Is it even worth it?

^^ I thought he was referring to 'track days' guys being douchebags, but who knows

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

Jon Burke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ^^ I thought he was referring to 'track days' guys
> being douchebags, but who knows
>
> Jon Burke - KI6LSW
> Blog:
> 'Holy Shit!' @ 4:10


oh, ok. Either way, it was pretty funny.

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

No I wasn't saying track days folks are douchebags. It turns out I love driving on tracks, except they keep waving black flags at me. Sorry for not defining my terms. I was refering to all the overachieving dumb-asses who strive for pointless expensive crap, believing having "cool stuff" will make them superiour people. Something along the lines of having way more respect for a rusty old rallycar under a tarp, than a new masserati that gets driven to the golf course.


And if you are highly successful and you do have a quattroporto you drive to the links, thats fine; I hope you enjoy it!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2009 03:09PM by alkun.

Never thought I'd say this, but shelve the Galant for good. Sell to one of the guys on the Galant forums. Too many drive wheels, too rare, too expensive, too heavy, to prone to breakdown, etc.....esp. for where you're at in the process.

Get a used production Golf or Neon with a cage and prep work done. Put up an ad saying you can only spend $3K and cars will come out of the woodwork. They may need an update or two, but you can get on stage much faster and for less $$$ than with the Galant. And gear is always something you can borrow.

Leverage the fact you live where you do, in close proximity to a ton of rally people, and events (relatively speaking of course). Set your sights on a cheap event like Seed 9 2010, Quartzite(if it happens), or Prescott. Then get it on!

Or you can do what I did. Buy a $15K Subaru, race it a few events, collapse under the $10K of credit card debt from events/towing/repairs/parts/etc after only a few events, sell the car at a loss, then sit at home watching WRC on TV, wondering how I can get back to square one - i.e. what I outlined above.

Do I have any regrets? Not at all. An emphatic NO. I wanted to rally a Subaru since seeing Colin McRae so many years ago, then meeting him. Since meeting Petter. Since winning events in my old Subaru autocross car. Since meeting Nicky Grist. Since seeing the Higgins brothers obliterate the field while clinging to the hillsides of southern CA. I did it. My girlfriend shares my love for Subarus and this was a dream for both of us. We had so many experiences - not all on stage to be sure - that I will never forget. Not many people can say they attain a dream like that. It was difficult, expensive, took me years of prepping (buying a truck, amassing gear, spares and service equipment, and absolutely drained my finances but hey, I did it.

Are dreams always cheap and easy? No. But if you're in it for the long run, a cheaper car is def the way to go. For me the dream was to rally in a car I loved - a Subaru - which I knew would give me a short shelf life due to cost. A lot of you may laugh at that, which is fine. I really don't care.

But now that I have done it to the best of my abilities and had great fun, I can sit back, lick my financial wounds, and plan on how to keep rallying alive in my life going forward. And that will be through a cheap 2WD car or base model Subaru.

Eli

gilbrock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never thought I'd say this, but shelve the Galant
> for good. Sell to one of the guys on the Galant
> forums. Too many drive wheels, too rare, too
> expensive, too heavy, to prone to breakdown,
> etc.....esp. for where you're at in the process.

Appreciate where you're coming from, Eli, but I disagree. Turbo and AWD might make for a more complicated machine, generally a bad thing, but I'm not going to build a fire-breathing, it's only fun if you win, type of car. I'm going to build the least expensive, bare bones car that will allow me to legitimately enter Prescott.

Yeah, she's heavy and she's rare, but if there's one thing I've in the 14 years that I've been messing with Mitsubishis, it's that the reliability is seldom the fault of the car. I fully plan to be in the drive-it-to-the-rally club when I'm ready. If I stuff it at Prescott, AAA will pick me up from wherever heavy sweep drops me. If Kris and Christine could drive Ze Neon from New York to SoCal, I can surely drive my Galant 90 minutes north of town (let's not discuss this year's event, however).

>
> Get a used production Golf or Neon with a cage and
> prep work done. Put up an ad saying you can only
> spend $3K and cars will come out of the woodwork.
> They may need an update or two, but you can get on
> stage much faster and for less $$$ than with the
> Galant. And gear is always something you can
> borrow.

This is a great idea IF your biggest dream is just to go rally racing. Could I find a $3000 rally car? I don't doubt it for a second, but what would I be getting myself into? A car for which I have ZERO spares or experience working on. I'd have to find a whole new community and immerse myself in it to learn the intricacies of that platform.

Like I said, I've been dealing with Mitsubishis exclusively since 1996, so a big part of my dream is doing it in a Mitsubishi and exposing more Mitsu owners to rally. I don't want to just drive fast down dirt roads. I want to haul ass on dirt roads in MY rally car.

>
> Leverage the fact you live where you do, in close
> proximity to a ton of rally people, and events
> (relatively speaking of course). Set your sights
> on a cheap event like Seed 9 2010, Quartzite(if it
> happens), or Prescott. Then get it on!

I like to think this plan IS leveraging my location. There are plenty of rally people around, but there's also hundreds of miles of "primitive roads" (as the signs all warn) around here. I don't have to be racing a clock to have a good time off tarmac. Cheap events would be great, but again, my dream is to race MY rally car, not pick up someone else's to-do list or run a 2WD car because that's all Rally Amerika says I can drive.

I'm going to run Prescott... one of these days, but when I do finally attend Prescott, I'm looking forward to being able to talk about the rally with people I meet at NASA HPDE track days or autox events here in Phoenix or down in Tucson.

>
> Or you can do what I did. Buy a $15K Subaru, race
> it a few events, collapse under the $10K of credit
> card debt from events/towing/repairs/parts/etc
> after only a few events, sell the car at a loss,
> then sit at home watching WRC on TV, wondering how
> I can get back to square one - i.e. what I
> outlined above.

