Dogote
New Reader
10/17/17 9:12 a.m.
The rules say it must be wider from edge of tire to edge of tire that it is tall. It passes by almost 3 inches.
Even though it will bend like this with the sway bar disengaged (electronic locking sway bar) It is set up for fast desert and forest road use. I can turn hard with a healthy amount of speed and it is very planted to the ground. It would be pretty hard to roll it in a rally cross type situation.
It's just not too quick.
If you're talking SCCA rallycross, there's not an official height vs width rule that I know of. It's up to the discretion of the safety steward at the event as far as what they feel can safely negotiate the course. I've run the Jeep in my avatar plenty of times with one of our local-ish regions. The more local region generally has more rollover-prone sites and is more conservative on what they'll allow (after a few people managed to roll Subarus a few years ago), so they generally wouldn't allow it.
Dogote
New Reader
10/17/17 9:31 a.m.
In reply to rslifkin :
The local to me (Seattle area) Rally Cross is who told me it needed to be wider than it is tall. I give it a try, if I can't race, I'll come back in my Mini Cooper S, or stock height 1986 Jeep Comanche Pickup.
Dogote
New Reader
10/17/17 10:45 a.m.
In reply to fidelity101 :
According to the Puget Sound area guys, not true.
Not really just "lifted" either.
As mentioned above, it's left up to safety steward discretion. As my region's head safety steward, I typically aim for wider than tall, especially for a novice. I also give them the heads up that if we see anything sketchy, like two wheeling, they'll be done for the day. It also depends a bit on which site we're racing at. Our typical venues are flatish, but we do have one hilly one. I would probably not allow the Jeep there.
I would highly recommend contacting the event organizers ahead of time to save you the time of having to drive out and then back if they won't allow your vehicle. I know I would appreciate the heads up as a safety steward.
Dogote
New Reader
10/17/17 11:56 a.m.
In reply to FooBag :
Thats good advice. I am shocked at how stable and hard to roll this Jeep is. The system I used is suppose to lower the roll center quite a bit, and it hits the first stage of the bumpstops (canister style) when put into a corner hard. So there is an initial lean, then it is very firm with no bumpsteer issues.
I do what FooBag does as the chief of safety in my region too. And it's not about how stable it is in a turn, it has more to do with what the suspension does when it catches and comes back. Throwing the weight from one side to the other (like when you catch a slide) is more likely to cause a roll than anything else other than nasty ruts. The one Jeep that I saw roll on a rallycross course rolled on the third snap. Whip, whip, over.
With the stiff suspension in mine, I always consider the biggest danger to be sliding into something (either a snowbank, a rut or some thick mud). So I try very hard not to slide it into things that might suddenly slow it down.
We had a Bronco show up and run in the DC region this weekend, pretty sure he had more ride height then that.
In reply to Dogote :
Who are these Seattle rallyx people you speak of? Looks like the NWR SCCA doesn't run it any more, and I'm going to be moving back to Seattle next summer.
Dogote
New Reader
10/21/17 10:41 a.m.
In reply to mck1117 :
https://www.facebook.com/NWRallyAssociation/
Dogote
New Reader
10/21/17 11:03 a.m.
In reply to rslifkin :
Yes, mine too. I have elastomer type bump stops. If the suspension is compressed enough to hit them, it is really stiff.
I have them set to allow the spring to compress about 2" before they start slowing things down. My travel reaches the bump stops limit just before I run out of travel (leaves a little less than an inch before the first metal to metal happens)
I can reset these to contact the spring perch sooner. I can also put some stiff, but almost stock height springs I have in and re-align everything for the new ride height.
They flex this Jeep has in the photo is with the front sway bar unlocked. If I were to have left it locked to drive up on a car, the drivers side wheel would be level with the passenger side and be in the air.
About 10 years ago I decided that I would use a Husaberg FS 650 supermoto bike for every type of moto competition I could find in the NW. My friends and I even talked about putting together a one bike championship series that would piggyback all the various races that we wanted to do. With changes to my set up that all took less than an afternoon to do, I was about to race supermoto, rally moto, enduro, road race (actually just a track day, but I proved it would be competitive, and wouldn't be the only supermoto bike road racing) All this, and still street legal.
I don't know why, but I still think having one vehicle that can do many things it shouldn't is cool.
Stiffer springs was my solution. I only get into the bumpstops over significant bumps in the front (just over 2" before they hit) and just barely touch them in the rear (about 3.5" before they hit and the rear springs are progressive).