I'm glad you guys were able to get some runs in! Do you happen to have any photos of the gray Ranger truck that was there? That was me :) I'm trying to gather some pics if possible. Thanks.
After a summer-long break, our Focus hit the dirt again.
The old pads and rotors had seen better days.
Hawk was kind enough to send us a set of their HPS pads, which should be civilized on the street and durable on the track.
After the brake job, we even washed the car.
Our Chevy Colorado project towed our Focus like it wasn't even there.
The SVT Focus only made it through one run before limping back to the paddock.
We rolled the fenders with a hammer, as our knobby tires rub during tight corners.
The car seemed down on power, so we changed the fuel filter.
Then, it dropped two cylinders. After a few tests, we determined that the coil pack, plug wires, and spark plugs had all failed. Sometimes luck and cheap parts come together in a perfect storm.
The FIRM's courses are a tad more intense than the average rallycross. We were even airborne at one point.
Our competition seemed to know what they were doing.
During the brake job, we managed to forget to adjust our emergency brake. Instead of handbrake turns, we had to use huge, time-consuming Scandinavian flicks to rotate the car around each hairpin.
Want to subscribe to the magazine? No problem–we'll have the booth set up at the next Central Florida Region rallycross.
After learning the basics of rallycross on street tires, we bolted much more aggressive rubber onto our 2003 Ford SVT Focus. Then, in true 21-year-old fashion, we broke our collarbone mountain biking. This meant that the Focus spent its summer sitting in the driveway, Maxxis rally tires still proudly mounted on Team Dynamics wheels. Meanwhile, its broken driver sat on the couch. Hey–at least we could still race on Forza.
After a summer of waiting, we were finally ready to race again. So, after a bath and a brake job (special thanks to Hawk Performance for hooking us up with a set of HPS Brake pads, we headed over to our favorite rallycross venue: the FIRM. Their RallyX at the FIRM series of events are rallycrosses on steroids, with courses that approach four minutes in length and cover all sorts of different surfaces. Plus, there are unlimited practice runs.
How’d it go? After one practice run, the Focus’s once-intermittent ignition issue turned into two dead cylinders. We spent most of the day diagnosing and replacing broken parts, but ended it with seven clean runs. After a summer away from the wheel, we’ll call that a success.
Of course, we also came back from the event with a laundry list of changes and fixes to complete before our next race. We might have even scraped a hole in the exhaust–hey, they say rubbin’s racin’.
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I'm glad you guys were able to get some runs in! Do you happen to have any photos of the gray Ranger truck that was there? That was me :) I'm trying to gather some pics if possible. Thanks.
That was you?! We were talking all weekend about how awesome the Ranger was. Wish we had come over to say hi. I'll look through our pictures and see if we snapped some of you.
Ed Higginbotham wrote: That was you?! We were talking all weekend about how awesome the Ranger was. Wish we had come over to say hi. I'll look through our pictures and see if we snapped some of you.
yeah! It was the Ranger's first real outing, pretty fun! I came in late and was parked down at the end of the line. I came your way to talk with my buddy, John, in the miata, but you guys were busy underneath the car troubleshooting. I'm glad you got to get some runs in, no fun with a broken car!
Tell your guys at Maxxis to sell some 14" gravels and then I'll be interested....lol
Four minutes?
I'm envious.
Lof8 wrote:Ed Higginbotham wrote: That was you?! We were talking all weekend about how awesome the Ranger was. Wish we had come over to say hi. I'll look through our pictures and see if we snapped some of you.yeah! It was the Ranger's first real outing, pretty fun! I came in late and was parked down at the end of the line. I came your way to talk with my buddy, John, in the miata, but you guys were busy underneath the car troubleshooting. I'm glad you got to get some runs in, no fun with a broken car!
I'd like to learn more about rallyxing a small pickup. Care to elaborate a little? Is there a build thread or other thread somewhere that may be of interest?
I haven't done a whole lot to it really but it's a lot of fun! The few mods are discussed in this thread: Truck and other stuff.
we've had various smallish pickups come to our events over the years. Mitsu Mighty Max, Toyotas, etc. They do OK but in stock-ish classes most of them are pretty underpowered (since generally the low compact trucks came with pretty measly engines), and in prepared classes they aren't particularly quick either, especially since the suspension designs and relative weight imbalance are really not as good as most of the popular RWD rallycross cars. I'm sure there are people who do well in pickups out there (depending on course and terrain type I'd say), but I haven't seen any that terribly impressed me in the last four years of rallycross, nor any that could come close to the top cars in RWD classes around here. YMMV though. I do, however, hear almost all of their drivers say that they're fun as hell to drive, since it's so easy to hang the rear end out.
On the upside, hauling all your gear there is easy, and if you run someplace that gets really muddy a lot, you have a ton of tire options in all-terrain sizes that won't fit most passenger cars. So that woudl be a big upside for muddy or particularly rough venues.
Lof8 wrote: I haven't done a whole lot to it really but it's a lot of fun! The few mods are discussed in this thread: Truck and other stuff.
Holy Toledo, You have way more fun than I have!
Ok, maybe not your average small pickup. But it looks like fun to me!
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