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Hello from San Antonio, Texas!

3K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  RichardM 
#1 ·
Hi everyone, I just turned 18 this month and have decided that I am now overly addicted to rally and want to get into it ASAP!. I raced motorcycles the last year and decided to move on to something else exciting and fun. Currently I have a 1993 BMW 325is, that I traded for, which has stripped interior, race seats, and coilovers. I'm planning on attending the lone star rally cross even on June 4th in the car but I was just wondering if it's a good car to put in the time and money to make a stage car? Or should I buy a already prepared and log booked rally car? I plan on making rally racing my life and devoting pretty much all my time and money into it so I need some guidance on what to do and what direction to take.
 
#2 · (Edited)
BMWs (of that vintage) make decent rally cars, BUT the most important question is (unfortunately) funding. At 18 are you self-funded, AKA a job, or are your parents gung-ho on helping you get into rally? Just something to think about, as rally is very expensive no matter how you slice it, and from San Antonio, your minimum tow distance would be 13 hrs (to 100 Acre Wood in Missouri) or 15 hrs (to Prescott Rally in Arizona).

Generally it is recommended to purchase a prepped, logbooked car, but isn't always the answer. Do you have experience building cars? Do you have access to someone who can weld very very well and has built a rally change, or can follow instructions? Do you have $8000 lyimg around? 8k is the conservative rule of thumb for what it takes to take a car and turn it into a rally car. Choose whats right for you, but there have been many who start building a car and never finish and never get on stage. The quickest way on stage is to buy :)

Rally can be your life, outside of work (as it is for me) but you don't win money (usually), and it costs a lot of money to do. Stay in school, get good paying job = sustainable rally. Start by going and volunteering at some events and ask drivers about how they got started and what they would suggest.

In any case, welcome! Rallycross would be good to get feet wet and Brianne and everyone over there are very nice and helpful, good people. Also keep an eye out for Rally cross/ rally trials events at rally ready rally school (which could be another option to get an intro and ask questions).
 
#3 ·
My parents are helping fund it while I'm in school since I'm only able to work part time. So my dad is a mechanic and I've been taught by him so I'm pretty set when it comes to working on the car and preparing the car but like everyone, funding is the biggest obstacle for me also. I have plenty of friends who are welders at shops which can help build a cage and I already have a 6 point cage that came with the car that's not installed. I'm just leaning more towards buying a rally ready FWD car cause everywhere I read about it says fwd is the best starting point if you want to be serious about rally. I'm no stranger when it comes to traveling far for races so that won't be an issue cause when I raced motorcycles we would travel 12+ hours twice a month to get to the races. I'm thinking about selling my motorcycles to save up some money to buy a rally car. There's a geo metro rally car on this site for $4500, would that make a good car? If so I need to start selling my motorcycles I don't use anymore lol. But for now I plan on attending all the rally cross events I can in my e36.
 
#5 ·
My parents are helping fund it while I'm in school

I'm just leaning more towards buying a rally ready FWD car cause everywhere I read about it says fwd is the best starting point if you want to be serious about rally.

Hi kid. Look..there's a less than one n 100 million chance that you can make any money at rally given that at your age NOW you don't have extensive competition background in hard competition already under your belt.
And by hard competition I do not mean grass-o-cross or auto-cross or Tea Ess Deez. These are leisure time playin.

Even ALL US rally is ALL except for Higgins, just guys spending lots of somebody's money to play and it means nothing...

Somebody wise once said (about auto-x, but it applies to all amateur racing) "Its kinda like floggin you log, it may be fun to do , but I don't wanna sit around watch a buncha other guys do it"..

And so since you do not have a number of years under your belt of high level racing---as far as we know cause you didn't say--and I think you would have) and you do not have the opportunity to practice for 3-4 hours twice a week and race once or twice a weekend...

I suggest you be honest with yourself and those adults who will be roped into the project inevitably and understand that this sport and your place is going to be just for FUN...

(in other words, jus' cause you go skid around in a grass-o-cross (and the BMW bone stock is fine for that) doesn't mean somebody is going to wrestle ya to the ground and force you to accept $180,000 to $230,000 to go play at rally)

Which means all the talk about " if you want to be serious about rally" is all hogwash..Bullshitting..when in context of USA/Canada.

So go get the simplest RWD you can find that has available and affordable parts LIKE SHORT FINAL DRIVE* and get a book..your dad did teach you to keep that service manual within reach didn't he? and start having FUN.
The correct goal.



*you do know what "short final drive " is dontcha?

If you do not at this point know what short final drive is and why it is vital, well then son, (shivering) you have a lotta learnin ahead of you..

