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heymagic
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starion887
IMHO, nobody here is putting up divisions, but it has happened. SCCA put a rule in Pro Rally that required the base of any driving lights to be below the base of the windshield. It was to keep from looking like off-road trucks with their lights on the roof, and probably to look Euro-rallyish. Yeah, that kind of 'differentiation' bugs me too.
This discussion is about specific vehicle's suitability for rally, that is not very well adpated to rally conditions.
Mark B.
Exactly what Mark says.
I have no issues with desert racing, I wished I were closer. If someone wants to build a real desert racer and then rally it I'm ok with that. They generally don't do real well, Bill holds his own but not dominant. Here we are talking about someone building a Blazer for rally and that is not the best idea. You could try to race an Impreza in the Parker 400 or whatever they have these days. You can hammer nails with the butt of a pistol too, doesn't mean its a good idea.
Different disciplines of racing require different cars and sometimes totally different designs and functionality, beyond that most of us are car guys and they are all admired and respected to some degree.
Horses for courses....
My old adage "what advantage (on stage) does the car, or this mod bring you?" really is the crux of the matter..
Beating on anything on a dirt or gravel road is fun---hell we had that thread where are youse guys were talking about thrashing innocent, never hurt anybody 'Merikun cars to death, and sure it was fun..
The object of that, simply thrashing on something, was fufilled..
But here we're talking stage rally on North American roads and our roads are wide and from fast to very fast, and most Canajian roads even faster.
That means power and stability are big advantages, also means accurate steering at speed is a big advantage.
So sure beating on some old RX3 or real 510 is going to be fun-----but a 2,3 turbo Volvo or Xratty is going to be just as much fun---and help you make better results just by having a longer wheelbase, quick steering and moar powerz
The "nearly free" aspect of the Blazer saves a whopping $50 or 100 buck compared to the cheap Xratty I found him in Chicago. Ford 2.3 parts are even cheaper than SBC, all the prep costs come out the same in either side of the equation (cage, seats, belts, ---maybe) the difference comes down to
how will it work on stages-----and as Mark Bowers astutely pointed out "John is always talking about growth potential of a particular car" (but he was saying like that was a bad thing ---smoooochies Markl!!!)
Just a note on that failing of mine---Mark, its both my nature and my politics that I am optimistic and I believe everybody can---given opportunities---do a lot more-er-er than they think they can, and a simple but quick car that has no hidden vices means a guy gets to drive it more giving himself more opportunities to pile up the miles we all know is what is so sorely lacking for most people.
An inappropriate car, an underpowered slugloid POS, or some short tall tippy POS like a SUV, or some derelict old 510 that the badgers ate the wiring while the tinworms feasted on the tin, that means a guy won't be in the woods finishing events, or, crawling along at 42mph, doesn't even get a chubbie much less a stiffy and so weighing the dollars spent to laugh return ratios, drops out.
Alan, I've watched a lotta guys come into this sport and drop out after pissing away a LOT of effort and money on inappropriate vehicles. And i've seen some guys---TONS MORE overseas---stay in the sport a long time using simple basic vehicles with strategically selected items that yield the biggest returns (In N.a. cars thats compression, camshaft, final drive, steering, but in MOST of the world there isn't a class for 2wd turbos so they have to do n.a. motors)...
Don't fuck yourself, get the right horse for the right course---and something fun as it is that you can improve as you get better and itch for something
BETTER (without taking the loss inevitable in selling a second hand thing that everybody else knows is a bad idea).
haha
