New to this

Ha!


I forgot, there is this one hardcore badass who lives out in the desert...


You do get kickass superhero status for dailying your rallycar, but you'll be hurtin'....

My dad daily drove my mom's rally car for a year or so when he moved up to Fairbanks, Alaska until the rest of the family was able to follow him up there. Though that was back in the very early 80's.

All my kidding in my above post aside, listen to JV on this. A 740 (let alone wagon) has ZERO advantages over a 240, and several fundamental disadvantages. And no, the fact that you already own it is not an advantage. The initial purchase cost of the car is a drop in the bucket to what you will spend prepping it, especially when a decent 240 shell can be had for next to free. As far as disadvantages, in addition to the not so ideal size and wheelbase, the rear lower trailing arm mounts to the body are big stupid rubber bushes that are vertically aligned and fail easily. I remember Carl Jardevall DNFing Rim one year because the rear axle was tearing out of the car because of those things.

Is there a website for California rally cross? Anything in Nor Cal? And what is TSD?

I mainly want to do this for fun. So I'm not looking to be a perfect rally machine. Just something I can slide around in, enter a couple of events, but mainly have fun messing around in a station wagon.

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CaliMeatwagon
Is there a website for California rally cross? Anything in Nor Cal? And what is TSD?

http://www.californiarallyseries.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=54 (if that doesn't work, visit californiarallyseries.com->schedule->rallycross)

Or, just get in contact with Brent Blakely (pomspeed on this site and others) - I think he's in your area, and is pretty involved with SCCA RallyX. I think they do a fair amount of event posts on dirtyimpreza - http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21678 (if at all possible, head out to Prarie City today/tomorrow and say hi to folks out there)

As far as TSD, that's a broad question, with an equally broad answer. TSD events can range from (IMO) obnoxious exercises in pedantry to fun backroads too-quick-to-be-cruises. This may give you more detail - http://www.therallyeclub.org/what.htm - and The Rallye Club is a fairly active group, not too distant from you.

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CaliMeatwagon
Is there a website for California rally cross? Anything in Nor Cal? And what is TSD?

I mainly want to do this for fun. So I'm not looking to be a perfect rally machine. Just something I can slide around in, enter a couple of events, but mainly have fun messing around in a station wagon.

http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/index.php

It is a Subaru forum, but they appreciate other makes as well. They have one of the more active rallycross and tsd sub forums and there are a lot of California members.

TSD stands for time speed and distance.

Rallycross sound like exactly what your budget needs right now.

Tsd is a good way to learn how to work with a co-driver and follow a route book.

Any car can be a rally car but not every car should be a rally car.

Hey Cali,

I built my first raly car while in college so it can be done. Not easy, and car prep was a lot simpler then as for cages (just a bolt-in roll bar sufficed). But college is not a show stopper IF you co-op, intern, or have regular income. It's just harder....

I'll tell you my story about my first car selection. I was introduced to rally by a car knowledgeable friend, and he was going to build an Opel. So, I thought, "OK, I'll get an Opel." What I could afford at first was a junky '68 Kadett wagon with a 1.1L engine. After fixing it up and driving for a bit, AND more importantly, learning that there were MUCH better Opels for rally (1.9L Mantas and Asconas), I sold the wagon and got a partly wrecked Manta for cheap, welded on a new front end, and the rest was rally history.

The point is that I got wise, and I see a real parallel in your case. I would encourage you to do as you like, as ultimately, most of us can forgive and laugh over our own mistakes pretty easily. So, do the wagon if you really desire, but I think the overall direction of the advice here is quite good.

If you do the wagon, and do the daily driver thing with it, be sure you pad the cage very well with soft padding (and swap to the approved padding at rallies). That's so you don't crack your, or your passengers', noggins wide open and end up with a plate in your head in a small fender bender on the street. It'll be noisy and you may get stopped by the police form time to time, but that's up to you to decide if it's worth it. I drove that 1st Manta rally car to VA Tech sometimes, and it was fun, but I had the old Ranchero for most of the driving around. Kinda hard to drive the rally car to get parts for the rally car when it is up on blocks!

Good luck with rally, and welcome!
Mark B.

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Greg Donovan


Rallycross sound like exactly what your budget needs right now.

truth, and for rallycross you don't need the cage and damn near any car can be taken out and fun had in it

we had some dude show up years ago in a limo, back then you could have as many people in the car as you had seat belts and that thing was stuffed with helmeted heads banging against each other, he had it ass end out the whole way around the skid pad, it was a riot to watch and I'm sure everyone inside was having a blast as well

you get quite the array of vehicles at rallycross, everyone out there throwing their cars around and having a ball, I've seen brand new big ass mercedes and old beat up ford trucks

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12xalt

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Greg Donovan


Rallycross sound like exactly what your budget needs right now.

truth, and for rallycross you don't need the cage and damn near any car can be taken out and fun had in it

we had some dude show up years ago in a limo, back then you could have as many people in the car as you had seat belts and that thing was stuffed with helmeted heads banging against each other, he had it ass end out the whole way around the skid pad, it was a riot to watch and I'm sure everyone inside was having a blast as well

you get quite the array of vehicles at rallycross, everyone out there throwing their cars around and having a ball, I've seen brand new big ass mercedes and old beat up ford trucks

That would have been John Lane in the Mercedes 600, and yeas, there were 5 of us in there. I also brought a friend's fwd Lincoln Continental one time and actually set something like the 13th fastest time of day on my clean run. It was the big Subaru meet thingy a few years ago so there were 130 cars or so.

Rallycross is THE gateway drug.

ya know, at an ice rallycross, on all seasons, if you put three people in the back seat, they can use their weight and play corners to cause the driver to spin out and into snow banks.

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NoCoast
ya know, at an ice rallycross, on all seasons, if you put three people in the back seat, they can use their weight and play corners to cause the driver to spin out and into snow banks.

Sounds like the excuse of someone who likes to drive into snow banks.

so anybody have any advice on how to build up the 745 for rally cross?
Some one mentioned using the the front rotor and caliper from a 940 and also to get the springs from the 940, some one told me it would lower it 1.5''

Anybody know about this?

Why would you want to lower it?
It would seem to me you'd want at least stock clearance - not less - for a rally cross...

---

Brgrds
Brian

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CaliMeatwagon
so anybody have any advice on how to build up the 745 for rally cross?
Some one mentioned using the the front rotor and caliper from a 940 and also to get the springs from the 940, some one told me it would lower it 1.5''

No volvo specific knowledge here, but I've run plenty of rally-x events. The ones in the Denver area are usually 1-2 minutes in length. I suspect you'll find it hard to fade a set of pads in that short a time, especially if top speeds are 40-50ish.

1) don't lower your car
2) stop worrying about upgrades, you haven't even run an event yet (I think)
2) go rally-x the car and have some fun.
3) while you're having fun, ask yourself if you ever feel like you don't have enough brakes.
3b) don't confuse not slowing down enough with lack of brakes, it could be lack of surface grip.
4) If brakes don't work well enough upgrade to better pads.
5) If upgraded pads don't solve the problem, then look at spending some $ on upgrades.
5b) Keep in mind bigger brakes could mean you have to run bigger wheels - stick to brakes that will allow you to run 15" wheels (if you plan to rally-x on rally tires).
6) Go back and do it again - remember to have fun.

Dave