Stay in school. avoid debt. Debt only makes money for some scum bag somewhere...keep it as simple as possible and ignore 98% of what most people, especially the crustaceans and good ol' boys in this sport tell you..
Study what kinds of cars people choose and what they do, and HAVE DONE where rally has been an ongoing deal for decades with entries in the 150 range average...You'll see its completely different than the cars that fill the fields here.
There are solid sensible reasons they choose what they choose.

Have fun and stay away from any car that you cannot easily progressively upgrade the final drive/diff and gearsets. That is a built in dead end in the cars potential and thus your enjoyment. (You think Dad is just going to say "Shore, $5000 for a gearset and final drive, buy 2 so you have a spare"? )
 
#4 ·
Good plan so far, the geo is probably about the cheapest rally car you will find and is a decent choice if it's sorted (I haven't looked athe ad/pictures). With a car comes the need for a trailer and truck to tow said trailer.

I just mention the distances as a perspective, glad to hear it's not lamentably long for you.

As for FWD/RWD arguments and being serious about rally, do you want to have fun getting sideways and go fast? Do you want to have fun, go fast and eventually step up to AWD and be a competent driver? Depending on how you answered these questions, it could be one or the other. It is generally accepted that FWD skills/driving style transfer to AWD better. AWD (with driver skill) = faster times. There are a lot of serious rally competitors that are RWD, and cars and parts are generally less expensive than FWD. If you have a cage that can be installed in the Bimmer, I'd contact your local scruitineer to see if it's rally legal and the best way to install it. With your mechanical background and access to welding and an already stripped car, that MAY be the cheapest route. I say may because nothing is ever certain.

Being serious about rally is about how you approach it, not which car you're driving. :) If you're smart and stay within your means rally can be a wonderful long-term hobby.

What're your goals?
Plan a budget, even once you have a car it's $1000-$2000 weekend to run an event.
Do you want to step up eventually? (Affects FWD/RWD decision).
PM me if you have any questions, one of my drivers (I codrive) rallyXs an E30, but bought a VW for stage rally. He took a little bit to learn the driving style difference between RWD and FWD.
 
#6 ·
I'm trying to sell my 325is on this site now so I can get money to purchase a car. Or should I use that money to take a 4 day rally school? I'm very committed to this and nobody can talk me out of my goals. After I complete a full season of rally and depending how well I do, I would move to Europe for a couple years to compete there in a series. I'm already looking for potential company's to sponsor me for advertising their business and am making a professional presentation to use when pitching the idea to them. I'm already organizing a crew and co driver so im trying to do everything possible to help before I can get the car. Is there any more advice y'all have for me? What to do and how to do it? Anything will help, just need some guidance so I can plan this out better.
 
#7 ·
Kid I moved to Europe within months of getting outta high-school a year earlyat 17.
Paid for the travel and food and a car myself..and the 250cc Husqvarna I rode also.

lasted 2 1/2 months and was broke.
Came back worked a year and a half and went back when I was 19... paid for the airticket, a car and a new bike (save on shipping!) paid in GB but never came into England so no sales tax and no import duty--picked up at Husqvarna factory.. saved $400-500..
Lasted one season April to Oct. 17-18 races, practice often.
came back worked more went back October. Got job as machinist...stayed 20 months..Shit ton of racing, practice 2 times a week for 4-5 hours a session. ..
Came back for 9 months in California
went back again for 2 years....working as machinist and welder..
10 years after starting, went professional..paid good
expenses about 24% of earning...

13 events and t boned in 1st corner, broken arm..Broken marriage, broken heart, ripped up knees L&R.
ccame back to USA, tried cold turkey..Began building cars (cars? before then they were just tow vehicles)..2 serious knee operations..
Went back one more year professional...knees chronically not working, crazy amounts of pain..raced in 5-6 countries, got a gig in South Africa paying crazy good--I pay air ticket but USD650 Start Money for 4 events..Saved the money..
Retired.
2 seasons professional---about the average life span in professional sports in USA..
Bikes were a LOT LOT cheaper then and far cheaper than cars..

Do you not think that there are already roughly 20,000 guys over in the various countries--who already have LOTS of seasons, LOTS of experience, skilled volunteer crews, jobs, a place to stay, SPEAK the LOCAL language,
who are already chasing after sponsorship EUROs?

There are. thousands. All faster than you. Local boys..

Do you know that even at the Dubya Arsey (WRC) level even into the top 10 many guys are paying for their rides--daddy's money or maybe some sponsorship, but mainly daddy.
And that the cost to buy a WRC ride is in excess of 5 million GBP (Pounds Sterling)


How are you going to pay for a car?
Pay to live? eat? pay for mechanics? Tires? gas?

