Getting Started in Racing

["Levis-Fithian, Jeff E" <LevisJE@LOUISVILLE.STORTEK.COM>]

I thought I'd give you some insight into what it takes to do the sort of
thing (rallying) outlined in Bob's e-mail.  For the longest time through my
college career I used to go watch SCCA PRORally around the Northeast and
dream of one day doing the same thing.  Finally a friend of mine decided to
do it.  Here are the steps we went through to get started:

This is all on the assumption that you want to do something like the Mt.
Washington Hill Climb, which would be rallying.


1.	Get yourself a car (don't use your family wagon).  We purchased a
rally-prepped 1986 Mazda 323GTX.  I don't know how much you know about this
car, but it is a 4WD, turbocharged hatchback.  They were used quite
frequently in Europe for rallying.  The car cost us about $8000 in 1995.
Considering this car was fully prepped with rollcage, rally suspension, skid
plates, racing seats and harnesses, and engine modifications to output
around 220hp, this was a great deal.  We basically had to do nothing to the
car and could enter our first race.  If you are very mechanically inclined,
have a lot of money, and a lot of time, and access to great tools and a
machine shop (a hydraulic lift wouldn't hurt either), you can purchase an
unprepped car and do the modifications yourself.  Whatever you do, make sure
it is a car that is common on rally circuits.  This will insure that you can
do something like purchase rally specific parts for a decent price.  I knew
a guy who rallied with a Honda Prelude.  Since it's not really a rally car,
he had to get custom shocks made at around $1200/piece!  Ours were about
$200/piece.  Big difference.

2.	Find a co-driver.  Ideally this would be somebody who would
contribute financially to the effort.

3.	Get a license to race PRO Rally.  There is a great school in
Pennsylvania run in May where they teach you all about rallying, and in the
end you get a license.  I actually can't remember the exact requirements if
you don't do something like this, but you can contact SCCA and get more
info.  If I remember correctly you can pretty much get a provisional license
the day of the rally.  Both driver and co-driver must have one.

4.	(We skipped this step)  Buy a trailer and something to pull your
rally car to races with.  We actually did 4 rallies and drove the car to
each one.  It forced me to drive the car very carefully and be sure not to
roll it.  I wouldn't recommend this route.  Too much stress.

5.	Find at least a couple of people to act as your service team.  They
will need to drive the van/truck around and meet you at designated service
stops to fix the skid plate that fell off or the tie rod that bent.

6.	Enter a rally.  Entrance fees will run you around $500 for a
weekend.  That does not include hotels (for you and your crew), food (for
you and your crew), gas, beer (for you and your crew afterwards), etc...

That's all you need to do.  All told, it was a lot of fun.  It was a lot of
money.  Too much money, in fact, to continue past one season.  And too much
time.  In order to do something like this consistently, I would recommend
that you have a lot of time to prep and fix the car after rallies.  You are
pretty much guaranteed to break something (suspension, engine, tranny) every
race.  You'll need to spend the weeks in between races fixing your car.  In
the end, it just became too time consuming to balance family life, work, and
a rally car.  Just the reality of racing at almost any level.  But if you
have time and the money, I'd say go for it and have a blast.

I'd be more than happy to answer any more specific questions you have.

-Jeff



Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 09:29:46 -0500
From: Gemma Skillman <gskillma@usd.edu>
Subject: Re: CTTC Experience, First time driver (long)

Bob,

WOW!  That sounded so much fun.  Sooo, how do I get started in racing--going
fast and catching air?  I'm a neophyte and located in the midwest.

What quattro's are best for racing?  Right now the 5k  is the family car.  I
would imagine that I need to buy something else.

G
ps  my husband and daughter are probably cringing right now.