Lets say I wanted to build a car...

Nice quality of the vid - the lighting and colors sure are nice!

It could look like you need some more confidence in going sideways steering with the loud pedal, and not trying to steer through everything at neutral throttle with the steering wheel. Obviously that will come over time...
That is one seriously narrow course though... so I can see how it could be difficult to accumulate that sort of experience.

I really think that you could benefit from having "Grass-o-crosses" and Auto-crosses in the way that we have 'em here in Denmark. We don't have the entire course laid out in cones in front us - just 3-4 points that we need to cross/turn around/pass/whatever. These are in a "sketch" of the stage, and then the required sequence of passing the points is mentioned. Then it's completely up to the driver and co-driver to navigate, choose the line, communicate, etc., on how to best finish the stage.

I've attached an example of a sketch from a klubrally (as it's called here) stage.

Just to explain: As you can see at the top, there is a point called D, leading up to this is a slalom which you may take starting from whichever side you wish (in this case). We have point C and E (the same) on the right just above the middle - also to be turned around however you wish, as well as point A a little lower. B and F you are forced to do in the direction of the arrow.
At the lower right we have the start line and the finishing field (we have full stop finish in this type of rally).
And finally in the lower left, the instruction for the stage is written out, meaning that you go to point A, then B, then C, then D, then E (which was the same as C), then F, and finally past A again before going to the finish line.
This stage is at a company lot with buildings on it, which is a very common place to put a klubrally stage (or should I say trial?), and so there's a lot left to the cars crew with regards to how to get the quickest time on stage.

As a means for crews to get better at understanding, reading and communicating the stage/trial, and thus preparing for proper stage rallying, I think this makes much more sense.

Are there any rallycross or autocross organizers here that see issues with this in your rules?
Does anybody think that it's a bad idea?

Like I said - for me it makes much better sense .

---

Brgrds
Brian

Quote
tdrrally
the grabber at2 is made in a 205/75-15 as well as a 215/65-16

And 27 x 8.5 14. Thats what I've got on my volvo.

I was pretty impressed with the video quality for what I paid... Comes out to about $120 total with a Kodak playfull camera bought on sale and a modified GoPro suction mount.


Now, as for the drive... You'll notice many of the gates are just barely wider then my car is. If I was sideways and being super tidy Im sure I would have been still picking them up with the tail in certian places. I tried putting more foot into it in earlier runs (I am still learning, so you are not off point that I need more seat time either way with this) and I found alternating between the 2 driving styles when ever I passed a gate was slowing me down severely.

The track was very narrow and quite rough, and as the day went on I went more and more conservitive with my line and it paid off in time. In the end this course ended up driving like an autocross course... kind of a bummer.

Your sketch there is pretty cool, I may try to suggest something like it. I can see opposition because they try to keep the speeds down, they are so worried about losing parcipitants who don't want to ruin there nice new WRX's or having people hurt themselves going fast. This is also kind of a bummer...

Re watching the video, I belive you are right. Watching the first, second and last turns It looks like I could have dipped into it a bit farther and got away with it. Except maybe the end of the last turn beyond the finish line, where the cones were so close i couldnt see them on either side of the fenders. If i came into here out of shape it would have been a massacre.

I don't miss Rally X, i did maybe 5 in the New England Region and i doubt i will do any others. not unless i had a beater ready for a local junkyard. its just too slow, tight and rutted. with the cost (entry, fuel, food, lodging, wear and tear) of 5 RX's you could do a saturday at team o'neil and be a better driver than those 5 RX events would teach you.
Maybe you could scout out some gravel roads as practice and break the law, after all this is rally anarchy.

This is something that crossed my mind during this weekends event. I
feel like I didnt pick much up other then stress. With how tight and slow and short the course was, I felt a little underwhelmed. Maybe I will look at one of the schools.

As for gravel, I live on long island, there is no dirt or gravel roads I know of on this island. I know of some dirt roads about 2 hrs upstate but that's a long tow if I hurt something, but doable. Frankly, I just do the rx's for seat time.

Anyone else have critiques for what they saw? Comments like so are very welcome, no offense taken here.

It's kinda weird, cause from some of the other video's I've seen from US grass-o-cross, there are events that have more speed?

I get the thing about scaring away owners of nice new cars, but maybe you just need to attract a different crowd?