Do you have several million laying around you can simply throw away without batting an eye?
For 4 or 5 seasons..?

If you could win events here overall or consitantly challenge for the win, then I would say OK go spend 2 years in Finland in F-cup (you'd better be familiar with Finlands F-cup, aren't you?) --generally acknowledged as the hardest National series in the world and see if you could finish higher than the top of the slowest 1/2 the field..
then maybe the financial bond-trader who has sponsored Makinen, Kankunen, Gronholm , Latvala etc might see you...

but how you going to pay for it when all these daddies over there are ALREADY spending millions to by rides for their kids?


as for school: No. If you do not have the opportunity to continually reinforce and practice any skills aquired anywhere school or life of where ever, those skills will quickly fade...Poor investment at this point. And frankly poor for most people because of the same lack of reinforcement thru training...
Read a bit on something called "The 10,000 hour rule" (and remember what I said about practice 4-6 hours twice a week, race once or twice a week week in and week out (even injured) for YEARS... then when professional 5-6 events per month (depending on the number of Catholic and National Holidays) each lasting approx 100-110 minutes sometime Saturday-Sunday. And I did all the work on the bike and the car or truck except mounting tires! myself..Cooked for myself, cleaned wounds and did the sports taping of both knees...

hard life.

Think..It aint worth it..
More fun can be had just aiming for fun.
 
#8 ·
Michael, Since you are close, go talk to Dave at Rally Ready. Also talk to Brianne Corn. They can help you realistically evaluate what is possible. Both have experience at reasonably high levels of rally and both are very good drivers.

But do plan to stay in school. It is possible to get a good education and have something to fall back on should be a professional rally driver not pan out. It is also possible to get a degree in engineering and still achieve very high level of racing.
 
#9 ·
Of course you have some ready examples...and just what exactly is this very imprecise phrase "reasonably high levels of rally"?

"entering" a rally for a fee does not mean a person has full understanding of anything..
That takes TIME, Miller..You're older than dirt but maybe the dementia you seem to suffer from leaves you gaps of clarity and in those rare moments, can't you recall back to the 1940s when you were a young Electrical Engineer....and marvel some at what one didn't know compared to 10-12 years later of doing a specific job?

Kid, humor this guy..its not right to make fun of the unfortunates, so show some upbringing..

Now I presume you've gone and read some about "the 10,000 Hour Rule" .

There are various critics and supporters of the general concept, and interestingly the more vocal critics seemed to me to be people who had not done anything critical or that needed to be precise--not measurably type of activity who pooo-poooed the idea most..
And the supporters people that had.

One thing the critics of the idea missed in the criticism was the important caveat when the author says "It takes about 10,000 hours ' to gain mastery of an activey, or skill..
The guy actually said "10,000 hours of dedicated practice beyond comfort level" .

So talk to anybody you want, go up and drink from Electrical Engineer Millers book of knowledge....
(ask them what they do in life to pay the mortgage), but read beyond what people dabbling in a leisure time pass-time suggest..

And explain the details of how YOU are going to to pay the millions of dollars to do one season at Dubya Arsey level.....

And what WHAT sponsor is going to give you 300,000 bucks to come near last overall and bottom of the (running) single make class D-mack Cup---which is all some fairly "quick" for over here guys have done..Never higher than top of the lower 1/3 of the finishers. (that is to say guys that can win "2wd" in a "National" if there were 90 -96 cars finish a stage they MIGHT do a 62nd or so--top third--1st to 30th , second third 31---60th, bottom third 61st the 90th). And that after they have a couple of three full seasons doing US events on their own (or Daddy's) nickle.

What I did and paid for myself was a long time ago, everything thanks to inflation is roughly 450% more expensive now and yet to do this lowest level means it costs more than 100 times more.

Where is that money going to come from just for the lowest level?

The root of all unhappiness is desire a very wise man said a long time ago.

Desire what you can actually pull off and you will be happy.
For them to do a absolute lowest possible cup,
 
#10 ·
Woah woah, lets hold our horses. The guy hasn't said that he wants to be the next WRC star, and seems pretty grounded and is asking legitimate questions. Let's not bloody up his thread with the "change the subie fanboy's mind" party line, we can go to any other intro thread to Sr see that.

We can see that he's selling his grass-o-cross Bimmer and is looking to buy a sorted stage car. He seems serious and is listening, lets help him out not scare him off battling about things that happened a long time ago.
 
