SCCA Rallycross East Coast Championships

wae wrote:

irish44j wrote:

wae wrote: Hmmmmm. I should have my new axles by then... does the on-site camping include room to park a small motorhome? (32ft long plus 20ft open trailer and about 11.5ft height clearance)

Rally Farm owner told me: "We don't have an issue with it. There aren't any hook ups for RVs though."

I've got 3500 watts of generator and plenty of water tanks! I may have to see if I can manage that trip.

also the second response when I asked the question was "Only thing they should worry about is drunk shiny happy people hanging out inside said rv"

I'll look for the bentra this Sunday then would be nice to meet some folks.

I'm wondering if rallyx will be more appealing than autox but I've done a lot more autox

irish44j wrote:

wae wrote:

irish44j wrote:

wae wrote: Hmmmmm. I should have my new axles by then... does the on-site camping include room to park a small motorhome? (32ft long plus 20ft open trailer and about 11.5ft height clearance)

Rally Farm owner told me: "We don't have an issue with it. There aren't any hook ups for RVs though."

I've got 3500 watts of generator and plenty of water tanks! I may have to see if I can manage that trip.

also the second response when I asked the question was "Only thing they should worry about is drunk shiny happy people hanging out inside said rv"

That sounds more like a benefit than a worry!

wae wrote:

irish44j wrote:

wae wrote:

irish44j wrote:

wae wrote: Hmmmmm. I should have my new axles by then... does the on-site camping include room to park a small motorhome? (32ft long plus 20ft open trailer and about 11.5ft height clearance)

Rally Farm owner told me: "We don't have an issue with it. There aren't any hook ups for RVs though."

I've got 3500 watts of generator and plenty of water tanks! I may have to see if I can manage that trip.

also the second response when I asked the question was "Only thing they should worry about is drunk shiny happy people hanging out inside said rv"

That sounds more like a benefit than a worry!

I'll be sure to remind you of that repeatedly at 3AM

irish44j wrote:

EvanB wrote: I'm not sure if I am going to attend or not. The main problem is finding someone to watch my dog for the weekend. And driving 6 hours each way in the Miata.

bah, just have Pete drive it and drive something more comfortable down yourself :)

The Miata is infinitely more roomy, quiet, efficient, reliable, and economical than teh RX-7.

The only downside is that I wouldn't have anything to drive. I've fairly well proven that I don't know how to drive a Miata. Maybe I could convince Evan to drive my car to the event for me?

Jaynen wrote: I'll look for the bentra this Sunday then would be nice to meet some folks. I'm wondering if rallyx will be more appealing than autox but I've done a lot more autox

You'll have fun, no doubt. Both of them are tons of fun in similar ways, but the event operation and competitors in rallyx are vastly different. Especially the region you are talking about.

To word that another way, if you took all the autox organizers and competitors from a big, well run SCCA region and ran a rallyx event with those same people, you'd have a really kickass event. That doesn't happen though. WDCR is probably as close as it gets in that regard.

WDCR? I know nothing about the groups here besides the local club isn't actually SCCA but they have the closest rallyx and autox events (within about an hour from Raleigh)

WDCR = Washington DC Region (of the SCCA)

Ah.. Is there anything we need to worry about for RallyX on a stock car? It has mudflaps.

Got a helmet, I will plan to air up the tires near max PSI and torque the lug nuts as per usual autocross type stuff

It has alloy wheels, right?

The stock 17" alloy wheels yes on high performance all seasons yokohoma avid something

Yeah, should be fine. Just air up the tires.

ProDarwin wrote:

Jaynen wrote: I'll look for the bentra this Sunday then would be nice to meet some folks. I'm wondering if rallyx will be more appealing than autox but I've done a lot more autox

You'll have fun, no doubt. Both of them are tons of fun in similar ways, but the event operation and competitors in rallyx are vastly different. Especially the region you are talking about. To word that another way, if you took all the autox organizers and competitors from a big, well run SCCA region and ran a rallyx event with those same people, you'd have a really kickass event. That doesn't happen though. WDCR is probably as close as it gets in that regard.

Having run with a number of east-coast rallycross groups, I'd certainly say that WDCR events run the most efficiently and with the least "issues" - probably due to both experience and the fact that several of the people who run the show area also autocrossers. Some rally-x regions are so slack it's frustrating.

