Nick Comstock said:Hell all kinds of cars has rally errr, Rallye packages back in the 70s. They need to bring that back.
My buddy was into Pintos and ordered this exact car from Ford. His modifications got me into little cars.
Nick Comstock said:Hell all kinds of cars has rally errr, Rallye packages back in the 70s. They need to bring that back.
My buddy was into Pintos and ordered this exact car from Ford. His modifications got me into little cars.
captdownshift said:In reply to irish44j :
Rally America, does that even exist anymore?
In reply to ebonyandivory :
So media and promotion of a sport as opposed to competition, this explains Block being their champion and face of the franchise!
In reply to captdownshift :
Technically, all motorsports beyond the grassroots level is about media and promotion, competition is just something that gives them something to promote.
I thought RA dissolved, though. Interesting to see that they basically handed off the liability issues to someone else... kind of like when RA was formed after the SCCA stopped sanctioning stage rallies.
I owned a V70XC, not for he look, but because it was the easiest way to get the built it second row boosters seats. And I liked the look. That car was the best snow drifting front/awd car I ever owned.
After owning a racecar, attending several HPDEs even drag racing a few times I’m forever trying to get people to go and try driving on a track. It seems like for every 100 cars modified for Motorsports it would be a stretch for even one to see a track.
I’m quite the opposite of the go for the look crowd, my cars tend to look stock but are modified where it counts. It’s way more fun to run a sleeper.
To each their own, using you car as a canvas is up to you. If you’re a WRX fan show it with flaps and lights. No different than a NASCAR fan running a tribute Monte with full decal kit.
And on topic, I just saw the rally Passport in Honda ad during the Indy 500.
captdownshift said:In reply to irish44j :
Rally America, does that even exist anymore?
No, but that doesn't really take away anything. RA, ARA, NASA....they're just sanctioning bodies. Starting to look like NASA rally may be going away as well, judging from their light schedule and some rallies going away (I have my own opinions about NASA rally, good and bad, but that's another story for another time). ARA is just sanctioning all the old RA events now, but the events themselveshave always been organized locally. Subaru USA (Higgins, Patrana, etc) just moved over to ARA from RA.
So, in effect, ARA now is a different organization, but the rallies are pretty much the same as RA (except a tad more organized).
ebonyandivory said:captdownshift said:In reply to irish44j :
Rally America, does that even exist anymore?
nope, that's already dead. they didn't get any financial buy-in and killed the whole "media outlet" thing. Rally America is dead and gone, in all forms, as far as I know.
captdownshift said:In reply to ebonyandivory :
So media and promotion of a sport as opposed to competition, this explains Block being their champion and face of the franchise!
The "face" of ARA currently is Higgins, Pastrana, etc (i.e. the Subaru USA team).
The "face" of RA was the same people Higgins, Pastrana, etc (i.e. the Subaru USA team, which at one point Block was part of).
The face of the main US rally series (whatever it it at any given time...ARA, RA, or SCCA Pro Rally before it) is essentially whomever is driving for SRT USA, since they are usually the title sponsor. Now we have junior Solberg to go with Higgins. Block is essentially a privateer just like most of the others in rally (and there are a few guys who spend just as much as he does and win a lot less). Granted he has some support from Ford and other sponsors, but it's certainly not a factory effort by Ford at this point as far as i know. The Cossie that burned at NEFR was his own car that he and his crew built.
If Higgins or Pastrana or Solberg balls up his car, well, they always have an extra one with them in a trailer (fact).
BlueInGreen - Jon said:And on topic, I just saw the rally Passport in Honda ad during the Indy 500.
interesting. Man, that was fast seeing as it just competed in its first rally last weekend! Good on Honda.
When I read this, the first car that came to mind was a certain "rally" miata build from YouTube - lifted, large A/T tires, and lightbar. Owner documents taking it to local rallycross and is miffed because he is running last (not hating on the guy, I actually love his channel and his builds). I think that the general public and even most auto enthusiasts equate "rally" with suspension lift and truck tires.
In full disclosure, I have bought into the faux rally look - I have an Evo X, and my rallycross car is the humble 2003 Lancer "OZ Rally." The OZ rally is probably the worst kind of faux rally - introduced to capitalize on the attnetion to Evo was getting, when it is nothing more than Enkei wheels and a sway bar (plus the "rally" badge on the back). I tell myself the Evo X is not faux rally because it was campaigned as a Group N car.
I wish WRC machines would have old school homologation rules so that we could have nice things - to think that there was a time where i could have my choice of celica all-tracs, etc.
If Higgins or Pastrana or Solberg balls up his car, well, they always have an extra one with them in a trailer (fact).
Not fact, FYI
Rally Jeep?
I think that both the rally trend and the safari trend are silly, but I suppose they're more practical than drop-bracket lifts on RAM 3500s or eBay coilovers on slammed Honda Civics.
sachilles said:If Higgins or Pastrana or Solberg balls up his car, well, they always have an extra one with them in a trailer (fact).
Not fact, FYI
If they have spares of everything short of a frame, what's the difference? I guess roll cage damage would still be an immediate DNF.
That said, I have seen third, fourth and maybe even fifth SRT cars at a rally. I'm not sure if they are prepped, and the rules prohibit swapping, but they are there. Maybe super rally rules would allow them to start the next leg in a different car? I'd be surprised if it did.
sachilles said:If Higgins or Pastrana or Solberg balls up his car, well, they always have an extra one with them in a trailer (fact).
Not fact, FYI
IDK why I put (fact) there when I intended to put a " :) " there.....I'll blame memorial day whiskey for that one and poor use of parenthesis.
