RallyX Setup Question

[1fstwrx]

Before I ask my question, I should give a little background information. I've got an 02 WRX that I'm thinking about entering into rallycross events. Now I must admit, this car has seen better days, after 1s gear was blown a while back, I stripped it of all it's stage 3 glory and sold the parts to fix the trans. At this point in time, it has replaced 1st and 2nd gears, a stage 2 + spec clutch, cross-drilled/slotted rotors, ceramic pads, ss brakelines, tenabe gf210 springs....and about 65,000 miles. I'm lookin to bring it back to life, I've been told I should start by replacing all the bushings in the suspension, would you guys also reccomend that? I'm really not too sure what sort of suspension set ups are best for rallycross. Does anybody know of any websites that give any information on Rallycross suspension setups? I'm also looking into 6-speed swaps, does anyone have any personal experience with this swap? Thank you for your input.


Luke

[Storz]

I wouldn't do anything to the car other than make sure its working properly. Most mods you do to the car will only put you in a harder class and honestly not really help you one bit. A friend of mine place 3rd and 2nd at the first two events this year in a very near stock 2000 2.5RS.

The first couple things I did to prepare for rallycross was car protection. Skid plates front and rear are always a good idea, and a set of mudflaps helps keep the rocks down. Tires, tires, tires are your most important thing. I purchased a used set of gravel tires for cheap and had them mounted in a set of OEM subaru steelies...its been to cold to run them thus far, however the next event should be warm enough.

www.rallyarmor.com
www.get-primitive.com

Both sell skid plates etc

[Orion]

Skid plates FTW! First and most important mod. Legal in EVERY class.

Tires - anything with decently spaced tread blocks, all seasons and snows are as aggressive as you can get for Stock, but your springs push you out of there. Might want to put stockers back on anyway, lowering springs are about as anti-RallyX as you can get!!!

As long as everything else is stock the brake lines may be overlooked, except at maybe a National.

[409industries]

If you are just starting out, i would recommend stock or street modified classes (not rally) work your way up!

The reason being is that you will be much more competitive in these classes and they require little to no modifications to be in them. protection is a must! get mudflaps and a skidplate. I actually held off for way too long in getting a skidplate and i know my next event i will have a lot more confidence should some big ruts emerge. Other than that... seat time is your best mod. car control!

[Not All There]

Agree with everyone above, protect it and get some good tires, than just have fun. Some courses are to tight to let the big power cars out and its mostly all driver which is neat about Rally X

Good luck!

[subyspawn]

^+1. everyone...

[1fstwrx]

Thank you all again for the pointers. The only way I could compete in the WRX would be in the M4 class because of the clutch. So unless I wanna go back and replace it with a stocker, I could just swap the 6-speed and forget about breaking gears. So I registered for a rallycross driving class down in Orange, VA with the STi. I'm gonna give it a go in the stock awd class for the class and event the following day. Then, hopefully, I can figure somethin out for the WRX before the next event.

[Orion]

go through the rules again...

Rally Stock

10. Any clutch or pressure plate may be used provided it fits all other unmodified, stock components.

Don't ask me why it's there and then they put "4. Any clutch may be used." as rule #4 for Rally Mod

[kainam00]

You shouldn't need new bushings with your car only having 65,000 on it.

I'm pretty sure that with the suspension and brake stuff you have you will go into Rally AWD Prepared (PA or RPA)... which is a fun class to be in :)

Like everyone else said, seat time is your best friend.

[Not All There]

what sucks about the rules right now (which i didnt see in writing) is that if you have no back seat, which i dont, your automatically bumped to modified. WTF lol. I had to fight for Rally prep last event. I dont mind racing wrx's and such, but common, modified? Stock 1.8 still just not back seat?

A back seat weighs all of like 10 lbs when soak n wet.

