Driving rally car on the street...

10's of thousands of miles in a caged car also... I never died either... but a few innocent cars did :-)

Quote
Anders Green
Driving a caged car around on the street is like wearing a tuxedo all the time. Just because you look awesome in a tuxedo doesn't mean that it's not a colossal pain in the ass and ill suited to most of the activities you do on a day to day basis. Like, who's going to change their oil in a tuxedo? That's how practical a rally car is as a daily driver.

Anders

A huge amount was driving to the woods, exploring, finding fun safe roads, blasting around , then puttering around more, then into whatever town was, fill up, eat and do it again, drive home at 0230.
2-3 times a month and do it a few years it adds up..
840 miles one way to my first National---7th OA, then vacationed in the Canadian Rockies before returning.

---

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.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
starion887
Which is why it scares me to have people put cages in their street cars. Maybe they do it for rally crosses, sometimes to be cool, but it for sure needs some soft padding, tho' that won't totally fix losing the head space and having any hard bar in range. Sadly, the times I have said this on other forums in the past, such comments have been received mostly with a mix of derision, disbelief, and resistance.

And for those who weren't around at the time, we lost a driver in the PNW back in the 80's under somewaht similar circumstances while cruising back from local practice; no helmet on at the time.

Mark B.

I was around from in rally 84 onward....must have been earlier than that but I have never heard of that. Who when? And 81 to 84 lived in the Olympia area and was in the woods 3-4 times a month, and never heard of that.

John, I have been trying hard to remember the name but it indeed happened; I may still have the SCCA note about it buried in the files here. I recall that it was in Oregon, and the fellow was driving back and rounded a corner and hit a truck head-on. His head hit the windshield header bar as I remember. I mentioned it on one of the forums a few years ago and his son responded at one point and confirmed the incident.
Mark B.

I recently took a MI driver refresher course to get out of points for a speeding ticket.(heading to Magnum Opus). Some interesting facts in that class. 31% of fatal accidents are from speeding. They said this and drove it in your head threw out the hole class saying dont speed! Then 1 paragraph at the end of the class states that 70% of all fatalitys are from speeds under 40mph and within 25 miles of your house. So I say speed your chances of death drop by like 70%!! LOL Joking but intersting.

I may think a little more about loosening my belts thow. You never Know if your tie rod is about to fall off on transit after that rock you hit on stage!

---

First rally 2013
Rally car type AWD subaru
Total rallies as driver 6
Total rally cars built 2
Total rally cars caged 3
Total rally cars repaired from offs 4
Total years racing exp other then rally 19 yrs
Like 31motorsports on FB!
Check out 31motor sales on ebay for used Subaru parts

Quote
Reamer
I recently took a MI driver refresher course to get out of points for a speeding ticket.(heading to Magnum Opus). Some interesting facts in that class. 31% of fatal accidents are from speeding. They said this and drove it in your head threw out the hole class saying dont speed! Then 1 paragraph at the end of the class states that 70% of all fatalitys are from speeds under 40mph and within 25 miles of your house. So I say speed your chances of death drop by like 70%!! LOL Joking but intersting.

My favorite statistic is that you are 3 times more likely to have an interstate accident during a lane change.
I am constantly amazed at hour poorly people drive.

---

Grant Hughes

Just like "Fifty-two percent of all road fatalities in the U.S. occur on curves" .... if it ain't straight it's curved.

Here's how the state of DE has decided to save some drivers from themselves: http://www.dbiservices.com/Delaware-tests-anti-skid-materials-on-dangerous-curves

---

-KTurner
Stomp down on the exhilarator and hold on to the wheel.

Some observations or hunches. When its time, its time. It is ok to consciously work the odds in your favor...don't call iron Mike names, stay out of bad neighborhoods etc. Back in the era Mark is mentioning most cages were made to drop down in front of the dash, putting lots of bars much closer to the occupants. Seats weren't as good either back then. Many were stock seats that usually sat higher in the car. I've read over the years of many people surviving wrecks due to having cages or roll bars in cars on the street also. Any of the older 70s pickup are extrememly dangerous due to head injuries from the metal cab next to peoples heads. So you pays your money and takes your chances.

