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Tow car is my daily driver.
Tow dolley saves on renting a trailer and space.
Found a sponsor to supply parts for free.
Picked a car that was cheap to run.
Picked a car with not much power saves on tyres/parts.
Drive it to finish, saves on parts,big rebuilds/crashes
Cut cars up and sell the parts on Ebay.
Look for bargain tyres and buy in bulk.
Got a sponsor who pays a small amount towards running costs.
Buy the local tyre dept guys beers for Christmas, they mount my tyres for free when the boss is out!
resell old belts on Ebay ($150) to dune buggy guys,covers cost of new belts.
do all my own work.
Have a very good Co-driver who covers half of all the costs.
I have the gift of the gab, it helps!
Put company names on the car for free services.
Add that little lot up and I rally for next to nowt and have so much fun doing it.
 
Ho do I do it?

-Suffered for 8 years to get my wife through pharmacy school so she can earn big $$ and help with costs (she usually picks up the rooms, towing fuel, and food)
-Race a cheap (and unpopular!) car
-Do all the work myself (Ok, I didn't make the cage or skidplate....I did everything else)
-Tow vehicle is also daily driver (for wife if you can believe it)
-Drive crappy car to work (same type as rally car, makes for common "pool" of spares when (not if) it breaks down)

The biggest part of my equation is having a very supportive wife who enjoys being part of the circus. Without that it would be hard to say how much rally I would be doing.

One suggestion: Never put yourself in a position of financial or emotional distress to make it to an event or to chase a National series. Plenty of people have done it, but I seriously doubt the satisfaction of winning a car race lasts long enough to make the rest of your life miserable. Rest assured that I took my own advice, this is why I'm not running events on the opposite side of the continent and my debt is still manageable.
 
1. Good paying job
2. Forgiving wife (easier to ask for forgiveness than permission)
3. Bag lunch every day
4. No other vices (smoking, gambling, drinking)
5. Quit golfing (kinda ironic that I'm building a Golf)
6. using ebay, etc to full potential for parts.
7. Doing it myself ('learn to do by doing' is my motto these days)
8. Beater car with 35mpg for daily driver

I'm sure there's more, but that's a short list. I know the whole arguement about buying rather than building, and it's a good one. But I now have intimate knowledge about my car that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Plus, by building slowly using ebay, online classified, etc, I've been able to put a relatively small amount of money towards the car each month. My neighbours, friends, co-workers have $10K snowmobiles, or $700/mo car payments, or a cabin/motorhome....I choose to spend that money on rally instead.
 
Discussion starter · #45 ·
The common answer on here is "scrimp here" and "save here".

That may net you a rally or two, but whether you drink water or Guiness isn't going to save you enough money to run a whole championship.

I agree that you can live lean and come up with some extra cash, but not at the scale necessary for a full season.

For full seasons (8-10 national level rallies) you need sponsorship or access to someone with lots of disposable income/trust fund, etc.

Period.

Except for Randy. I don't know what he knows that I don't know.
 
I think one problem with rallying is that the cost to do a full national season is far greater now when compared to an average income than what it used to be 15 years ago. Certainly here in Australia you couldn't do the 6 rounds of our national championship for under $300,000 in a top privateer car, and the factory teams are spending nearly 3 times that per car.
 
>Reading the budget post was a real eye opener. I really
>don't know how you afford this sport. What do you do, not
>save for kids college and retirment? Run up your credit cards
>and mortgage the house? Don't buy health insurance?
>
>I just don't see how you afford it on even an above median
>household income. So how DO you do it?

Motorsport is not cheap!
Either you have the money or you don't.
Maybe I should say,... it depends where your priorities are.
How bad do you want to be a Race/Rallye driver that will never make it to the WRC without a very good sponsor backing and unlimited supplies of luck?
You are doing the right thing by thinking things through.

Whiplash Rallye Sport
(Rallye isn't a Crime)
 
>
>>No, you need a wife with a good income to support your (and
>>her) rally habit. Live on your salary, play on hers. Better
>>yet, find a girl friend with a big trust fund. :)
>
>And where, O Wise One, do a young man find such a women? I
>can just see the match.com ad right now:
>
>Racer looking for girl to fund his dream. Good looks
>preferred, but not necessary.... :)

You just have to look in the right places, Dennis. Richard found one. So did I. I can name others... :)

And we're all having fun at it, too...nobody stays home on rally weekends.

