Learn Me: Getting More Involved In Rally

So for the last few years I've been volunteering at ESPR in New York, and now that I'm out of school and relatively stable I want to do more with rally. I'm nowhere near stable enough to build a car, but the thought of helping a team in the pits gives me flashbacks to my SAE Baja days and that thought just seems wonderful. None of my social circle has a connection so I can't help through those means, so I figured I would ask the internet, as people here seem to know more about the sport than I ever will. I still want to volunteer, and actually got HAM licensed specifically so that I can radio op at events, but wondered what you guys would say is the logical next step for someone who just wants to get more involved. If it helps, I live in Northern New Jersey

Continue volunteering, and maybe join the North American Rally discussion group on Facebook and throw your hat in the ring as crew.  If we had any remaining events planned in the near future I'd tell you to come help us out, but home and shop projects need to get finished before I can commit to more entry fees.  I'll be crewing for Josh (irish44j) at STPR, you should volunteer for that event if you're not already.

I'm in eastern PA, if you're ever out near Bucks County you're welcome to come by the shop and go for a ride in the rally car (if it's running).

Chris D and the gang at Monticello recently started a rallyschool. 

In Southern NJ there are the pine barrens and lots of dirt roads around fort dix, look into potentially organizing a rallysprint. 

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I will definitely take you up on that! My girlfriend lives in Yardley, so I'm there pretty often. Also, your Merkur has made me search for them on more than one occasion, so a ride in one might completely ruin me haha. I wanted to go to STPR so badly, but I have a family event going on so I'll unfortunately miss it. I'll head over to the North American Rally group and check it out!

In reply to captdownshift :

I would definitely be interested in looking into a rally school but that's still out of the "only recently not a student" budget that I'm on. Looking into organizing a rallysprint would be a ton of fun too, I would just need a lot more experience in the organizational side of things first.

CO-DRIVE!!!

Get a HANS (or other options), Helmet with Intercom and a Firesuit.

Take it seriously and learn from your mistakes and you will be sought after. It's the easiest way on to the stages with a smaill investment.

In reply to NGTD :

I've always thought that would be an incredible experience but never thought of there being a need for freelance co-drivers. I always imagined that driver/co-drivers were a prepared team and that was all there was.

In reply to Sk1dmark :

There are totally freelance codrivers, TXratti is one of them and I could name a few others who aren't on here as well- the biggest hurdle is probably getting your foot in the door so people know you actually have some idea what you're doing.

If you need a Hans we can probably sell you a Zamp, Sara just upgraded hers so it's a spare at this point.

That's good to know! I have to get a new helmet soon because it will be out of date, but getting one with a HANS capability and comms is now on the must have list. I like the idea of doing freelance co-driving to get my foot in the door though, from an actual racing perspective, without having such a big cost.

I'd suggest start with whatever rallycross program is close to you, for a few reasons:

- you learn car control on different surfaces

- you meet people who are involved in rally (i'd say a good 1/3 of our local rallycrossers also either drive, co-drive, crew, or volunteer at stage rallies)

= and join their FB groups and such, because people often post "crew wanted" or "codriver wanted" or "volunteers wanted" on there.

I would NOT say start at a rally school, unless you have a bunch of cash burning a hole in your pocket. I think the schools are probably better for someone who has already done a few rallies and is looking to get faster. not that it would hurt, just not sure it's worth the money for a newbie.

GO to a few rallies. Crewing is a good way to learn how the teams work. Volunteering is a good way to learn how the rally itself works (especially important for codrivers). Spectating...meh, you get limited insights into the actual rally, IMO, but it is fun. Also if you crew/volunteer you'll be able to meet/hang out with the teams and talk to them aout things, ask questions, etc. Most teams are more than happy to talk about stuff.

Also - look up my "build" thread on here. Yeah, it's long and a lot of boring details on my car(s), but it also has a TON of detail about how you can start from scratch --> rallycross --> crew/volunteer --> build a car (or buy one) --> compete. It s really long, but a good chunk of things YOu'll want to know about rally are in there. Also look up Nonack's thread, and a few others on htere. They are full of useful information.