I feel for you, brother. I really do. You've had a rough go of it. But I can't help but recognize that I'm not buying a $15,000 Subaru. I've got a $1500 Mitsubishi. If it weren't apart right now in prep for the 4 point cage, I could throw a battery in it and drive it anywhere tomorrow. I'm not buying a tow rig. I'm not buying fancy EMS or buying dyno time to tune the car. I'll get the cheapest legal seats that are comfortable, rent the stupid HANS, run used tires on stock suspension, and find a co-driver who's cool with just enjoying the ride and helping me keep an eye out for anything that screams OH SHIT.

Of all the people who have made their various impressions on me in my time as a keyboard rallyist, one of the best impressions was Zach Heidepriem and Shea Burns. They were smooth, slow, and consistent all the time. While other teams lost their shit in service, Zach and Shea could often be found laughing it up and enjoying a sandwich. That's fine by me. If it's no fun, it's not worth it. Especially at the cost of things these days.

>
> Do I have any regrets? Not at all. An emphatic
> NO. I wanted to rally a Subaru since seeing Colin
> McRae so many years ago, then meeting him. Since
> meeting Petter. Since winning events in my old
> Subaru autocross car. Since meeting Nicky Grist.
> Since seeing the Higgins brothers obliterate the
> field while clinging to the hillsides of southern
> CA. I did it. My girlfriend shares my love for
> Subarus and this was a dream for both of us. We
> had so many experiences - not all on stage to be
> sure - that I will never forget. Not many people
> can say they attain a dream like that. It was
> difficult, expensive, took me years of prepping
> (buying a truck, amassing gear, spares and service
> equipment, and absolutely drained my finances but
> hey, I did it.

Right there with you, man. My only regrets are that I dropped $6000 into a nasty fucking engine for my old Talon instead of prepping a rally car and that I've lost so much time to thinking I have to install the full cage, seats, harnesses and all that log book riggamaroll, when all along I've been less than $1500 away from being able to toss the car around some cones or paved corners or the random empty dirt road between Phoenix and Blythe.

>
> Are dreams always cheap and easy? No. But if
> you're in it for the long run, a cheaper car is
> def the way to go. For me the dream was to rally
> in a car I loved - a Subaru - which I knew would
> give me a short shelf life due to cost. A lot of
> you may laugh at that, which is fine. I really
> don't care.

Nothing truly worthwhile is ever easy. A lot of people might think my sticking to the Mitsubishi so that I can stick with what I know and maybe get a few more people exposed to rally, but I could give a shit. There are plenty of people preaching to the choir in the rally community.

>
> But now that I have done it to the best of my
> abilities and had great fun, I can sit back, lick
> my financial wounds, and plan on how to keep
> rallying alive in my life going forward. And that
> will be through a cheap 2WD car or base model
> Subaru.

One word for you, my friend - VOLVO. If I wasn't so unabashedly passionate about my Mitsubishi community, I'd be rocking a 240 so hard it would make your head spin. Selling an iPhone or iPod should net enough money to pick up a 240 (with the proper round headlights) and perform a tune up.

>
> Eli
>

When I get out to SoCal for a rallyx this coming year, I'll toss you the keys to the Galant again. Maybe, if the event is in town somewhere, you won't have enough room to reach 100mph like you did at Johnson Valley. (Coming up on THREE YEARS AGO now. Can you believe that shit?)

Brian

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

All good points and I completely respect where you're at - and where you're going. Sounds like you were on the fence before but after that last post you seem very determined. Good on ya my friend.

Jesus, 3 years ago!? Time flies!!!!!

Hope you're well, and see you soon hopefully.

Eli

Hence for 99% of us that means CHEAP. The guy I picked this car up for WAS about to spend WAY too much. What I saved him in the initial purchase, he can buy Soooper Bitching JVAB suspenders front and rear.


MANY poo poo the initial cost thing, and I say Hooooey to them, well usually I say verdammte scheisse. In James' case he esentially got FREE suspension and good stuff at that.

$250-450 gets you started.
Often less

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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.

Ooooooooooh speaking of squareheads! That one is a peach John.

John, if that is your driveway, I'm a bit jealous (although it likely implies work and people calling to check up on progress). Not only the beautiful 200, but the three Sierras in the background. Looks like terrible fun.

I can afford to run pretty much any car I've got. The prep is a struggle, but once the car is done, it's on to the struggle of financing more than one event. Entry fees, food, fuel, towing, hotel - that's the big one for me (and, I suspect, also a big one for the organizers).

Suppose you won the lottery this week and decided, "Hey, that Brian guy down in Arizona is a stand up kinda guy and he's been out of the game for too long. I'm gonna give him a fully prepped Volvo so he can go racing." I'd still only be able to do one, maybe two events a year. When that's the situation, I'd rather just go out and have a shitton of fun in the car I always wanted to drive.

So now I'm on the hunt for a Stratos. Just kidding.

Thus is the basis of my new plan. I want to spend springtime honing my skills on the road courses of PIR and Firebird. I want to mix it up during the summer, running autocross events in Phoenix and Tucson, and get out to SoCal to do Ridgecrest Rally School and a handful of rallx events out that way. I'm gonna drive the car to Ohio for the annual DSM/Evo Shootout (which is the reason why I'll probably never make it out to Gorman). And, to treat myself each year, I want to enter Prescott and finally be able to hang out in the party out back without being a poseur.

Sure, a dozen or so $200 weekend events add up quick, but I could be driving along the way or still watching my race car collect dust for a fifth straight year.

Fuck that. Let's go racing.

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