Bruce
 
-Wait 21 years and spectate until you can afford to race. Thats what I did.
-Regional events. We only race the local events (under 600 miles away from home).
-Chili dogs on the grill (we are always giving them away). It is tailgating rally style.
-low cost prebuilt rally car and low cost parts cars. I pick up parts cars all the time. I now have 4 full cars and parts from 3 others. (theme for sanford and son is sung to me often by my neighbor)
-Drive the tow vehicle or a parts car daily to work
-Run the events to learn and have fun. Push a little harder each rally until you roll, then rebuild (this also saves money on entry fees of rallies you miss while rebuilding).

I am putting twins through college now and another starts 2 years from now. I married a girl who use to spectate POR with the guys. They are my priority! I do not plan on getting rich or poor rallying. It is a sport and hobby that is a blast, high energy excitment! If this ever gets boring, maybe I will try riding a great white shark next, that looks like fun.
 
>Wow, that's one of the most arrogant statements I've ever
>read.
No not really. I think it's one of those tone things we all miss, OK?

Derek and I have talked about how even among people who do make lots of dough there is a consistant "amazement" that he does rally.
"How can you do it?"
Of course they would never think of NOT having:
BIG screen TV
BIG sound system
Ipod-cell phone that palys movie/takes movies, washes clothes, gives a hand job,
6,700 buck mountain bike
expensive ski/snow board
new flash car (you ever see the POLL "whaddya drive? it was a near INVERSE of what I would expect to see for even casual competitors, a buncha 20 sumpins with 99 and 02 expensive cars for the street and dog stock junk for the woods---WTF!!!)
5000 sq ft + show houses
dining out 4-7 times a week
expensive clothes

and this is Sleezattle, decidedly NOT the most status picky part of the country.
etc

Now I've been helping dozens of guys get started since 1984 and there is a consistant percent that would be characterized as "OOOOooooh dude, I am so INTO (just fill in the black, it REALLY doesn't matter)
rally-racin' I sooooooooooooo wanbt to build a car and start!!!!!"

But then you find they are 28 and still in college with an undeclared major, 250 credits spread all over, have around the crash pad:

>an unfinished "rad design recumberant bike that's like the most fuel efficeient machine ever invented doooood"

>a partially built kayak with 3inches of dust on it.

>ankle deep in burger wrapppers and never seen without a tall Latte in hand

> some more dead bicycles that once were "the latest"

> new expensive electronic toys like Derek's examples who make 4-5 times as much.

>no mechanical sense, but every "......to Win" book written

> and a complicated plan to do gravel rally by :"First I'm going to buy a Capri, then fix it up since you know the V6s so well then I'll auto-cross it for 3-4 years to learn some car control, then I'll sell it and find a........"

And they are working toward a job which will be working as a barista, or a janitor, or a video rental store.

Or like 85% of my generation fawkin "Artists" (dude, I did live in Capitola and Insanity Cruz with glass workers and leatherworkers and other hand craft people as friends and neighbors--Hell I'm wearing a belt I made in 1975 and have worn daily since---I was one!!!).

So Derek's not being arrogant just suggesting the obvious to those who claim they want to go racing.

OK??
 
I don't think the scrimp here, save here, is quite the full aspect of it. It's just the start. You can't cut out Chipotle burritos and eat only peanut butter sandwiches every day and suddenly start rallying. It has to be entire lifestyle. Derek has the good point also that you have to make an effort to change. Mark Malsom is a good example. Has a decent job as a manager of Blockbuster. Could make enough money to run a NA car, a couple of rally events a year and the Colorado series. But he's gone back to school and is finishing his Mechanical Engineering degree. His main motivation is increased cash flow from a better job so he can race more and build his car better. I have a good secure state job making more than the median salary in Denver, but I am starting on my Master's degree in the fall to increase this more.
Instead of a nice house and a decent daily driver, I ride a scooter that costs me annually less than my coworkers pay monthly to operate. Yeah, it sucks when it's -13 outside but okay, it's what I have to do. I live in the ghetto with dirt cheap rent. I have a single car garage. My neighborhood has drug dealers and gangs. I know of a stabbing and a shooting that have occurred within a block of where I currently live at. That's why I have a 100 pound dog with a good mean bark. (though he costs approximately $30-40 per month to keep fed). I don't have a TV, telephone, or the internet. My computer is used for watching movies from the library (free rentals), watching rally footage, and editing videos. I have more car parts than furniture. I have a couch that was given from a rally friend. It's my only real piece of furniture. My computer desk is boxes and such. Could most people live like this? Probably not, but it's a small sacrifice to me to get me to where I want to be.
I think claiming sponsorship/trust fund as a hold back or necessity is not correct. There are examples of people that have run top cars without huge budgets just as there are examples of people with huge budgets that can't seem to deliver equitable results.
 
