Thinking of starting to do amateur rallying in my spare time but trying to think of a car to use as a daily as well as rallying. But one risk with this is if the car gets smashed up LOL!

Cars can think of are Corsa/Nova/106/306... Thinking of others though, ideally am thinking of something that can be made pretty nippy and be capable but also good as a daily driver, yes will have a cage in there etc...

So what would be suggest? I am currently saving up for a Scooby Turbo 2000 but don't really fancy rallying one lol

What's your budget?

I would personally choose either a 106/Saxo or a Corsa B

Probably about £2k, that maybe buying the car and doing as much to it as possible and then do a bit more to it to make it more better. Was thinking of a S1 106 Rallye with a 106 GTI lump in there cammed and chipped running the S1 rallye gearbox for shorter ratio's for quicker acceleration.

The Turbo 2000 I should be getting would be more fun on the stages but I would be heartbroken if I smashed it up lol

Quote from sam93 :

Probably about £2k, that maybe buying the car and doing as much to it as possible and then do a bit more to it to make it more better. Was thinking of a S1 106 Rallye with a 106 GTI lump in there cammed and chipped running the S1 rallye gearbox for shorter ratio's for quicker acceleration.

The Turbo 2000 I should be getting would be more fun on the stages but I would be heartbroken if I smashed it up lol

Sounds good but I'm not sure if you could find a decent S1 Rallye for a good price

Ofc if you have the money do it, but I would personally get something like a S2 Quiksilver and put a VTR engine in it and just strip the interior etc.

Try to buy a car that is fully ready for it. Will be expensive in one buy but probably cheaper then doing it in pieces..
I think u'd best go for a light FWD car

why does it have to be fwd?

BMW 318is. Cheap, reliable, easy to drive. + Good reserve part supply, much rally cars alike etc.

Imo as a beginner it will be much easier to handle a FWD. Very very much more forgiving.

I dont know about that Scrabby.. all the cars that i watched go straight on instead of making the corners this weekend were FWD, When they made a mistake and locked up, they could not turn, Where as alot of the RWD's that were making mistakes, i noticed just scandinavian flicked their way around the corners out of trouble. When it comes to rally's its not as simple as front or rear, Very different to track racing.

All i can suggest is get something that you can get things like mirrors and engine parts on the cheap, because they will need replacing!

Chatting to one of the teams running in an Audi Quattro this weekend they budget themselves a grand a race for the entry fee(s), fuel, transport and normal parts wear and tear. So just think about your budgets and cost's AFTER purchase, instead of how much it costs to start with.

Don't really fancy FWD on rally but may have to be done. Only thing with thinking about FWD is giving it stick on gravel front wheels spinning whilst going around a corner aint good and would need a lot of use of the handbrake it whip it around a corner, but that would mean a lot of handbrake cables to go through lol. Thinking of what to use, Impreza Sport classic could be good and after a while always the chance of putting in the STI lump when used to it I suppose. I do currently have a Civic EG but never heard of people rallying them as it's already stripped out would just need cage, buckets, better shocks (coilovers on it atm not made for rallying) and polybushing on the suspension.

I would most likely want to build the car up as else you're using someone else's work tbh, which I wouldn't wanna do.

Why not use the EG then? VTEC Rally Car FTW!

Quote from sam93 :

Don't really fancy FWD on rally but may have to be done. Only thing with thinking about FWD is giving it stick on gravel front wheels spinning whilst going around a corner aint good and would need a lot of use of the handbrake it whip it around a corner, but that would mean a lot of handbrake cables to go through lol. Thinking of what to use, Impreza Sport classic could be good and after a while always the chance of putting in the STI lump when used to it I suppose. I do currently have a Civic EG but never heard of people rallying them as it's already stripped out would just need cage, buckets, better shocks (coilovers on it atm not made for rallying) and polybushing on the suspension.

I would most likely want to build the car up as else you're using someone else's work tbh, which I wouldn't wanna do.

Hydraulic handbrake, make sure you then have a wilwood cylinder

@ Franky:
I guess you're right, for rallying the best drive would be RWD or 4WD.

As Scrabby said try get one that is fully ready as it will cost a fair bit speccing a standard road car up to rally spec. I would also say your better sticking to manufacturers that have cheap and readily available parts as chances are you will need to replace things pretty frequently

Keep a check on sites that specialise in selling rally/race cars, Ford Puma here on pistonheads fully specced for rallying at £2000 Link

Impreza 2.0 GT?

Have you thought about what class you want to compete in?
I don't know if it's the same in Britain, but here in the entry classes you are not allowed expensive tuning, e.g. engine stuff, wider track, special shocks and so on. One of the cheapest championships in germany is to get an old golf II gt, a 1 day license and there you go. boring to watch but I guess very scary to race!

greetz

der butz

Quote from franky500 :

I dont know about that Scrabby.. all the cars that i watched go straight on instead of making the corners this weekend were FWD, When they made a mistake and locked up, they could not turn, Where as alot of the RWD's that were making mistakes, i noticed just scandinavian flicked their way around the corners out of trouble. When it comes to rally's its not as simple as front or rear, Very different to track racing.