My point was that if Higgins for some reason totally destroyed a car during a rally, he's not just sitting out the rest of the season (like pretty much any privateer would likely have to). Another car would be quickly available. Obviously not during the rally, since that wouldn't be legal even if there was a new car just sitting there....
IDK, there was definitely a third SRT car at STPR a couple years ago sitting across the square during expo. The running joke among the entrants was that it was going to be airlifted to the stage if Higgins needed it. Whether it was a logbooked competition car or just an exhibition car, maybe you'd know better than I would......I didn't look all that closely at it.
Often we have one of our show cars near by(we have two show car programs that criss cross he US). They tend not to be the latest evolution, or are retired from service(retired for a reason). Very little would be compatible to steal(borrow) stuff from. We've borrowed a door from a recce car once, but there was extenuating circumstances for that 
, I think that was stpr. Certainly, plenty of spare parts travel with the cars, but no spare cars.
No doubt a replacement car would likely happen if one was totaled during an event(for the next event), but as you noted it wouldn't be legal to substitute one mid event. That is the case with both rally and rallycross.
The most cars we've campaigned in recent history(2013 on) is 3 rally cars at one event, and we've managed 4 rallycross cars at one event. Again, that doesn't include show cars at an event.
sachilles said:Often we have one of our show cars near by(we have two show car programs that criss cross he US). They tend not to be the latest evolution, or are retired from service(retired for a reason). Very little would be compatible to steal(borrow) stuff from. We've borrowed a door from a recce car once, but there was extenuating circumstances for that
No doubt a replacement car would likely happen if one was totaled during an event(for the next event), but as you noted it wouldn't be legal to substitute one mid event. That is the case with both rally and rallycross.
The most cars we've campaigned in recent history(2013 on) is 3 rally cars at one event, and we've managed 4 rallycross cars at one event. Again, that doesn't include show cars at an event.
rgr, thanks for the clarification. As a driver (or crew chief) at most events I'm at, I don't get much time to actually take a close look at other teams' cars :) usually too busy fixing something on my own car while it's sitting in expo lol...
We were right behind Travis on recce at STPR 17. I could have sworn he was doing it in a rental Mazda2 or something. (but maybe I'm remembering wrong), so hope you didn't steal that door haha....
Honda has been rallying B-spec fits for a while now. You can purchase a B-spec rally kit from HPD as well for about $3500 (not sure if its worth it, it's like exhaust, springs, shocks, clutch, some brake lines, rotors, and pads).
Member the EVO built by Mitsubishi? You know Subaru's archnemesis in rally? Member how many people took those rallying? I don't, they flooded autox fields, drag strips, and parking lot meets.
Volkswagen recently built the VW Beetle Dune edition. Honestly the coolest Bug they've built since the original. I'd rock one. But wasn't enough to save the poor bug.
Mini has the Countryman or something of the like that you can get with AWD and the list goes on and on. Subaru really did do an excellent job holding onto and milking the rally thing. It's a culture that took time to develop and it started when rally was hot and had big names that helped push sales. It was like the old Nascar addage about winning on Sunday. The social media days have killed that with everything being about instant gratification instead of building a brand.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
If I remember right, Mitsubishi's last few WRC cars weren't actually Evos. They were built on base Lancers. Just a barely related useless bit of thought.
DirtyBird222 said:Member the EVO built by Mitsubishi? You know Subaru's archnemesis in rally? Member how many people took those rallying? I don't, they flooded autox fields, drag strips, and parking lot meets.
They all got rallied overseas. To the point that engine/suspension takeouts or 25 year old JDM imports are nonexistent because they all got balled up a long time ago. You can still find Subaru bits.
Daylan C said:In reply to DirtyBird222 :
If I remember right, Mitsubishi's last few WRC cars weren't actually Evos. They were built on base Lancers. Just a barely related useless bit of thought.
It's kind of nebulous at best, because Mitsubishi soldiered on with the Group A car long into the WRC era, and when they DID make an actual WRC car, it had those huge fenders and wings that bore no resemblance to production models anyway. WRC allows you to replace any suspension with struts, convert front wheel drive cars to AWD, change the exterior bodywork within reason, etc. No reason for the Evo to be used as a starting point because all of the things that make an Evo unique were thrown away (or, more correctly, never installed on the shell).
Even Subaru WRC only technically started with OE shells - the suspension, subframes, drivetrain, etc. had no relation at all with production cars in construction or design, other than that they both had struts at all four corners. And the shells were extensively modified, although not as modified as some - the original Focus RS WRC looks like a stock shell until you poke a street Focus next to it and see that it looks like George Barris had his way with the greenhouse.... and this is well before the second version with long travel suspension that Hirvonen and Gronholm did so well with.
admittedly this was peak rally poser for me. I thought it looked good though
minus the peasant spec rally armor flaps and enkei's
I did get about 30 mins of pitch black back roads commuting in the winter months though and those hella lamps were amazing for visibility
Regardless of how different the racecars were from their street variants back in the day they still got people into their dealers or those of us in the USA clamoring to have those specific models sold here. Gran Turismo surely helped perpetuate those wants and needs of WRX/STIs and EVOs. The same could be said for most JDM heros and then The Fast and the Furious help send the desire to own some of those cars into the stratosphere and completely changed a lot of car culture in America.
I would love to see more car companies do what irishj44 said but I think they know it won't stick like it used to. Markets are saturated, theres no mystique like their used to be, no Gran Turismo to introduce us to something forbidden, the list goes on. And again a lot of social media has ruined things.
I totally considered doing a fake safari rally getup on the $200 Saturn. Just throwing that out there.
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