>Wow, that's one of the most arrogant statements I've ever
>read.

For clarity could you let me know witch statement sounded arrogant to you. I expect "pick a job that can get you there"?

If so I will expand on my thoughts a little.

There are many good jobs that have upper limits on earning potential for example a dental hygentis. It is a good job, typically has good hrs, helps people, requires training and skils. There is nothing wrong with this job other than it will never pay a great deal. Same for school teacher, Nurse, Office Manager, Car Mecanic, Airplane Mecanic, Pilot, Electrical Engineer etc.

Other jobs have shown time and time again that there are avenues to really brake out of the normal wages. Computer Jobs, CPA's, Construciton Jobs, Sales Jobs, realestate agent etc.

Now wages is hardly the only factor when picking a path but it is one to think about. I personaly think anyone who has the drive and dertermination to put together a rally car and make it to an event also has the personallity that could in the right job produce a solid income in the top 5% or so.

Derek
 
Hiya John,

Yeah, I'm not arguing the whole idea that a budget is necessary, and that one has to sort out one's priorities based on what one wants to do. For some people, having that ubersized flatpanel TV with the 7.1 surround may be more important to them than having the ultimate rallycar/servicetruck/whatever. For others, it may not be an issue of what they buy or how they budget; their priorities or their background may preclude simply switching jobs just so they can rally.

What bugged me about Derek's post - and yeah, it may simply be a tone thing - is that it smacked of "you should just get a better job, and get paid a lot, like me!". It's NOT easy to get into that upper 5% tax bracket, and may requires years of education and experience, along with a lot of dedication and a certain amount of luck.
 
Hoche, it is a tone thing. Derek is, not that he needs defending, the most unarrogant young-ish guy raking it in with both hands that I know of. I see his point. There's more to rally than the car. You wanna be a national level contender, and you have what it takes, you gotta have your whole life dialed into that goal.
 
Hey Derek, I'm ticked off at you too. :p

I'm an electrical engineer and I'm in the top 5% of salaries in the US. Could be higher but I deliberatly went back to being an engineer several years ago to reduce my chances of a heart attack.

Actually, the only reason I am responding here is to state the world needs more engineers. Well good ones that is, not just those that get the title and still don't know diddly.

Oh yea, to get into the high levels of income in engineering, you have to be really good or old. You may speculate on which I am.
Richard
 
Derek, my apologies. We've met a couple of times, and you seem like a pretty mellow fun-lovin' guy, so it was sort of shocking to hear what I perceived you were saying coming from you - which is why I commented on it. However, this being the texty internet forum that it is, I obviously missed your underlying meaning and jumped to conclusions, and now I gotta swim back.

Yeah, you gotta pay to play, especially at the National level. Whether it's working your way into a 5% job so you can fund it yourself, or just finding some way to build up the connections so you can persuade someone else to fund it for you, a certain dedication is needed.


That being said, my hat goes off to the local "club" rallyists I've seen who get out there on small or no budgets. Without naming names, in the NW there's a couple who started rallying while they were still in college, running a worn out MR2. Every event, they struggle to keep it running, but when they can, they manage to set blistering times with what they've got. I know someone who rallies up and down the west coast on a teacher's salary. Last year, I co-drove for someone who had a child on the way and because that had an impact on his rally budget we did the event commando-style, with no service crew. We drove the rallycar to the event, ran it with both our spares and all the tools in the back, and managed to finish respectably.

So, where there's a will, there's a way. It takes dedication and money to contend at the top levels, but with some careful budgetting I feel that nearly anyone can get out there and compete.
 
I just got out of college, and I was super poor the whole time so I'd like to think that I have gotten a little more thrifty with my money.
Also, I don't have any school debt so that's a huge relief.
And I'm an engineer with access to our company's machine shop.

That always helps :D
 
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