#11 ·
Sure but maybe you missed this:
After I complete a full season of rally and depending how well I do, I would move to Europe for a couple years to compete there in a series.
I'm already looking for potential company's to sponsor me for advertising their business and am making a professional presentation to use when pitching the idea to them.
I'm already organizing a crew and co driver so im trying to do everything possible to help before I can get the car.
Is there any more advice y'all have for me? What to do and how to do it?

Anything will help, just need some guidance so I can plan this out better.
Trying to get him to realise it is not "a season" or 'a couple of years"... Its either get millions to buy a ride and learn or a few decades..and that costsa lotta money too.

And of course get him to think realistically if the idea itself is sensible or even fun...
Before he gets the "you can do anything you want as long as you really wish for it" fair tale BS..or more of it I should say.

And to get him to understand car motorsports is all about making somebody rich...Nobody gives anything away unless there are SOLID dollars (or Euros) and cents reasons.
 
#12 ·
Sweet i made it my life for a while too and it was some of my best years :)

just focus on keeping it a sustainable Hobby and you'll stay happy.

you need to get your finances back to Zero before each rally (or much better yet a plus)

I have several years of experience of doing it Right

and i have several years of experience doing it Wrong.

When i did things right, i would pay for each rally Entry with money from my bank account, navigator covered hotel and crew booze. the rest of the costs i would pay for on my credit card. and then i would pay off the credit card, repair the car, BEFORE entering the next rally.

Life was good, i often raced 4 weekends a month (Stage Rally, Rally cross, auto cross) in that order of preference.

I had one rally where i drove the car there, camped at a KOA camp ground won my class for Day 1, car was parc firme and i had to get a local to give me a ride back to my camp site where my navigator had his car.. LoL the local was a waitress at the bar , we had to wait until they closed.. LoL
won the 2nd day, had to drive navi back to pick up his car from parc firme. then back to after party at hotels, then back to our camp site.

it was probably my 2nd most epic rally experience to date. it was cheap and it was really fun. (car was FWD at the time with 110 hp)
then i reached for more than my wallet could support. bought a set of coilovers on a credit card, entered a rally before paying a single cent of that off. then i got the bright idea to introduce the GF to rally and pay her way .. Credit card debt rose even more.
then i tried to treat my friends and i paied for their gas while letting them drive seperate cars (more of the GFs idea) Bought some go fast parts (1 of which is still not installed 4 years later) again on the CC.

then the CC got declined, it was at its limit. oooh shit.

then i had to stop fixing damage to the car and just entering with it broken. (broken front lsd for example)

then the motor blew up, and i was out of money , except for that negative money stuff.

Life was bad

The key is to really know what you can afford and stick to it tightly.

My car is faster now, and sets much better stage times. I'm not sure if its really anymore fun, might be slightly less fun actually.

before i was flat on the gas nearly everywhere, always always praying the car would some how go faster, feeling i had a great performace while finishing maybe 7th or 10th out of 50.

Now i'm not flat on the gas as much, often find myself hoping to hear a low note (L3?) while i'm doing 100 mph, finishing 5th out of 50 and feeling that i could have done better, should have done better.

all for an increase price tag in up keep too! the car isn't at drift able as it was before due to the setup / power level, so more of the fun has to come from out performing others, . my tires wear faster than they did before, so do the brakes. crashing or having offs at just 10 mph faster seems to make a big difference in how much i have to spend to fix stuff.

also how far off the road you end up, and how easily you get back on.

I had a 4 minute lead on the last running of north nevada rally on day 2 and went so far off the road i had to wait for swept and i was time barred. :( Arg

now i'm going to rebuild the car to be more Fun , the right diffs so i can throttle over steer and make line corrections with out losing my drift. also a transmission with better gearing.

whether my stage times are better or worse, if i can up the fun in each corner by being silly sideways i won't care as much where i am on the results, which would make events more fun. :)

its possible to take things to seariously and ruin your fun. I clenched a championship one year at prescott but had almost no fun cause i was taking things too seriously , really pissed off my crew (friends) and stuff. was really just shitty of me. but i learned my lesson. ;)

you should also learn from my mistakes.

3 years after blowing up my motor i'm just now starting to rebuild my rally car :) and i have a good income (also have a bunch of kids now.. lol)

Hope you make it out on the stages and have a blast. :D
 
#13 ·
also mini goals are really good.

1) avoid being dead last
2) go for a top 3 stage time in your class
3) go for a top 3 class finish
4) get a stage win (class)
5) get a class win at a rally
6) top 3 in class standings at year end
7) class championship
8) finish 500 stage miles
9) finish 1000 stage miles

etc etc :D
 
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