[Orion]

what sucks about the rules right now (which i didnt see in writing) is that if you have no back seat, which i dont, your automatically bumped to modified. WTF lol. I had to fight for Rally prep last event. I dont mind racing wrx's and such, but common, modified? Stock 1.8 still just not back seat?

A back seat weighs all of like 10 lbs when soak n wet.

stripping the interior does bump you unfortunately. it's not necessarily the weight of any individual item, it's the combined stripping of ALL the interior as most race vehicles do.

not many people will be like me and leave the HVAC, radio, backseat, and door cards when they strip a rally car. since i'll be somewhat daily driving it and my 3yo son loves the car, i'll have the usable things left in it.

[kreitz3]

You shouldn't need new bushings with your car only having 65,000 on it.

I'm pretty sure that with the suspension and brake stuff you have you will go into Rally AWD Prepared (PA or RPA)... which is a fun class to be in :)

Like everyone else said, seat time is your best friend.

OT, but, What's up Dmitriy?

[Not All There]

For some reason i was under the impression you can have a stripped interior for the Rally prep Class. Im not expecting to be in stock, but im not expecting to be in modified either. With the 1.8 and gutted interior we were shooting for Rally prep. One class above stock.

[Rallycat66]

For some reason i was under the impression you can have a stripped interior for the Rally prep Class. Im not expecting to be in stock, but im not expecting to be in modified either. With the 1.8 and gutted interior we were shooting for Rally prep. One class above stock.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but...

National Rules section 6.2.D.11...

Any front seat may be used, provided the seating surface is fully
upholstered. This does not permit the substitution of a passenger’s seat
with a child or miniature seat of any type. Any substituted passenger’s
seat must be sufficiently large and strong to be capable of adequately
accommodating an adult, such that it could be used as the driver’s seat.
Cars may have no fewer than the original number of seats. Seat belts are
required in all cars; however; the number of attachment points may not be
less than originally equipped. Installation of shoulder and lap belts is
strongly recommended. Additional belts must be installed per the belt
manufacturer's recommendations.

The next section (Modified Rules) is where it finally allows the interior of the car to be stripped.


SCCA Rules --> http://www.scca.com/_FileLibrary/File/2007rxRules.pdf
NER Supplementals --> http://www.ner.org/rally/docs/07NER_SuppRallyXRegs2.pdf

Tim

[Not All There]

Thanks Tim,

Ill just have to get that motor in asap so it doesn't matter anymore. :twisted:

[Rallycat66]

Thanks Tim,

Ill just have to get that motor in asap so it doesn't matter anymore. :twisted:

Nah, more power is highly overrated... Just let me drive it and we'll see what it can do as is. :twisted:

Tim

[Not All There]

:lol:

Not really the power, its the probability of my tired old motor giving way and saying "NO MORE"

Thats the best part of RallyX it is really a drivers sport.

[1fstwrx]

go through the rules again...

Rally Stock

10. Any clutch or pressure plate may be used provided it fits all other unmodified, stock components.

Don't ask me why it's there and then they put "4. Any clutch may be used." as rule #4 for Rally Mod

thanks for clearing that up for me.

I'll be ordering a set of rallyarmor mudflaps this coming week, and does anyone reccomendations for skidplates?

oh, and the stock springs are def. going back on, i wasn't planning on running those god awful tenabes at a rallyx.

[kainam00]

You shouldn't need new bushings with your car only having 65,000 on it.

I'm pretty sure that with the suspension and brake stuff you have you will go into Rally AWD Prepared (PA or RPA)... which is a fun class to be in :)

Like everyone else said, seat time is your best friend.

OT, but, What's up Dmitriy?

More OT: Hey Kyle - Not much, just working hard at keeping my car dirty. Coming to the Detroit region RallyX on the 31st?

On topic - I don't think power is overrated in rallyX, it is somewhat less relevant, especially if you can't put it down (i.e. in FWD and RWD cars). But you still need a decent amount of power to be able to get good times. LSDs help as well :)