Back in the day I drove many of my rally cars on the street as did JV and others, still here. More recently my sons first car was a Sentra that I caged for him, not a rally car.

Civvie seat belts lock under decel, loose competition belts don't. Windshield bars need padded in all cages, belts need to be tight in all cars at all times. Think of a rally/competiton car as a safety system. It all has to work together or you can get bitten pretty hard.

I've driven my car to work a couple of times for a couple of reasons but short of the the helmet I was fully strapped in the car. I just don't feel right/safe driving it without being cinched down. No airbags, fixed seat, no tensioners... its just logic, IMO. When fully belted in I don't think there's any more chance of head contact on anything than there is in a street car, but then again I'm only 5'8".

I wouldn't want to do it as a daily driver, its amusing to do once in a while but its a pain in the ass to crawl in and out of, adjusting the camlocks every time you get in gets really old really fast, the attention it gets from the decal package isn't really ideal.

---

Atlantic Canadian Region Rallysport: http://www.rallyeast.ca - Ledwidge Lookoff Rally http://www.lookoffrally.com
2000 Impreza 2.5RS CARS P4WD (Sponsored by Rally-Tech, Great North Performance)

Anyone ever keep the stock belts in the car for non rally driving?

Gawd I done cheated death. Dailydrove Jack Broadhead's 323gtx for years. Yes it had stock belts along with harnesses, and there was cage padding and clearance...That and it never got in any manner of incidencws on the street. I didn't think it was all that much of a PITA but I can't help but notice the current rallykar doesn't get daily driven so very much these days.

---

Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...

What kind of door bars did it have? The more modern the cage spec the more metal it seems you have to crawl over. My car now is built to the most current spec with a gusseted door X, its not awful and I'm a fairly small and spy guy, but my wife's Golf with its tighter door, X and Halo seats... not sure I'd want to crawl in and out of that too often if I didn't have to.

---

Atlantic Canadian Region Rallysport: http://www.rallyeast.ca - Ledwidge Lookoff Rally http://www.lookoffrally.com
2000 Impreza 2.5RS CARS P4WD (Sponsored by Rally-Tech, Great North Performance)

I walked out of Home depot in Brooklyn ny two days ago and saw this bad boy sitting in the parking lot.



Anyone know who that daredevil is?

Nissan SE-R? Maybe Gus Garrido....he's from CT somewhere.

Quote
MarkHille
I walked out of Home depot in Brooklyn ny two days ago and saw this bad boy sitting in the parking lot.



Anyone know who that daredevil is?

Yeah, really, who would be caught with a Rally America sticker on their car?

---

Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Quote
heymagic
Some observations or hunches. When its time, its time. It is ok to consciously work the odds in your favor...don't call iron Mike names, stay out of bad neighborhoods etc. Back in the era Mark is mentioning most cages were made to drop down in front of the dash, putting lots of bars much closer to the occupants. Seats weren't as good either back then. Many were stock seats that usually sat higher in the car. I've read over the years of many people surviving wrecks due to having cages or roll bars in cars on the street also. Any of the older 70s pickup are extrememly dangerous due to head injuries from the metal cab next to peoples heads. So you pays your money and takes your chances.

Back in the day I drove many of my rally cars on the street as did JV and others, still here. More recently my sons first car was a Sentra that I caged for him, not a rally car.

Civvie seat belts lock under decel, loose competition belts don't. Windshield bars need padded in all cages, belts need to be tight in all cars at all times. Think of a rally/competiton car as a safety system. It all has to work together or you can get bitten pretty hard.

AND you know, I've done it a thousand times too. I guess what I am bothered about is the guys who do it in a street car that is never going to race, to be cool or whatever. I bet they have no idea of the possbility of what could happen. But, hey I just warn and inform, and don't try to stop things.