They aren't doing it right!

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 4:08 pm

"RallyCross is the most widespread and readily accessible form of extreme dirt motorsport. Imagine a twisty and turning course laid out on a non-paved plot of land where the course is delineated by traffic cones. No trees, rocks or obstacles to ruin your day. RallyCross is easy on your car."

I pulled this off the SCCA DC region website. I don't think they are doing it right. I'm sure somebody hit a tree last weekend at Four Oaks and I'm of the opinion that holes could be considered "obstacles."

From the look of some of our cars, rallycross just might be hard on them. I'll bet anyone that Les thinks rallycross is hard on the front end of a Laser! I've discovered that jumps are hard on shocks. See photo to the left. Mike and I had fun jumping the Laser and entertaining, but now we need new shocks. I don't think GR2s will hold up on our courses. Any suggestions?

KouroshNeshat · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 4:24 pm

ehh, i tell everyone if you drive crazy, things will break. there's always an easy way around the course, it may not be the fastest, but nothings gonna break.

where pavement racing is hard on the car, dirt racing is easy, and vice versa (i guess).

you can launch at like 5K on the dirt and not worry too much, but on the pavement it might hurt a bit.

BTW, i hit the tree branches, not the actual tree. :lol:

but as long as your car is properly setup (even with just decent stock suspension) nothing should go terribly wrong. its the blown shocks and the ones who haul bawls over the bumps and jump that end up with damage, if any.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 4:35 pm

WalterHouston wrote:

From the look of some of our cars, rallycross just might be hard on them. I'll bet anyone that Les thinks rallycross is hard on the front end of a Laser! I've discovered that jumps are hard on shocks. See photo to the left. Mike and I had fun jumping the Laser and entertaining, but now we need new shocks. I don't think GR2s will hold up on our courses. Any suggestions?

http://www.dmshocks.com/Default.aspx

Les Davis · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:04 pm **Posts:** 2059

Jason Mauldin wrote:

WalterHouston wrote:

From the look of some of our cars, rallycross just might be hard on them. I'll bet anyone that Les thinks rallycross is hard on the front end of a Laser! I've discovered that jumps are hard on shocks. See photo to the left. Mike and I had fun jumping the Laser and entertaining, but now we need new shocks. I don't think GR2s will hold up on our courses. Any suggestions?

http://www.dmshocks.com/Default.aspx

You should definitely pick up a set of these for the Laser Walter. :lol:

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 5:13 pm

I'll have to agree that Rallycross in general is not easy on a car. But how hard on a car it is is COMPLETELY up to the driver. My wife daily drives our Rallycross car, and outside of knocking a strut out of alignment a couple times (until I realized that the published torque spec just wasn't cuttin' it), we haven't had any issues outside of tires and a couple rock chips. (knock on wood)

That said, I intentionally drive lines that aim to avoid stuff that's going to hurt when at speed. Anything to avoid upsetting the car as much as possible means I can keep my foot in the gas - even if it's a slightly longer line. I also avoid jumps - that's just unnecessary abuse IMO, either to the shocks or drivetrain.

Now, I AM a firm believer in running different tires/wheels for Rallycross, especially if you plan to drive the car home, as ruts are often unavoidable. My Forester Steelies have held up VERY well for many years - sure they're not the lightest wheel, but they're not bent either.

As for GR2's - I think they are still a good option. I run AGX's at 50-75% stiff, and at least as far as I have heard, the GR2's tend to be valved somewhere near the middle of the AGX adjustment range. YMMV.

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 9:31 pm

that is interesting dustin. i run agx's also but with sti springs and i have the struts set to full soft. We had the car set to the middle at the last bmw farm and it was almost ungodly to drive. I was the one that full on hit the tree on sunday, on the back of the key hole during the slalom, sorry Kevin's Mom

KouroshNeshat · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 11:12 pm

Oooh. Didn't know u hit a tree. I'm guessing it was a small tree since I didn't notice anything out of place on the wagon.

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 11:16 pm

jeremy gast wrote:

that is interesting dustin. i run agx's also but with sti springs and i have the struts set to full soft. We had the car set to the middle at the last bmw farm and it was almost ungodly to drive. I was the one that full on hit the tree on sunday, on the back of the key hole during the slalom, sorry Kevin's Mom

Ahhh, well spring rate can certainly make a difference. I'm on purely stock OBS springs with stock replacement (i.e. spec'd for the soft springs) AGX struts.

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 7:19 am

I think it was a small tree! :lol:

Ouch! My wallet is hurting. Those look like great shocks. Thanks. I could have shocks that cost 4x's more than I paid Les for the car!

Dustin, One more question - why are you still so damn fast?

Seriously, if I wasn't driving a POS, I'd dial it back a lot too. But, when you have a trailer with a winch, you know you can get the car home. Plus, I've had a $1,000.00 worth of fun out of the car already, so if it was totaled I'd be OK with parting it out. I'd probably try to find another DSM and use the Laser as a parts car.

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 10:40 am

ya jsut a little tree. not to bad.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

WalterHouston wrote:

if I wasn't driving a POS, I'd dial it back a lot too.

WalterHouston wrote:

Dustin, One more question - why are you still so damn fast?

Dustin Fredrickson wrote:

That said, I intentionally drive lines that aim to avoid stuff that's going to hurt when at speed. Anything to avoid upsetting the car as much as possible means I can keep my foot in the gas - even if it's a slightly longer line.

I'm just sayin'...

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 12:33 pm

I see your point.

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 1:06 pm

WalterHouston wrote:

I see your point.

I think for me and you we need to figure out what Pete was doing!!!!! our times are very similar,(other than my tree run) so............

Pete Guthrie · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 3:22 pm

we run the 13s typically. on the toyota, the wheels are off a scirocco vw.
they are heavy, but they are tough as nails.now we run 14 inch wheels... off my sentra.. lighter, but they are less tough. we will see.. ground clearence and suspension are key.. as is a strong frame.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 9:33 pm

ummm, The General has hit a tree, twice. and i drive it with my foot in it, or i used to anyway. the shocks that are on it were installed three years ago, and aaaaaahhh helped!

if The General were AWD he would be hell on wheels.

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