Corvette for rallycross???

bluej wrote:

BrokenYugo wrote: Don't those have notoriously stiff suspension without a lot of travel?

The lack of travel would be my first concern. Are they liftable w/out completely borking the suspension geometry?

Why would you want to lift a car for rallycross? If you need more weight transfer for grip, then drive faster.

Knurled wrote: Why would you want to lift a car for rallycross? If you need more weight transfer for grip, then drive faster.

Being too low isn't good, as you end up smashing every little rough spot on the course with parts of the car. And on a rougher course, possibly running out of suspension travel. That, plus dragging the car through ruts can slow you down a lot (especially a 2wd car in rutted sections).

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: Inspirational picture:

I do believe I harassed that guy back in '03 or '04 when my brother and I went on a Hunter Thompson-esque trip down to South East Missouri to catch the 100 A/W.

The memories are sort of hazy but I do recall walking through Salem in a drunken stupor, taking pictures and talking to a few of the drivers when they were parked on the sides of the street waiting to be sent out to the start of the Rally.

I do remember being shocked that that car was an automatic.

Knurled wrote:

bluej wrote:

BrokenYugo wrote: Don't those have notoriously stiff suspension without a lot of travel?

The lack of travel would be my first concern. Are they liftable w/out completely borking the suspension geometry?

Why would you want to lift a car for rallycross? If you need more weight transfer for grip, then drive faster.

It really depends on where you usually run. Our giant gravel field gets pretty dang rough. There's going to be a happy place between enough travel to keep the wheels in more consistent contact w/ the ground (also instead of the underbody of the vehicle), vs. lost time/traction from weight transfer w/ a higher COG, right? Lifting doesn't mean you have to sky-jack it, either. an extra inch or two could make all the difference (TWSS? ).

bluej wrote: It really depends on where you usually run. Our giant gravel field gets pretty dang rough. There's going to be a happy place between enough travel to keep the wheels in more consistent contact w/ the ground (also instead of the underbody of the vehicle), vs. lost time/traction from weight transfer w/ a higher COG, right? Lifting doesn't mean you have to sky-jack it, either. an extra inch or two could make all the difference (TWSS? ).

Exactly. It needs to be tall enough to keep the tires on the ground and the body off the ground most of the time, but ideally, no taller than that.

The_Jed wrote:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: Inspirational picture:

I do believe I harassed that guy back in '03 or '04 when my brother and I went on a Hunter Thompson-esque trip down to South East Missouri to catch the 100 A/W. The memories are sort of hazy but I do recall walking through Salem in a drunken stupor, taking pictures and talking to a few of the drivers when they were parked on the sides of the street waiting to be sent out to the start of the Rally. I do remember being shocked that that car was an automatic.

That picture eased my mind about driving my C3 up one mile of dirt road to get to my house.

bluej wrote: It really depends on where you usually run. Our giant gravel field gets pretty dang rough. There's going to be a happy place between enough travel to keep the wheels in more consistent contact w/ the ground (also instead of the underbody of the vehicle), vs. lost time/traction from weight transfer w/ a higher COG, right? Lifting doesn't mean you have to sky-jack it, either. an extra inch or two could make all the difference (TWSS? ).

Fortunately for the Corvette, suspension travel is independent of wheel position, unlike a strut car.

Increased weight transfer makes for more grip on dirt, not less. Just like narrower tires have more side grip. However going high makes handling go screwy a lot of times, suspension geometry goes nuts in the wrong way, probably not in good ways in a suspension like the pre-C5 models where the rear geometry is partially defined by the axle shafts. (Makes for a necessarily high roll center, not much you can do about it without going to an inverse camber curve)

So as I said, the best way to get more grip on dirt is to drive harder

It's certainly worth a try!

DeadSkunk wrote: Well, would it work, or is it the dumbest thing you've heard today? Specifically ,a C4 as they're starting to appear for the price of a used Kia Rio.