fun

Mark's words have been expressed by many, but never so well as Steve McQueen's quote from the movie "Le mans".

"Racing is Life. Everything that happens before or after is just waiting"

Many of us here occupy our time waiting by doing things that shorten the time between the brief moments of Life. So keep working on your car or buy one thats ready to rock.

---

Diamond Jim
Co-Driver in the Double Zero course opening car
Charter Member of O.U.C.H.
Organized Union of Cat Herders

Well, after spending yesterday morning at Phoenix International Raceway with a buddy. I think I'm going to shelve the rally project for a while in favor of actually driving my damn car.

$3000 for a cage, then seats, then harnesses, then helmet, HANS rental, restrictor, skid plates, trip meter, all the seemingly endless technical requirements, all to come up needing a couple more grand to enter and fund a weekend in Prescott that, up until now, has cost me next to nothing.

I'm gonna throw in a simple 4-point cage (based on current RallyAmerika main hoop and rear supports for updating down the road), get my seats, harnesses, a helmet, freshen up the brakes, throw in a 16G, ditch the stock exhaust and convert the car over to speed density. 300-350hp, non-restricted and I can afford to drop $200 every other month to run a NASA HPDE. Very likely by my 33rd birthday late April. I can afford to spend $200 driving to SoCal to run the occasional rally-x. I can shake the car down, pick up some driving skill (I refuse to lower the car), and maybe be an ambassador for rally in the realm of weekend hot laps.

(Believe it or not, they had at least 20 cars for every run group yesterday, and that wasn't counting the pro guys with the semis and $500,000 Vettes, Vipers and M3. Easily 200 cars there to race on a weekend. Sad that rally can't pull that off.)

I need seat time. Hate to go tarmac weenie on you guys, but I figure I should learn how to build a house before I go all in on building a sky scraper, here. I've lost too much time just inching towards a rally car that I could afford to run one weekend a year.

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2009 07:33AM by DR1665.

DR1665 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well, after spending yesterday morning at Phoenix
> International Raceway with a buddy. I think I'm
> going to shelve the rally project for a while in
> favor of actually driving my damn car.
>
> $
>
> I need seat time. Hate to go tarmac weenie on you
> guys, but I figure I should learn how to build a
> house before I go all in on building a sky
> scraper, here. I've lost too much time just
> inching towards a rally car that I could afford to
> run one weekend a year.
>

Build it right, in steps and you can play asphalt day, play "me and 3 buddies go trail riding' and its the foundation for chipping away an maybe having a stage rally car.
I was just down in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago and while I cannot imagine a single reason for the exsitence of the place, you live there by choice so if there's not enough rally to get yer rocks off, MOVE.

Why do so few people MOVE closer to places where they can do their stuff easier.

I moved to Sweden, across the world, on my own at 17 to do moto-cross.
ran outta dough in 2 months and promised jobs turned out to be talk.
Went back at 19....

Now if a delusional 17 year old can move with virtually no resources, why can't people move to areas like the PNW for their avocation?

---

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:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Now if a delusional 17 year old can move with
> virtually no resources, why can't people move to
> areas like the PNW for their avocation?
>
>
>
> John Vanlandingham
> Sleezattle, WA, USA
>
> Vive le Prole-le-ralliat
>
> www.jvab.f4.ca


Maybe the high cost of living?

---

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

Dazed_Driver Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> john vanlandingham Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > Now if a delusional 17 year old can move
> with
> > virtually no resources, why can't people move
> to
> > areas like the PNW for their avocation?
> >
> >
> >
> > John Vanlandingham
> > Sleezattle, WA, USA
> >
> > Vive le Prole-le-ralliat
> >
> > www.jvab.f4.ca
>
>
> Maybe the high cost of living?

Maybe trades with skills pays higher in more expensive areas?
>
> Feisty Peacock?
>
>

---

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.

Yep. Higher cost of living is usually associated with higher pay for skilled jobs. If you work at a car wash, it probably doesn't change much. That's one of the huge downsides to the PNW for me. My exact same job pays 30% less for some reason in Seattle and Portland, and there are less jobs up there. Combine that with good friends, great entertainment, and proximity to family in Wyoming, I'm kinda committed to Denver. It's almost 70 degrees today. Anyone want to go snowboarding? We could be up there by lunch. Not to mention the rally scene with a pretty large and tight knit group of us all here in Denver.

---

Grant Hughes

john vanlandingham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Why do so few people MOVE closer to places where
> they can do their stuff easier.
>

That goes along with the idea that I like, which goes something like, "nothing is going to change unless you make it change."

So if you want to rally, but cant afford it right now, what can you change in your life so that you can afford it?

That is one, of many, motivating factors behind me being back in school now.

well, if rally was cheap and easy, everyone would do it.

---

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

Carl S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That goes along with the idea that I like, which
> goes something like, "nothing is going to change
> unless you make it change."
>
> So if you want to rally, but cant afford it right
> now, what can you change in your life so that you
> can afford it?
>
> That is one, of many, motivating factors behind me
> being back in school now.

Derek Bottles posted something along this line once that was really good. Congratulations on going back to school. There's two ways to make rallying more affordable. Make more money or spend less money. Combining both is a really good plan.

---

Grant Hughes

John Burke - I think that, if everyone rallied, rally would be less expensive.

JVL - Appreciate the anecdotes and support. The PNW (and Denver area, Grant) are the two top choices my wife and I would consider if we were to leave Phoenix. We're just getting ourselves stable so that we can pack up and move comfortably when the time comes that we do leave (because we will, eventually). I'm an Army brat with a genetic need to move every six months to a year. My wife is a "Zonie," born and raised here, who doesn't want to wake up one day and realize she's missed her opportunity to live somewhere else.

Carl - Making more money is what I'm after. I'm six weeks into a new job making more than I ever have. We're getting the machine moving and my car project has been recognized as being important (by my wife). It's only a matter of time.

By doing a partial cage, I can afford to spend money elsewhere which will get me some experience behind the wheel. There isn't much sideways action or yumps in NASA HPDE, but the repeated high speed laps will give me some much needed confidence behind the wheel. BONUS: HPDE Group 1 requires an instructor in the car at all times, pointing out lines, advising on gear selection, when to brake and when to go for it. What's the value of that?

I'm definitely going to do some trail runs like JVL mentioned, to get used to the sound of gravel under the car. I've got a 3ft stack of old cones in the garage which I intend to take out to the middle of nowhere to practice my flicks and low traction maneuvers. Beyond that, by not having to scrape up ten large between now and October (to run Prescott), I can afford to take a lightly prepared street car to SoCal to run rallyx with Malsed and all those guys.

This new plan has me excited again. What was, last week, an interminable amount of time and money for a reward somewhere out there in the fog has just turned into a realistic goal of being on a road course, at speed inside of six months. (April is my goal.)

And I'll have my NASA membership ready to go when I do sign up for my first rally.

Thanks again for the support, guys. Press on regardless.

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

Its totally worth it, no matter if you dominate open class or do one rally every two years, its way better than being a douchebag, and if your wifey doesn't just scowl and clam up when the idea of rally comes up, you are a lucky person.

Jon Burke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> well, if rally was cheap and easy, everyone would
> do it.

Corollary: If it was easy it wouldn't be cool.

alkun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Its totally worth it, no matter if you dominate
> open class or do one rally every two years, its
> way better than being a douchebag, and if your
> wifey doesn't just scowl and clam up when the idea
> of rally comes up, you are a lucky person.

lol, what does this have to do with rallying?

---

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