kainam00
10+ Year Contributor
- 97
- 2
- Aug 31, 2009
-
Auburn Hills,
Michigan
This post should be a good read for those looking to get into rally, as it gives you an idea of some of the costs involved.
When I was looking for a rally car, I wanted something that was ready to go, or very close to it. When I bought the DSM, all it really needed was -
(1) Skid plate
(2) Rear suspension
(3) Seats
However, once I started digging into it some more and actually getting the car ready to the letter of the rules, the costs really add up.
Over the past couple of months I have done the following to get the car ready for the 2010 Rally season, starting with SandBlast (16 days!)
* Replace the blown rear suspension with fresh AGX's, making custom top mounts to retain the DMS springs.
* Get and mount a new Sparco Pro-ADV seat.
* Have Ryan from TRF (Home) fab up a skid plate, as well as make some modifications to the cage to make the belt mounting safer.
* Fuel line protection.
* Secure battery mounting.
* Purchase and mount rally required fire extinguisher, spill kit, first aid kit, and tow rope.
* Install towing eyes.
* Have TRF re-do the downpipe so that it does not leak from the flange.
* Get some rally BRAID wheels, since steelies de-bead too easily. (I de-beaded two of them at a rallycross).
All-in-all these little things have cost me over $2000. Granted not all of them were entirely necessary, I think they were wise investments into helping the car be reliable enough to consistently finish.
Another major cost of getting into rally, or any sort of serious motorsports is personal safety equipment. You can be the cheapest person in the world, but these days you will still end up spending about a grand on a HANS device, suit, helment, shoes, and gloves.
HANS - head and neck restraint device, prevents your neck from extending too much on a hard impact. It looks weird, is kind of awkward to wear, and is ridiculously expensive for a piece of molded plastic with some strings attached. But.... it may just save your life, so you gotta have one. I opted to go for the cheaper 'sport' model (~$600) in M20 - which fits pretty much 95% of the people.
Suit - I was looking at Sparco at first, but then decided that I was poor and go with a G-Force 545 suit. This is their top of the line suit (which still comes in cheaper than the the entry level suits from the competition), and when I got it I was very impressed with the quality, as well as how light and comfortable it was. Also, some of the pictures show these suits to be VERY glossy, which looks stupid. They are however, not glossy... maybe a little tiny bit, but not stupid
my eyes glossy.
Shoes, Gloves, Helmet - I've opted for G-Force for my shoes and gloves as well, impressed with the quality of both. Nomex is actually a very soft and comfortable fabric, I need to get more nomex stuff to wear daily... that way I can run into burning building to save babies in safety AND comfort! I'll be using the G-Force helmet I had for a few years now, it's their Hybrid one, nothing fancy but I like it.
So, basically speaking, after buying a "rally ready" car (i.e. caged, stripped, log-booked rally legal car) I've still ended up spending ~$4000 to get ready for the first rally. Is it expensive? Sure. Is it a better way to spend my money than $4000 of go-fast bits? Hell yes!
I want to thank Paul from Team Illuminata Motorsports (Team Illuminata Motorsport) for hooking me up with pretty much all of my rally equipment. If you're looking for anything race related, Paul is the guy to go to - mention my name (Dmitriy) and he may even give you a discount
When I was looking for a rally car, I wanted something that was ready to go, or very close to it. When I bought the DSM, all it really needed was -
(1) Skid plate
(2) Rear suspension
(3) Seats
However, once I started digging into it some more and actually getting the car ready to the letter of the rules, the costs really add up.
Over the past couple of months I have done the following to get the car ready for the 2010 Rally season, starting with SandBlast (16 days!)
* Replace the blown rear suspension with fresh AGX's, making custom top mounts to retain the DMS springs.
* Get and mount a new Sparco Pro-ADV seat.
* Have Ryan from TRF (Home) fab up a skid plate, as well as make some modifications to the cage to make the belt mounting safer.
* Fuel line protection.
* Secure battery mounting.
* Purchase and mount rally required fire extinguisher, spill kit, first aid kit, and tow rope.
* Install towing eyes.
* Have TRF re-do the downpipe so that it does not leak from the flange.
* Get some rally BRAID wheels, since steelies de-bead too easily. (I de-beaded two of them at a rallycross).
All-in-all these little things have cost me over $2000. Granted not all of them were entirely necessary, I think they were wise investments into helping the car be reliable enough to consistently finish.
Another major cost of getting into rally, or any sort of serious motorsports is personal safety equipment. You can be the cheapest person in the world, but these days you will still end up spending about a grand on a HANS device, suit, helment, shoes, and gloves.
HANS - head and neck restraint device, prevents your neck from extending too much on a hard impact. It looks weird, is kind of awkward to wear, and is ridiculously expensive for a piece of molded plastic with some strings attached. But.... it may just save your life, so you gotta have one. I opted to go for the cheaper 'sport' model (~$600) in M20 - which fits pretty much 95% of the people.
Suit - I was looking at Sparco at first, but then decided that I was poor and go with a G-Force 545 suit. This is their top of the line suit (which still comes in cheaper than the the entry level suits from the competition), and when I got it I was very impressed with the quality, as well as how light and comfortable it was. Also, some of the pictures show these suits to be VERY glossy, which looks stupid. They are however, not glossy... maybe a little tiny bit, but not stupid
my eyes glossy.Shoes, Gloves, Helmet - I've opted for G-Force for my shoes and gloves as well, impressed with the quality of both. Nomex is actually a very soft and comfortable fabric, I need to get more nomex stuff to wear daily... that way I can run into burning building to save babies in safety AND comfort! I'll be using the G-Force helmet I had for a few years now, it's their Hybrid one, nothing fancy but I like it.
So, basically speaking, after buying a "rally ready" car (i.e. caged, stripped, log-booked rally legal car) I've still ended up spending ~$4000 to get ready for the first rally. Is it expensive? Sure. Is it a better way to spend my money than $4000 of go-fast bits? Hell yes!
I want to thank Paul from Team Illuminata Motorsports (Team Illuminata Motorsport) for hooking me up with pretty much all of my rally equipment. If you're looking for anything race related, Paul is the guy to go to - mention my name (Dmitriy) and he may even give you a discount