That said, I'd still rather run with a fairly slack rally-x group than with the most efficient and well-run autocross group. I autocrossed for close to a decade and to be honest, the occasional time I go do it these days I find it terribly boring (YMMV). Rally-x you get more seat time (in most cases), do more fun things with the car, and when you're working course it is infinitely more interesting than watching autocross runs. None of that is to say you can't do both with the same car, of course. Do both, decide for yourself.

I'll be flying out from Iowa on Thursday night. I won't be racing since I got talked into chairing the event as a neutral party. I'm looking forward to meeting you all and checking out the various cars whose build threads I've been following four years.

In regards to fun level of rallycross versus autocross, I had been autocrossing for years with a STX prepped car. I attended my first rallycross and had so much fun that I got my safety steward license and started a rallycross program for my region so I didn't have drive 4+ hours to race. I sold the autocross car and haven't looked back!

FooBag wrote: I'll be flying out from Iowa on Thursday night. I won't be racing since I got talked into chairing the event as a neutral party. I'm looking forward to meeting you all and checking out the various cars whose build threads I've been following four years. In regards to fun level of rallycross versus autocross, I had been autocrossing for years with a STX prepped car. I attended my first rallycross and had so much fun that I got my safety steward license and started a rallycross program for my region so I didn't have drive 4+ hours to race. I sold the autocross car and haven't looked back!

Honorary chairman, eh? DIdn't even know we did that in rallycross. I hope you have a really, really big 10-gallon cowboy hat to wear. Or maybe a big, festive sobrero :)

irish44j wrote:

FooBag wrote: I'll be flying out from Iowa on Thursday night. I won't be racing since I got talked into chairing the event as a neutral party. I'm looking forward to meeting you all and checking out the various cars whose build threads I've been following four years.

Honorary chairman, eh? DIdn't even know we did that in rallycross. I hope you have a really, really big 10-gallon cowboy hat to wear. Or maybe a big, festive sobrero :)

Sure we do. It was Nathan Usher last year at the Eastern States Challenge.

In reply to moxnix:

I forgot if he drove his NC or his 996 to the event. It was kind of a surprise seeing him there.

IMO, the biggest downside of rallycross compared with autocross is participation level. Not even remotely as many clubs & venues to choose from. Those that are available have a small number of members compared to autox clubs. This means less funding, less events, etc. And of course, the competition isn't very deep, unless you are in one of those lucky regions.

As irish mentioned, some of those rallyx regions are also so relaxed its frustrating. That goes for autox regions as well... but many times you have other options.

not that long ago, we considered moving out of DC to North Carolina. The rallyx community here in DC was actually a not insignificant part of our decision to stick around...

bluej wrote: not that long ago, we considered moving out of DC to North Carolina. The rallyx community here in DC was actually a not insignificant part of our decision to stick around...

On an unrelated note, heading up this Saturday to the Susquehanna event in Harrisburg to show some "mutual support" for the guys like Adam Moore who come down to DC events. Chris Nonack is gonna be there in the XR4Ti, plus Shawn/Katie, and a guy running a BMW 2002, and Vaughn Micchie in the Porsche 924. Should be a good tuneup for ECNC. Care to join?

I'm in NH this weekend to support my bud who's opening the brewpub I was telling you about. Otherwise I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'm interested in going to more events there. It's not much farther than Frostburg, really.

Do they have an august event? The WDCR schedule skips that month.

hmm. event there august 19th and ze googles says it's even closer to me than Frostburg. I'd be in.

hmmmm....

So any of you going to the Wilson event this Sat/Sun (well Sat is supposed to be school and sun points event) for the THSCC Rallyx?

If I like it in the future I am tempted to maybe look at a side by side for a triple threat. THSCC has a UTV/ATV class, NASA Rallysport now has rules for them in Stage Rally which would be awesome, and I could maybe run Mid East Hare Scramble/GNCC events here or there also.

I also wonder if the side by sides will become more widely adopted/rulesets approved since SCCA has karts etc in autox

I hope not. THSCC has very relaxed rules, many of which are large safety concerns for me. If I were in charge, there would be absolutely zero change of a UTV/ATV being allowed on course. I've also seen THSCC allow a Miata w/o a hardtop on course as well. I was shocked by this. Actually, doubly shocked because this was at VIR and I though they would take issue with it also.

I'm very surprised that NASA has rules for the ATV/UTV.