In my (very limited) experience of gravel stuff, FWD cars are a lot more "throwable" - RWD cars are probably the better choice, but I'm struggling to think of many small, cheap, light AWD / RWD cars...

With FWD you can really chuck the car round the corners without having to constantly worry about the risk of oversteer... in fact it's probably the only surface I've found FWD actually "fun" on.

I really *really* wouldn't recommend the car being your daily driver, though. You WILL kill it (stone in the rad? broke a driveshaft? clipped a tree? smashed a windscreen? rolled it? bent a wheel? nuked the suspension? Your not getting to work tomorrow) in some way unless you go really really easy on it.

Make sure you check the stages for road signs.

On topic though: Get an old BMW e30. Cheap, rwd and fun. Front wheel driven cars are for fags. The 'risk of oversteer' Jakg mentioned is what makes rallying fun.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3126677.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3100936.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3058190.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3110694.htm

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http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3036699.htm

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http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3095540.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2363407.htm

Well rally driving with Civic isn't problem, in this case you don't need to waste that much money on engine.

I drove about 3 years rallycross with Civic. Suspension needs some real tweaks for gravel, aslo bodyshell isn't that stiff in stock. Other points of the car isn't that important. I'm pretty sure that making fast civic is cheaper than making fast 106/Golf/Saxo/Corsa

Pearcy some good links there thankyou Didn't think of an old Evo 1/2 to rally, thought of an classic WRX to use though

And with regards to what class I will be doing. I live very close to Dartmoor and little motor clubs hold little road/gravel rallys up there and also in the lanes where I used to deliver chinese food just over a year ago.

I don't really want to use the car as a daily no, but thinking of a car that is decent and to pull the car and currently thinking of a decent BMW to drive and to pull a rally car around. But also then got to do trailer test to be able to pull it around. So thats why I'd rather use a daily.

Also, making a civic quick is cheap yes, but I'm driving an LSI with a few modifications, would be better to use a ESI as then have discs on the back and ARBs. To make mine quicker would need either a D16Z6 or B16A2, ARBs and rear disc's atleast.

Not being a daily driver doesn't have to mean it's trailer only - you could have it road legal (in fact some rallies will require it is) but not your "getting you to work" car, while still being able to drive it to the venue (although if you bend it, your not getting home...)

That is true Jakg, but then got the added expense of Insurance as you know people under the age of 21 with 2 modified cars, insurance would be through the roof lol! Although the risk of bending the car to hell in rallying does put me off as then the BDC comes out cheaper. But rallying has more British heritage than Drifting, well a lot more. But its working out which is cheaper.

Also, I would assume that all roll cages would have to be built to MSA regulations which means would most likely to buy one then to fabricate one myself. I mainly want to do it to teach myself to build race cars then doing so at college. As I've always seem to work out self teaching is better. But also for the experience and to get myself away from going to meets around the country with modified cars which attracts attention from the Police.

They do a lot of amateur rally in the forest behind my house and the standard big money cars rock up (Scoobies, Evos, Escort Mk1s/Mk2s, Cosworths, etc.), but the lower leagues tend to be Various hatchbacks, Fiesta, 106, 205, Focus, Corsa, Ka, Escort Mk5/6 RS2000 FWD and AWD, plus everything in-between, even had a TDi this year. If it had wheels, they ran it. But none of them were daily cars for a reason. The damage they suffered just from a day in Cropton Forest was unbelievable. 5 cars were written off (zero chance of repair), a handful suffered punctures to the floor thanks to massive rocks getting kicked up. Plus various amounts of shunt damage from going off the road.

You could turn a daily driver into a track slag and still use it on the road. But in the world of Rally, you need a dedicated car. Purely because of the environment, what flies at the track will not pass the scrutineers at a rally. Even at amateur levels like the events held round here, it costs a small fortune to participate. Sure the cars all had to be road legal (rules of rally), but none of them were cars you'd actually want to drive on the road.

Yeah, if you're short on dough, real life racing is certainly NOT a sensible choice. If you can't afford to total the car, you won't have much fun. Even on amateur levels, I think it's quite expensive to keep any car in a safe and running condition, and if you can't afford insurance for a second car, I guess you wouldn't be able to repair it if something important breaks.

Also, rollcages in roadcars are dangerous if you don't wear a helmet. So it's either removing the rollcage for daily use or always driving with a helmet, which, to be honest, makes you look rather insensible (even if it actually IS sensible).

Quote from sam93 :

Probably about £2k, that maybe buying the car and doing as much to it as possible and then do a bit more to it to make it more better. Was thinking of a S1 106 Rallye with a 106 GTI lump in there cammed and chipped running the S1 rallye gearbox for shorter ratio's for quicker acceleration.

The Turbo 2000 I should be getting would be more fun on the stages but I would be heartbroken if I smashed it up lol

ive done it ( more so rally cross ) but generally if it where me, two 205 gti's would be ideal. Cheap, alot of grip cheap and still alot around today, holds the road better then anything you can name imo and parts are abundant . Ill competitive to this day too.

Avoid civics and most jap scrap as its scrap and will break you're heart due to costs.