Did some searching but this is a funky forum, so not sure if I overlooked any results or not.
But...for the rallycrossers and autocrossers out there...do you have a suggestion on ONE car that could run reasonably well in both? Obviously a wheel/tire change would be needed...but otherwise wondering what you'd suggest.
Oh...and not a trailered car. Has to be driven to/from each event.
Muchas gracias.
Andy
If the car is driven to events, I am going to assume that you are driving on your competition tires. That means you stay in stock/street touring for autocross and stock in rallycross.
The obvious answers are NA/NB Miata in ES/SR, Eighth generation Civic SI in HS/SF, or a WRX in DS/SA. Evos and STIs are significantly better at rallycross but aren't the car to have in BS.
A basic E Street Miata build is Koni yellow shocks, cat back exhaust, one sway bar, brake pads and an alignment. That will get you a 95% prepped car that is good enough to compete at the regional or even national level. For rallycross, you cannot change shocks in stock class. To run both events, you need to choose between stock shocks in autocross or an underprepared rallycross car in a higher class. This is why you see guys with collections of Miatas, each built to a different rule set.
Relevant to my interests. Not to thread-jack, but I will be trying out my BRZ and Focus ST are rallycross this summer/fall. Also hoping to stay mostly stock, drive to/from events. I want to have a single car for track days and rallycross/iceracing. Hoping the BRZ can do both with just swapping wheels/tires. I'll keep everyone posted with how it goes.
Neon, preferably a four door, so it’s easier to load and unload tires.
Neon you say? Someone’s selling one here:
BlueInGreen - Jon said:Neon you say? Someone’s selling one here:
I actually had that specific car in mind, even if I am more of a 1st gen fan. One more thing to note, if you are using the same car for both, expect to rebuild or replace shocks on a somewhat regular basis if you want to be competitive in autox, because the Rallycross course will do a number on them, unless you are in one of those regions with fairly smooth dirt/sand to run on.
In reply to eastsideTim :
The few people I know that rally x a 2nd gen ACR normally dont have issues with shocks on them from what I have seen.
I've wanted this for a while. My plan was keep everything stock, change wheels and tires for each and go have fun. If I had my money right I would be doing it in a BRZ because RWD.
So we did this with my buddies 2015 WRX and I would *NOT* recommend it. Even when he sold that car we were finding dirt in all kinds of places. Like probably 30-50 lbs of mud caked into areas we could not have gotten to without putting it on a lift. Which of course is not going to help you at autocross. There is a reason almost every car at RallyCross is a dedicated beater
In reply to Jaynen :
I have to second this. I rally crossed an 03 mustang three times. I really did make an effort to clean the car after each event. Whenever it was having work done on it, they were amazed at the caked dirt and grass underneath it. The car had been loved before I had it. He didn't drive it in the rain. It looked brand new on the inside, the paint and body were were excellent. At one event I hit some bump so hard the check engine light came on! I was looking for parts to make it a real rally cross car, my wife talked me into just getting rid of it and getting a better car for rally cross. We now have a miata with a hard top. We are blessed enough to have my 06 to auto cross. I honestly feel bad to punish a car so hard at rally cross...not bad enough to not do it though!
P71. I doubt it would get anyone to nationals, but I know from experience it's a hell of a lot of fun at both.
The Bentra hasn't been to an event since the one pictured 3 posts up (red car in background). Almost a year. Its been pressure washed several times. It still leaves huge clumps of dirt everywhere if you bump it in any way.
That said, that wouldn't bother me for autocross. If you are doing both of these things with the same car, there are compromises.
I wouldn't rallyx on Konis. It is not good for them. I'd almost consider a suspension you can swap quickly.
1st gen Neon all the way
The 00-05 Celica GT would be another good candidate for this idea, in GS/SF. It's not quite the pointy end of GS, but should be competitive locally, especially in smaller regions. On paper, it should be a great SF car. The GT has more torque down low in comparison to the GT-S, which would make it the better choice on a lot of courses. You should be able to easily haul your snow tires in the hatch to summer rallycross events.
I don't get the dirt thing. I've had times where it's taken some work to get the Jeep clean after a rallycross, but never a point where I couldn't crawl under, pull the large clumps out of where they were stuck and then blast the rest off and have it be pretty clean (other than maybe some dirt film in spots).
Fox body
Wow - this place rocks! Thanks everyone for the replies!
Forgot to mention, I've only got 2 requirements...standard tranny and RWD.
Been doing a ton of reading and this place has SO much information. I can't justify 2 cars...so it'll have to be 1 well chosen one. My thanks for your input!
(Where's a photo of my 1st gen MR2 when I need it?)
What about a BMW E30, or the like? I love that style of car...
Well, classing can play into this with autox if using scca rule.
But e30, e36, focus svt, small pickups (if you are able to run em), most vw golfettas, Saturn, Geo, escort gt, etc.
And all the other stuff mentioned here.
If you are trying to go FAST, light is the key in autox and FWD/awd is the key in rallyx. Many cars are both. If you want to have fun, then it's all up to you.
In reply to Jerry :
i don't have your 1st gen but I have mine. I'm running a set of Godspeed coilovers and I pulled the front sway bar off. A decent set of rubber and reinstalling the sway bar would make it a fine autocross machine. I trailer it but after over a year of rallycross abuse there's only 1 event it wouldn't have made it home on it's own and that's mostly my fault for not recognizing a motor Mount issue that lead to a snapped shift cable.
I know this is probably way too expensive, but if you can find a very broken shell and an LS motor and then pour in countless hours and dollars, a renegade V8 911 safari car would be incredibly cool. I figure if I say stuff like this often enough, eventually maybe a build thread will appear...
rslifkin said:I don't get the dirt thing. I've had times where it's taken some work to get the Jeep clean after a rallycross, but never a point where I couldn't crawl under, pull the large clumps out of where they were stuck and then blast the rest off and have it be pretty clean (other than maybe some dirt film in spots).
You are talking about a Jeep tho they are designed to get dirty and designers are not worried about under body airflow etc for mpgs
With RWD being a requirement your options are as follows:
E30
E36
AW11
I'd lean towards E30 or E36, with 318ti being the optimal selection as you'll have space to haul tires, jack, jackstands etc easily in the hatch.
Chrysler Crossfire! Why not? No one else has done it.
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