THSCC Forums

My bumper is missing 8 clips out of 12 that hold it to the center supports, the fender liners and the dust tray. Both of the center supports are broken so I guess the clips being gone is a moot point anyway . My car vibrated like a beast the whole way home at about 60mph so I drove at 55 on I40 back to durham and I spent 1.5 hours pressure washing the wheels (yay they don't vibrate anymore) and undercarriage.

Ironically enough (based on Kevin's comments about beaters), I probably won't be rallycrossing until I buy a beater .

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2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

I don't remember what car you were driving, but I had the same vibration problem rallycrossing with my daily driver. The tire issue can be alleviated by just getting a second set of tires which I do for my beater anyway. No idea what to do about your other problems, sorry!

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"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

It was the silver new WRX.

The vibration was due to the wheels not being balanced due to the crusted on mud/clay on the inside of the wheels. It took 2000 psi to get that mud off . But once the wheels were cleaned, the car drove fine.

_________________
2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

Yes, I know. If you get a second set of tires for street classes they keep their tread for rallycross, and you don't have to clean them.

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"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

Sebastian and Jan had the right idea...they removed both the front and rear bumper covers to prevent damage.

Your car (and the black one) looked awful low to be rallycrossing.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

I know, I was thinking of pulling my front bumper .

Are the new Impreza's any lower than the GD chassis? Based on my wheel gap I would think not, but wheel gap and how low the bottom of the car is to the ground are not one in the same.

_________________
2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

There are only 4 or 5 bad spots that need to be addressed. I'm not talking about rebuilding the whole course. Most of it is fine. How much would it cost for a 1/2 day of work? Kevin or Bret might know of a guy close by who would love to have the work.

If the bad spots were fixed, then Kevin would have a chance to keep up.

Pete is probably right about the soil needing to be compressed, so he should "borrow" that machine and do the work!

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Rubbin' is Racin'

What technique could be used on the very sandy soil that could withstand a day of high powered cars going over it again and again?

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"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

it takes maintenance.

you can rent the equipment for a half day, heck a whole day. but after 1 event, it'll be just like it was.

you need something pretty much after the morning session, every time.

one of my friends, who rallycrossed with thscc 2 years ago, is now in NY. he does rallyx up there and the guy has his own grading equipment and stuff. they smooth out the course and fix it up after each session.

like kevin said, if he wins the lottery then it'll be worth it.

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'11 RallyX VP
1998 Integra Type R - track fun
1999 Subaru 2.5RS - dirt fun

NY = topsoil, rock and clay............... Four Oaks = sand, sand, sand, sand


FWIW i love some ruts, it's fu****g CONES that i hate.

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

Clay works well... like at Orange County Speedway. When are we going there next?

As for banning beaters.
Keith and I put new struts on our beater in the middle of last year have noticed tremendous improvement in the car's handling; even at Kevin's crappy sandy site.
SU2 ran 2nd after 4wd class in the morning on Sunday and the crossover was already rutted pretty bad.

30 cars times 6 runs each is 180 runs over a soft area will have an affect the course regardless of the car. You can see evidence of that in Michael's pictures. WOT in the turns is throwing dirt everywhere. You can't just scrap the sand back and expect it to stay. We've learned from BMW farm there are variety of soil conditions hard soil to sand. We try to avoid the sandy areas which we know will deteriorate quickly.

If 4 Oaks is designated as a semi-permanant course. Why not choose a path that avoids the really soft areas.

I'll agree that driving style can destroy the course, bit you can't blame it all on beaters. Look at the 4wd in photos and see all the dirt they are throwing around as well.

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"Ruttin' is racing"

Chris Suich
Apex, NC
AutoX 2012 Nissan Leaf (Quietly changing the world)
AutoX 2003 Mini Cooper S (on sabbatical)
RallyX 1993 Nissan Sentra - "Le Tigre"
FunX 1970 Camaro LT1 ('95)

OK, the bulldozer is a bad idea.
Am I right that the worst spots are where we make tight turns?
Maybe Chris is right. We avoid the worst spots. Then, we reduce the number of really tight turns that dig out the worst.
Maybe a semi permanent course isn't best?

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Rubbin' is Racin'

Wow!!! Why didn't I think of that? Oh, wait, that's what I already did.

I know some people may automatically assume I'm a dumbass since I'm from Johnston County, and that I didn't spend the first several years of the rallyx program figuring out what works the best in my field, and directing the course accordingly, but yeah, I've spent a little time and put some thought into it. That's part of the purpose of these play days that you guys with beaters never show up to. Maybe if you showed up for a few of those, you could provide your input -- and get some practice so that you'll stop rutting up my course.

Basically, all I can do is design a course that works well for whoever's doing the testing. And if the tester is me driving one of my cars, it's going to suck for those of you with bad equipment and no mad driving skills. Partially because yes, I am evil, and I will put some evil things in the courses. Oh, you don't like that big hole where you enter the turnaround in the keyhole? Then don't drive through it - I don't even see it when I go through there; it's not part of the course I'm driving. You don't like the moguls? You always have the option to slow down. I did a lot of slowing down on Sunday, and I ended up getting beat by a crazy person in a disposable car (you should see the wheel that he bent - ). But that's the way it works out sometimes. You look at your choices, you weigh them based on costs/rewards, and you make your decision. If you decide to blast through the moguls at full throttle, you should be willing to accept the consequences.

Yes, I'd LOVE to own a smooth, hard dirt/gravel area to race on, but I have to deal with reality. I think I've done a pretty good job at it, but I know I still have a lot to learn about how to deal with all the different areas and their characteristics. Hopefully I'll get to continue doing that for a while.

Anyway, now I'll shut up and let those of you with more experience in these matters figure out the solution. Let me know what you decide.

If anybody wants to come over and discuss this stuff, maybe on one of the play/setup days, feel free. I've spent a lot of time on it over the years, but maybe somebody without knowledge of all the details will suggest something eventually that I haven't thought about. That's how it works sometimes. And I can walk you through the entire course and tell you why it's designed that way, and tell you specific reasons why we don't run on each other area out there.

For a specific example, I had the course set up a certain way for the afternoon, but somebody shifted some of the cones while I was at lunch so that it went over a couple of piles of tree limb fragments - primed and ready to puncture some tires. But nobody cleaned up the tree parts; we were just supposed to happily drive over them. So I then had to either move them back and repaint them and hear people complain for 15 minutes about how unsafe it was due to a very small bush that nobody should be anywhere near, or I could get on the tractor for 15 min and drag away the stuff I was designing the course a certain way to avoid (the problem was a couple of turns before the scary bush). I chose the second option, which delayed the start of the afternoon runs, but I didn't have to hear any crap, and nobody got a pile of tree limbs stuck in his tires.

So yes, I do put some thought into the courses, and when people start changing things randomly, apparently not recognizing the consequences of what they're doing, I have to fix it.

Okay, I'm getting grumpy, so I'm going to stop typing. If anybody wants to discuss any of this, come to the next play day.

I don't think any of us are blaming you. I know I'm not. We can see you have worked hard on the course and the soil limits the options.
You are right that we should come and play on the work/testing days. I'll take you up on that.
Personally, I like to come to your place and drive and appreciate being able to do so.
I apologize that I started a thread that came across like it did.

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Rubbin' is Racin'