It really seems to me that you need one or two event type more in between grass-o-cross/auto-cross and stage rally.

Here in Denmark we have:
Klubrally (the sketch I showed above)
Rally sprint
Mini rally. This is actually a fully fledged stage rally, but with certain limitations, like no more than 45 km. of stages in total, no more than 800 meters of unhindered straightaway on a stage, and a few other things). These are one-day events with recce done in the morning, the actual competition starting just before lunch, and then dinner and awards in the evening/night.
Regional rally - like mini rally - only higher demands for safety equipment. More stage miles, higher speeds, etc - normally one day events as well. Recce sometimes prior to race day.
DM rally (national championship) - like above - but typically 2-3 day events, lots of stage miles, blablabla.

For me I really enjoy not having to go all in. Minirally can be done on a fair budget, and it doesn't take a lot of vacation and so on, since they are one-day events. Also given that events aren't to far apart here, well, then we normally drive out the night before, spend the night at a B&B, and be back late the night after.

---

Brgrds
Brian

First off, My run was slow. I was faster then some, but overall average at best.

Im sure there are some other events that have more speed. The two times ive run with this club has been pretty slow, the first due to a light rain during the whole day, meaning the course was either wet grass or deep ruts. They run on a farm, so while this means there is no rocks, also means the soil it not packed at all, and wears quickly.

The closest to an in-between event I know of is the RNY guys do a rallysprint, a one day rally. My car isnt prepped for this yet.
There is also some pretty gnarly road rallies people have mentioned to me, up in new england. I think I may be looking into that this winter.

In the end, I am greatful that I have a rallycross within 2 hours of my home, seat time is seat time, right?

Quote
BobOfTheFuture
In the end, I am greatful that I have a rallycross within 2 hours of my home, seat time is seat time, right?

Weeelll.... sorta... I mean - you also get seat time out of stop'n'go traffic right? .

But yeah - I know you guys don't have it easy when it comes to number of events, etc. - so I guess it's all just a matter of perspective.

Good thing you're keeping the chin up!

---

Brgrds
Brian

Quote
BobOfTheFuture
The closest to an in-between event I know of is the RNY guys do a rallysprint, a one day rally. My car isnt prepped for this yet.
There is also some pretty gnarly road rallies people have mentioned to me, up in new england. I think I may be looking into that this winter.

We do have a few TSD events in the next few months, but sadley some of the more rural roads were destroyed by the last hurricane we had and will likely not be repaired until spring. Any interest in a hill climb or two? hillclimb.org

I was at that RallyX. The course was disappointingly narrow. I think, for the next one, I'm just going to ignore all the cones on the outside.

I like some of those mid-level rally ideas they have in Denmark.

Tim.

Tim! This is TDI Tim right? It was dissapointingly narrow, Im glad I'm not the only one who thought that. I heard someone say some parts were too wide during the event

Brian, Really the storm tore stuff up all the way up there? Im surprised as the roads down here were pretty much unschathed. Are you trying to get to any of the events, if they happen this winter?

As for hillclimbs, actually I was looking at them yesterday as I was posting on here. I think my car, with out the interior, would require a roll cage to be up to snuff for them. Once the car is prepped my plan was to do hillclimbs anyhow.

Some of the rallyx we've had here are painfully narrow. No room to slide. Silly really. SCCA tries to keep the speed down, which is fine, but you could certainly allow some nice 2nd gear slides. Car control would be better learned rather than autocross type braking and cornering.

Agreed... whats the point of a narrow autocross on dirt? Just do another autocross and save the paintchips

Quote
BobOfTheFuture
Brian, Really the storm tore stuff up all the way up there? Im surprised as the roads down here were pretty much unschathed. Are you trying to get to any of the events, if they happen this winter?

As for hillclimbs, actually I was looking at them yesterday as I was posting on here. I think my car, with out the interior, would require a roll cage to be up to snuff for them. Once the car is prepped my plan was to do hillclimbs anyhow.

I know of one event already that was cancelled due to poor road condidtions.

From what the guys tell me they have break out times for each hillclimb, if you are faster then the break out time then you need a roll cage. good news is, its tough to beat those times.

I did a TSD last year, it was ted goddard event, he makes some good cookies but i think it was his last year as the raly master. i cant remember who is taking over but buffum should know. i plan to keep checking http://www.winterchallengerally.com . Scott Believue puts on a few every year as well.