This is a story about Bill Caswell, a man who bought a $500 crapcan off Craigslist to run against the $400,000+ rally cars in the World Rally Championship's Rally Mexico race earlier this month.

It is a tale of a guy who had a welder, a bunch of credit cards, and a lot of free time but no real backing or funds. It is a story of a dude who taught himself how to build an FIA-legal roll cage, with no prior experience, because he wanted to spend the fabrication fee on race tires instead. It's the story of an enthusiast who drove a rustbucket to a third place finish in a FIA-sanctioned race.

So yeah I copied all that from the story. Go read it here...

http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers

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Michael LeCompte



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2010 04:53PM by pikespeakgtx.

Bill's story is great.

But looking at these results - http://www.rallymexico.com/rallyamerica/TC22America.pdf - didn't he finish 4th?

(Not trying to take anything away, just curious as much as anything)

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

I saw that.

I'm wondering what FIA loophole he used?

And what was the entry fee, etc?

Is this something that other Rally Anarchists can do?

That was a truly epic story.

I particularly like the parts where he just goes for it; fuck all.

That part with the bridge?

"Slocum says into the mic, "We're done," stops reading notes, and braces for impact. The river below has boulders the size of Volkswagens. Sand and gravel in corner, almost as if spectators filled it. Can't get to apex, four feet off, sliding way wide, exit of corner is entrance to bridge. I pitch the car and floor it. 35-45 mph. Half the car falls off the bridge. We are looking at daylight and I am full throttle hoping the left tire and diff can put the power down. We fell so far over the bridge it collapsed the inner leg of the trailing arm by an inch or two. Almost the entire right side of the car hanging in the air. Now in the queue for Stage Two, six more to go."

Or how Slocum kept yelling at him for rolling the window down and giving thumbs up to the spectators as he cranked it sideways through every corner?

That's how I want to rally - balls out, shit happens, thanks fa comin' out!

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

krisdahl Wrote:
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> I saw that.
>
> I'm wondering what FIA loophole he used?
>
> And what was the entry fee, etc?
>
> Is this something that other Rally Anarchists can
> do?

No loophole. There was a class made for Rally-America entries. Unfortunately, it was announced late and was hard to get information. I was hanging out with Ben at Sandblast and he told me the entry fee was something like 1500 bucks. Anyone with a Rally-America licencse and Logbook was capable of doing it. Hopefully next year we will see more entries.

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

Guys in Cali are lucky. I'd like to do this, but I'm guessing when all is said and done, I'd spend triple my budget for a closer RA/NASA/CARS event to do this.

Might be cheaper to buy a RA logbooked beater in Cali and drive it across the border, haha. That would make for an epic story.

unless I'm reading a map wrong, california is twice as far as texas as to Leon...

1. I didn't "Stop" calling notes, there was a long straight so I had to pause anyway.

2. We went off the road twice because he was focusing on crowds. There's a time for fun, then there's 80 mph on gravel with a L2 approaching fast.

3. Entry ended up being $450 USD.

4. It wasn't for Rally America competitors, the event was called Rally America. We competed against all classes for top spots, not class positions, in a Mexican National Rally.

5. We finished 3rd out of 9 starters. The website doesn't say the first place finisher was disqualified for backing through a control back on to the superspecial to complete his lap.

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Winningest one-eyed co-driver in Rally America history.

BenSlocum Wrote:
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> 1. I didn't "Stop" calling notes, there was a long
> straight so I had to pause anyway.
>
> 2. We went off the road twice because he was
> focusing on crowds. There's a time for fun, then
> there's 80 mph on gravel with a L2 approaching
> fast.

So you're saying it was a good time, then?

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

Wish they'd been a little more info about entry. I heard about it and there was supposed to be a press release on it (which I never saw) and when you looked at the entry fee listed on the website it was over $3000.
If they do this again next year, I foresee quite a few more US competitors making the trip.

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Grant Hughes

Seriously, $450, and how many stage miles? who would have thought that you could do a round of the WRC and be the cheapest entry fee out there. BTW, I love the pic at the Parc Ferme with all the WRC cars in the back ground.

I know! I didn't realize it was a Mexican National Rally. I've looked at Mexico events and their entry fees are dirt cheap.

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Grant Hughes

BenSlocum Wrote:
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> 2. We went off the road twice because he was
> focusing on crowds.

THAT IS TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!

The event was never intended to be for Rally America (USA) entrants, we just thought it was. Lucky for us we just entered anyway and were placed correctly. We did send in the full $3000 payment, expecting that to be correct, only to be told as we were driving down that it was really $6000 pesos, or ~$450USD.

They intend to allow US competitors to enter with US legal cars, as long as the safety equipment is up to date, in future runnings. I'll be working with Roberto to get info out earlier next year.

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Winningest one-eyed co-driver in Rally America history.

BenSlocum Wrote:
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> 5. We finished 3rd out of 9 starters. The website
> doesn't say the first place finisher was
> disqualified for backing through a control back on
> to the superspecial to complete his lap.

Thanks for the update - I vaguely remembered hearing something about someone being DQ'ed, but couldn't remember clearly.

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com