Supermoto as a Car?

In reply to loosecannon :

Rally car in it's natural habitat.

rally car tearing up a normal road

IMO a dune buggy or pre runner truck on sticky street tires is going to be terrible. A rally car on sticky street tires is going to be an ultimate Hoon machine in the same way that the supermoto is. 

While I agree that rally car on sticky tires is the best, dune buggys on sticky tires are awesome. My old boss had a street rail with a 240bhp 2276 engine. That thing was fast and terrifying.

I'm going to have to go with a Manx on this one.  Not quite as low as the one pictured here, but not far off, either.  

And, yes.  It's totally on my to-do list.

I dont know about the rest of yall, but a 'stadium super truck' looks more fun to drive on pavement than a lot of normal race cars. 

Example

In reply to Vigo :

Haha, right?! Those things look like such a blast. 

This thread has me thinking a lot as the concept is really appealing to me. 

In my mind the ultimate Supermoto car equivalent is Ken Blocks gymkhana Fiesta. That thing was a rocket and very hoonable. The Mustang he made would qualify as well. 

I was one of the folks who started to gum up the C6 thread with 4-wheeled supermoto talk, and I still think something like the Baja Bug on sticky rubber or the Ariel Nomad is the closest equivalent.

For those who haven't ridden a supermoto, or go straight for a tarmac rally car as the answer, here's some additional perspective about a 2-wheeled supermoto:

-It is lighter than the vast majority of other broadly similar vehicles. Think more dune buggy, and less pickup truck or sedan.

-Suspension capable of rough off-road, not just some bumpy gravel road...the tires are limiting factor off-road, not the suspension. I'd say capable of swallowing a curb at fairly high speed is a good minimum bar to set. The reality is somewhere between full-on prerunner and tarmac rally car, but probably somewhere skewed towards the prerunner. On a supermoto one can ride a motocross track, and might even tackle some easier enduro sections at reduced speed, but I feel like a tarmac rally car isn't as suited to something like a stadium truck course, let alone an easy desert race or Jeep trail!

-The long travel and sticky rubber seems an odd pairing at first, but the squishy suspension and fairly big dive/squat makes somehow makes pushing the limit and sliding around more approachable for many than a stiffer/lower streetbike.

-A large part of the fun comes from the realization that you aren't limited by "roads" and "norms." You start to view more of the world as rideable. You begin to think about a path through traffic differently from before, and almost anything mildly elevated becomes a potential jump or wheelie point. You begin to eye the sidewalk or median when traffic is backed up, and nobody's beating you off the light when your eyes are down. I'm not sure the automotive world has an equivalent....maybe if they made a street legal crosskart.

Rally Fighter?

Street buggies seem like the answer to me. maybe not quite as low as these but the tire set ups are about right

In reply to ae86andkp61 :

I think a Baja bug might be a good start, but with some changes:

-TW200 autocross tires, but still with a decent sidewall, maybe with bead sealant in an attempt to prevent debeads over rough surfaces.

-Lower it as much as possible while retaining suspension travel

-Use sway bars to help control body roll

-May need to do a little extra hacking to the front and rear body/chassis than normal for a Baja Bug, in order to get as good of approach angles as possible, for the inevitable curb hopping.

That was sort of the approach I wanted to take with my most recent vehicle purchase.  Supermotos are light, quick, not really top speed monsters, they're fun for tame offroad riding, and they're a blast on the street as well.  They're also cheap and tough, so if you dump it, its not the end of the world.  

I thought a Subaru Forester (SG generation) would fit this description pretty well.  They have pretty good wheel travel, they're lightweight, and they're fairly fun to drive.  They also don't have a massive stock wheel diameter, so you can still get good street tires for them. I had dreams of getting Bilstein blanks, welding tabs on them and having an awesome street/rally suspension and everything. Unfortunately, these  are really expensive around me, and they tend to mostly be in awful shape.  I'm also not that enthusiastic about replacing headgaskets, though I'm actually less scared of it now than I was.  

I ended up getting an E83 X3.  With a set of Michelin AS3+ tires on it, it handles pretty well on the road, and its fairly fun on a gravel road too.  It weighs 4000 lbs though and gets 16 mpg .  Not exactly supermoto-ish, though it scratches a similar itch, though I'd say its more comparable to an R1200GS.  It was also really inexpensive (a couple grand less than a similar mile/age Forester) and it has super cool swiveling headlights.  

Wouldn't a Suzuki SX4 fit the bill here?

Lots of great ideas - my pick is this Bug Running freestyle around SO Cal.  I believe the owner did a little jail time for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4yjue96E4Q