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Single venue rallying



  330i
Good morning all. Just trying to find out who on CS is involved in or does single venue rallying? It's something that I looked into years ago and started building a car (Vauxhall Nova :smirk:) to do so. What are costs like per rally and are there any links rules and regs to look at when it comes to building a car?

Many thanks
Mark
 
Hi Mark, have done quite a few single venue rallies in many different cars as a co-driver and currently building a Clio to rally from August I hope. Costs for events (tarmac) vary but expect to pay around £200 for 40miles of stages (ish) TSH in Cornwall is 100 stage miles around a large airfield and complex and is £250 ish and was two weekends ago. Being airfields they are rough on tyres you will burn through a set of fronts. As to building a car the MSA bluebook which is online as a PDF is the bible! Full cage, seats and harnesses in date. Safety extinguishers. Electric cut off. Fuel sampling feed, mudflaps , harnesses cutters horn accessible to co-driver. Plus loads more. Happy to help out with answers etc.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 

massiveCoRbyn

ClioSport Club Member
  Several
@Pauleds has rallied his Clio, as has @EVOgone

They should both be able to help. I am currently rebuilding a MK5 RS2000 to do some single venues in also. As above, you'll need a copy of the MSA bluebook, plus a licence, so you need to order an MSA starter pack. https://www.msauk.org/ is the place to get all that stuff.

As for costs, it's not cheap 😂
 
  330i
Cheers fellas, just been having a look at the Blue Book. About as clear as mud! I've always loved rallying and would like to get involved some how, I'm interested to find out what the cost differential between track days and single venue rallying. I realise that to be competitive it's effectively a bottomless pit, but just to get out and have some fun there cant be a massive difference? Looking at the two, you'd want to have all of the relevant safety equipment (cage/seats/extinguisher etc) in either a rally car or a track car... Well I would. Then you're looking at joining/set-up fees and fees for the day itself. Or am I oversimplifying this? I.e getting started may be more expensive, but running fees (tyres/fuel/wearing parts) are all comparible?

Thanks again!
 

Pauleds

ClioSport Club Member
  Merc Dueliner sport
Pretty much been said, but it's the initial costs of the stuff you need before you even turn a wheel that puts people off.
Bars test
Msa licence
Club membership
Flame resistant helmet (either to suit an intercom, or already have one built in)
Hans device (Head and neck support )
Flame resistant racesuit
Msa logbooked car - minimum requirements of a 6 point cage, autolec cutoff, handheld and plumbed in fire extinguisher, bucket seats and harnesses in date (they gave a 5 year lifespan) sumpguard, tankguard and intercom system.
Event costs are entry fee, insurance (depending on the event), fuel, tyres (depending on what you use this can vary from 1 event to another as some places are very abrasive and others are ok) and other wear and tear.
You also need a willing codriver, which usually helps as quite often they will also contribute towards the entry fees.

If you are still interested, I will have my class winning Clio rally car up for sale once I've got round to changing the roll cage!
20170507_102425.jpg
 
  330i
Thanks for the response, so by the looks of things, your several grand into it before you even start looking at sorting a car to do so. Something to put on the back burner but its useful to know the rules/regs when modding the car in the first place.

Cheers for the help!
 

massiveCoRbyn

ClioSport Club Member
  Several
It all depends how mad you want to go really:

My helmet was c.£350
An entry level HANS device is c.£250
I got my suit off a friend for £100 (someone had bought it, but only realised it didn't fit after it was too late to exchange it)
MSA starter pack is £99
Licence test is £180
I think you have to pay for the licence afterwards, which is about £50

Even if you don't get lucky with a suit like I did, you could spend a little less on a helmet (Hedtec seem a decent budget option) to help counter the cost. You're looking at around £1000-1100 for basic gear to get you started (unless I've forgotten something obvious!)

The car very much depends on spec obviously. Many people would recommend buying a car that has already been converted. I have seen stage rally cars sell for as little as £1500-2000 but, at this price point, they might well need new seats and harnesses or just be a bit untidy. I followed this advice with my Escort and bought a car that was already converted. Unfortunately, I ended up stripping it entirely, as there was a few things I wasn't happy with. Buying a used competition car can be a minefield.

If you don't want to buy something and you just want to convert a car to gain an MSA logbook, so do the bare minimum required with no performance modifications, you're probably looking at £2-3k, providing that you can do a lot of the work yourself. The bulk of it is in the cage, seats and harnesses, but all the little bits can soon add up. There are some good deals out there though. Obviously you're going to be at the entry-level end when it comes to seats etc, but it depends how much it worries you. Some people are happy to use entry level stuff, while others insist on using really good quality safety gear.

If you enjoy it, you can always add performance parts as you go to try and make the car more competitive. I think my best advice when it comes to the car is to start with the right one. My Escort is getting old and isn't that popular for rallying, so finding performance parts (and even standard parts) can be a challenge. It's a bit boring to choose a Corsa/Clio/205/206/106/Saxo etc in a way but, the advantage is, there's lots of knowledge out there, lots of spare parts and lots of tuning options. If I was starting again, I would pick a Clio. They go well out of the box, spares are generally cheap and there is quite a lot of tuning gear out there for them. The likes of Pure Motorsport can supply you with lots of suspension upgrades, it's relatively easy (if not that cheap) to get an LSD and short final drive for one. It all just makes it a bit easier. Lots of used spares and upgrades out there too. In fact, when my Escort is done, I will probably sell it and use the Clio instead!
 
  Mazda mps
Hi
I have done over 30 SV events plus 8 Mulls and in different cars. 4/rear/front wheel drive.
I built a Clio 172 and did a couple of events in it. I can honestly say they are a great car straight out of the factory.
My advice would be... Spend good money on the cage and seats, these keep you safe!
Brakes are great as standard but put new disks and pads on (Mintex 1155 or F4's)
Search ebay for 2nd hand parts and good deals. I got my sump grd for peanuts and it was unused.
Choose the type of event you want to do and build the car to suit those events. The days of a car being competitive in varying types of events are gone. Put a 182 manifold and good exhaust on and better induction too. Run it on 15" rims as rubber is cheaper and more available. It also helps acceleration.
Unless you have an endless pit of money go for suspension you can afford. Bilstiens are excellent and most club drivers will never exceed the capabilities of these shocks. Spend your cash on tyres. They are the ONLY thing which transfers power, steering, braking and suspension to the road. Buy new tyres do an event sell them and you will be 3 seconds a mile quicker and it will work out cheaper than buying 2nd hand ones!
Rallying isn't cheap but neither does it need to be too expensive.
Most of all enjoy the build and the events.
 
  Clio 1.5 DCI
I've been competing for about 8 years now. Started with a Pug 205 gti, then put an MI16 motor in it and a close ratio box. When it worked it was a proper quick little car. We then used a Proton Satria for Road Rallies and did Wales Rally GB in 2015 and now we've just finished building a Fiesta ST.
As has been said already, its not cheap to get into but there are alternatives like buying second hand items but please be careful as you don't want a helmet that's been damaged or a cage that's had a bad accident or something. It is a little expensive to get going with safety equipment, car prep and the BARS test etc.. but its so worth it when that light goes green on SS1 :up:
 


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