Attended my first rallycross event yesterday. It was so much fun. I've done ice racing (ice autocross) for a number of years in AWD and FWD. This was my first time off-road on RWD and first time in the dirt. It was much more fun and more challenging than ice. Ice is slippery everywhere and on rubber tires, there isn't much change in traction across the course or day. This course was really variable. Not only were there fast and slow sections but the surface was different every run. Lines needed to change for speed and, for me, lines needed to change to keep the car intact. There were some serious ruts on the back of the course that could have swallowed my wheels and put the undercarriage flat onto the ground.
I was running on completely stock suspension. I had some stock wheels with stock sized Altimax Arctic tires. I've had good experience with this tire in the winter and this seems to be one of the two go-to snow tires for rallycross. The car was great. I dipped the front bumper into the mud in places (soft mud/dirt, no damage) and only bottomed out lightly once (I was too aggressive and missed the line). A lot of people questioned my car choice but it did really well. The RWD group was small and I was the only PR car. They ran the 2WD cars with the UTVs and those were fun to watch. Being in a class of one meant I placed first in PR! :laugh:
Of course the stage rally cars posted the fastest times and made me looking like I was out of a Sunday drive, but man it feels fast from inside the car.
Here's a video from the morning heat. It's not my fastest lap but has an entertaining tank slapper near the end. I forgot to bring my external mic so the GoPro picked up a lot of wind noise through the housing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4CzF24Kamg
I am totally hooked. I need to build a more substantial skid plate than the factory one. You can say that here, it's pretty minimal:
After the plate, I need more seat time! Maybe next year I'll get a set of smaller wheels with real rally tires but I have a lot of car handling to learn.
This FR-S won PR nationals one year on stock suspension, camber plates, and rally tires. And obviously a lot of skill:
Here's some of the other cars at the event:
The whole park (rallycross happens on the ATV track and there's a world-class motocross track in the front) is in the shadow of the cooling towers of the Byron, Illinois nuclear plant:
