In reply to alfadriver (Forum Supporter) :
The thought has crossed my mind to swap the G35 back to stock but I think I'd be better off to sell it to a drift boy and buy something else. I don't like the car enough to put that much time and effort into it.
My wife is still doing some autocross so I will probably just let her take it over.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
The SCAR is a 900 mile route around South Carolina. It's about 60% pavement and 40% dirt roads and national forest service roads. The video above is on part of that route. Route info is here. https://scadventureroute.wixsite.com/website
Many states have something similar. They are usually mapped out by dual-sport motorcycle riders. Looks like Texas has the Tejas 1300.
Georgia has the Georgia Traverse. The Smokey Mountain 1000 runs through several states. Also on my shortlist are the Kentucky Adventure Tour and the 5000 mile Trans American Trail.
Another good source for places to explore off-road is https://www.trailsoffroad.com/map.
In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :
Thanks for that. My wife and I keep compiling information about both places to see and roads to drive once we reach that famed "empty nester" phase which we can almost taste. These sorts of routes seem like a great way to spend time together driving which is a thing we like to do.
what about some TSD rallies?
I get the burnout thing. I haven't done a rallycross in 4 years, partly due to lack of motivation, partly due to the Jeep needing too much work. I haven't been motivated to do any kind of motorsports with the BMW since I've had it. TSD rally is a maybe though, especially one of the winter ones they do up here. I just haven't managed to do one yet.
In some ways, racing starts to feel all-consuming even if it's only a few events here and there. And there's just too much else to do.
I'm also pretty much done with racing.
Road racing drained my bank account far too quickly. Decided to go back to HPDE/instructing but everything is so fast now I'm just not that comfortable riding in cars with 500 HP. Drive anything more 'vintage' and you spend the entire time doing point-bys.
Autocross is too much standing around in the sun.
I've taken up riding motorcycles and working on them. Parts are cheap, very little is buried (on nakeds), and I can hop on one and be enjoying myself in mere minutes. No towing to the track. No driving 3 hours to get to some place to have fun. And the riding community is a lot like the racing folks, so you can make friends if you want or get help if you need.
The trail running looks like fun but not much of that where I live. Most of the dirt roads wouldn't challenge a Harley or a Miata. Lucky to live where you do.
Sounds like you and your son found some awesome stuff to bond on! I love off-roading too; but, you can easily spend just as much if not more on off-roading. I was recently in a situation where I needed a winch and now I'm pricing them out. Plus a bumper to hold a winch, yadda yadda yadda.
You're right though, being out in nature, camping, off-roading, etc is way more relaxing than the track.
This thread is apropos to my current situation. I haven't autocrossed in around 2.5 years and honestly do not miss it. Maybe it's because I helped run events for 16 years, but I also got tired of standing (or running) around in the sun. Now, I'm looking at my MSM with worn out rubber thinking I don't want to spend another $1000 for tires that will last maybe two years. Instead, we are picking this up soon.
The plan is to take it back into the Front Range in Colorado and not need to worry about it.
I'm having the opposite problem besides vintage racing & autocrossing the F500, vintage racing & tracking the Datsun 1200, I've got a dual sport Beta 520 and I just dragged home a 1980 RM125 aaaaaand we go to ghost towns with the Outback.
I've done bits of the Georgia Traverse, the eastern half is awesome. The western half is more pavement and less interesting.
I decided years ago that the butter zone for enjoying vehicles is in the mildly modified but still road legal zone. The extremities are way too much work for not enough fun. That goes for dedicated track cars (sacrilege!), pure drag cars, and hard core rock crawlers. No matter what you build you should be able to drive it to a couple hours a day in relative comfort. Because it's the driving that I really like. I like wrenching too, but if I didn't get to drive it in the end I'd never be happy wrenching.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
The vehicle costs are similar, but the NFS doesn't charge me $1000 to ride around in the woods for a couple of hours, or $300 for 4 - 20 minute sessions. It doesn't cost $50 for a handful of minute-long runs.
I can pack a little food, and the camping gear and disappear for days for the cost of gas.
Can a H2 be made into a capable off road Vehical? I have one that my wife use to drive all the time but she has taken a liking to a much newer RAV 4. The H2 is fun and in light off road stuff it is fine but I have always worried that it's heft and large overall size makes it a poor platform to be going off road in.
In reply to dean1484 :
The H2 isn't bad in stock form. Pretty sure it comes with a locking rear diff and the approach angles are very good. The only thing that might be a problem is the weight in soft or muddy conditions.
H2 is probably fine. The vast majority of the Georgia Traverse could be done in a Civic. Get some decent tires and Go play. Upgrade stuff if you get stuck.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
You should join the Lonestar Gambler 500 in Big Bend, May 14th to May 16th.
A large part of the group is from Houston, Poncho Cole is organizing it.
Plan to do dirt roads in the National Park and the State Park.
You probably know a lot of people running in it.
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:In reply to DirtyBird222 :
The vehicle costs are similar, but the NFS doesn't charge me $1000 to ride around in the woods for a couple of hours, or $300 for 4 - 20 minute sessions. It doesn't cost $50 for a handful of minute-long runs.
I can pack a little food, and the camping gear and disappear for days for the cost of gas.
I was speaking of vehicle costs; but, you make a valid point. The only races I really get excited for these days are Champcar endurance races. iRacing quenches my thirst for short distance competition. Exploring nature is much more relaxing, serene, and you're not spending a whole Sunday in a hot parking lot watching CAM-C cars destroy cones.
Racing is singularly the dumbest hobby ever, I know this, yet I have no plans on giving it up.
I understand the attraction of exploring off road - That's why I have a fancy street legal Italian dirt bike. It's fun to explore dirt roads. My Baja Bug is still one of my favorite cars that I've ever owned.
The lure of what's over the next hill is hard to resist.
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:...While extremely capable off-road, it sucked to drive on the street...
That's funny, since it's exactly what people say when they make their street car into a "race car"... so making street cars into something different is still in your blood, hah.
NoBrakesRacing said:In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
You should join the Lonestar Gambler 500 in Big Bend, May 14th to May 16th.
A large part of the group is from Houston, Poncho Cole is organizing it.
Plan to do dirt roads in the National Park and the State Park.
You probably know a lot of people running in it.
I probably do. I don't have a car for it nor do I think I really have the time this year. As the world opens up I need to put more of these on my schedule.
kb58 said:Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:...While extremely capable off-road, it sucked to drive on the street...
That's funny, since it's exactly what people say when they make their street car into a "race car"... so making street cars into something different is still in your blood, hah.
Absolutely. I have always loved tinkering on cars and probably always will. I've thoroughly enjoyed working on the XJ but it is not going to be built for off-road as much as built for all roads. I enjoyed working on the Samurai when I built it and then rebuilt it. It went through several phases from 6" of lift, locked axles, and huge tires to very little lift, open diffs, and +1 tires. I learned my lessons on that one.
I don't race for real but greatly enjoy trackday events. Once I'm there, I have a great time, but it's everything else that's eroding the enjoyment. I built Kimini and Midlana from scratch, but the latter has been sitting in the garage for a year and a half since its last event, with just a few street drives since. Being street legal, there's no excuse not to be driving it every week, and yet even that seems to be changing. There's: moving my truck out of the driveway, taking the cover off the car, cleaning her up, strapping into the 5-pt harness, starting her up, listening and smelling for anything odd (driving any self-built car is always an adventure—you never really know if it'll get you home!). Instead, I now find myself thinking, "It's a lot easier to just take the truck", and with all the street traffic in SoCal, driving the truck is far less frustrating. (The analogy I use is that driving something with supercar performance is like owning a thoroughbred race horse but only being allowed to walk it around the local park.)
The above is in addition to the list of excuses about not going to track events: costs, logistics, safety concerns, fear of breaking the car. These excuses have always been there, it's just that I seem to be letting them affect me more lately. Running Midlana at the Virginia City Hillclimb was epic, but maybe it's me getting older and watching my parents drift away that's taking the fun away. Maybe it's the realization of how tenuous mortality is and the potential consequences of going off a twisty mountain road. Even at trackday events, the fun is nearly balanced by thoughts of going off and rolling a car that I took five years to build. Result: I drive slow.
So, she sits in the garage. I currently have no plans to sell her, mostly because I don't know what I'd replace her with. Reading this thread though, makes me wonder about building something similar, but with off road capability. The desert isn't that far away. But then again, it would be nice if it carried two people, and our dog, and camping gear... you know, something like a truck/Jeep/4WD whatever... Hmm.
In reply to kb58 :
This is the reason I haven't picked up another street bike; I found I wasn't riding the one I had very much.
Off Roading is huge fun, especially for those of us who live in the Desert, I have hundreds of miles of trails 10 minutes from the house.
My wife an I were having this discussion; I often comment that I would love to get down to one car and simply autocross, track day & Sunday drive. A Miata would easily solve this but then my wife reminds me I love vintage race cars way to much.
Point being, having a vehicle beyond a daily driver requires an extra bit of commitment and so you should at least be passionate about it.
In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :
I happen to live relatively close to the Francis marion national forest.
What are the restrictions on using the forest service roads? Are certain ones closed to the public at certain times? Or is it just if the road is open then the public is allowed to drive it?
How did you figure out which roads you wanted to/were allowed to drive? Would mid 90s ranger be good enough to navigate the roads?
It's probably been about 5 years since I've turned a wheel or stabbed throttle in anger on a track for various reasons. Some days I do miss it, but I like covering and watching events just as much, so it's not a huge loss.
I'm gonna be completely honest: I've had just as much fun wrenching on my stupid Power Wagon and putting around in it than just about any motorsports event I've participated in. Going to the hardware store, the home improvement store, or just cruising around the back roads has been a blast. Someday, I'd like to do some light trail stuff with it, or maybe take it on a camping trip, but that's about it.
In reply to Daeldalus :
There are a few roads that are only open during hunting season. They will be posted or gated. Beyond that, you can drive a street-legal vehicle on any open forest service road. A stock Ranger will be able to drive 98% of the roads without issue. I've covered most of them over the years and seldom need 4wd.
The Forest Service has a pretty good interactive map of the service roads. The link system isn't working so you will need to copy and paste this address. https://www.fs.fed.us/ivm/index.html
Most of the roads also show up on a standard Garmin GPS. If you want to get fancy, you can also download Gaia GPS on a phone or tablet. It has outstanding downloadable maps that also show what is public and private land.
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