Rally X in Rally America

MikeD

MikeD

N/A All The Way!!
Rally America will be shortening the national championship from nine events down to six. The last rally event will be NEFR with rally x events held in New Jersey starting in the fall of 2010. I'm just glad that we still have NEFR...and now maybe there will be more on the line seeing how its the last rally event of the season. I'm thinking a group drive to New Jersey for the Rally X events might be in order too!!

http://www.rally-america.com/story.php?article=540

 
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all i hope is the mexico stage isn't as big of a waste of time as it was this year. i looked at pics from last year compared to this year and the jump looked about half the size it was weak!!

 
It's also highly damaging for cars to be hitting it flat out before that race really even begins. Even if it was bigger, all you'd see is cars crawling over it, with maybe one or two lunatics hitting it hard.

 
It's also highly damaging for cars to be hitting it flat out before that race really even begins. Even if it was bigger, all you'd see is cars crawling over it, with maybe one or two lunatics hitting it hard.
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I heard that the famous off-camber jump on the concord pond stage was shaved a bit too....but yeah, Ty Ty is right, Most drivers don't want to kill their car on the first stages of the rally.

 
Not sure how this whole RA Rallycross thing is going to work. There's a lot of vehicle to vehicle contact in rallycross, and it is quite damaging. With the limited funding/sponsorship that most drivers in the states have...there's only going to be like three or four cars out there going around.

Don't get me wrong, it would be fantastic if it does work, euro rallycross is hella fun to watch. Unfortunately, RA is starting to look like one of those companies that grow absurdly fast, and then tanks. Might be pushing too hard, too fast for the American market.

 
Not sure how this whole RA Rallycross thing is going to work. There's a lot of vehicle to vehicle contact in rallycross, and it is quite damaging. With the limited funding/sponsorship that most drivers in the states have...there's only going to be like three or four cars out there going around.
Don't get me wrong, it would be fantastic if it does work, euro rallycross is hella fun to watch. Unfortunately, RA is starting to look like one of those companies that grow absurdly fast, and then tanks. Might be pushing too hard, too fast for the American market.
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I agree, and I feel sorry for the venues who aren't going to get the national racers in their events. They will still have the regional stars though.

 
just because the golden boys wont be there and all the media circus that follows doesn't mean a rally cant continue.

Rally was here long before DC shoes and Monster energy entered their moving billboards. and it will be here long afterwards with the people who matter the most. the Grassroots level racer.

here is a fair question, how many of you here would continue to go to NEFR if pastrana, block, mirra, Tanner didnt come? would you even care about the lowly guys in the back in the Golfs and Civics?

 

 
Contrary to popular belief...the organizers of those rallies learned about RA's decision from the specialstage forums. Seemed to be quite a shock for them... I guess they were just going to let the event oganizers figure it out on their own when no national competitors showed up...
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here is a fair question, how many of you here would continue to go to NEFR if pastrana, block, mirra, Tanner didnt come? would you even care about the lowly guys in the back in the Golfs and Civics?
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I was working the event before they were even driving, hahaha.

 
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just because the golden boys wont be there and all the media circus that follows doesn't mean a rally cant continue.
Rally was here long before DC shoes and Monster energy entered their moving billboards. and it will be here long afterwards with the people who matter the most. the Grassroots level racer.

here is a fair question, how many of you here would continue to go to NEFR if pastrana, block, mirra, Tanner didnt come? would you even care about the lowly guys in the back in the Golfs and Civics?
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I think that a lot of us would go, I sure know that I would. I didn't mean to imply that its just the top open-class cars and drivers who matter, that's hardly the case.

 
I think this is all going to depend on what the prep/safety rules are for these cars. If RA is smart, they will allow bolt-in FIA cages and inexpensive/semi-expendable cars.

I do not see ANY top level rally teams subjecting their cars to European style rallycross, but I'm seriously considering what the budget would be to rock a Neon or Golf (or better yet a Mustang 5.0?) at one of these events. I'd just want to be able to transfer the cage, suspension, etc out of the car to a new shell when the old one gets beat to snot.
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The other option is to find a cheap ITA race car and plop a proper rally suspension into it.

It's not stage rallying, but it sure will be fun stuff and I'd be real tempted to prep a car to do it if the prices are reasonable. I figure you'd be able to pay for the gas, entry fee, and maybe even a night or two of motel rooms at a rally cross for what a single national level rally entry fee is costing right now.

Tim

 
here is a fair question, how many of you here would continue to go to NEFR if pastrana, block, mirra, Tanner didnt come? would you even care about the lowly guys in the back in the Golfs and Civics?
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i probably wouldnt the whole fun part about watchign a rally is watchign guys with sexy ass cars driving fast as hell doign things we wish we had the balls to do. when i went to nerf for the most part the best was watching the team big sponsor cars because they were going the fastest.

if mlb went out on strike yes you could go se a minor leauge team play but stil wouldnt be as fun as watching the big boys with the names we all know play

 
i probably wouldnt the whole fun part about watchign a rally is watchign guys with sexy ass cars driving fast as hell doign things we wish we had the balls to do. when i went to nerf for the most part the best was watching the team big sponsor cars because they were going the fastest.
if mlb went out on strike yes you could go se a minor leauge team play but stil wouldnt be as fun as watching the big boys with the names we all know play
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Good points. However....I think that the stock and super production classes also have a lot to offer. These guys are also doing stuff that I can't (I can admit it, they are much better drivers than me). Its kinda like buying Pats tickets to see Tom Brady...but don't forget about the role players like Welker, Watson and Edelman.

 
i probably wouldnt the whole fun part about watchign a rally is watchign guys with sexy ass cars driving fast as hell doign things we wish we had the balls to do. when i went to nerf for the most part the best was watching the team big sponsor cars because they were going the fastest.
if mlb went out on strike yes you could go se a minor leauge team play but stil wouldnt be as fun as watching the big boys with the names we all know play
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that's ridiculous... you might as well sit at home and watch your pastranas, and blocks..

ITS ABOUT THE MOTOR SPORT. NOT THE NAMES. and hell yes I would still go!!!! and I would still wish that was me out there beating the ***** outta that golf or civic.

-end

 
I heard that the famous off-camber jump on the concord pond stage was shaved a bit too....but yeah, Ty Ty is right, Most drivers don't want to kill their car on the first stages of the rally.
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it wasn't shaved. The road was graded before the event as it was in horrible shape.

These types of things keep the locals happy, and that is the most important thing.

don't forget that NASA has events all over the place. they are typically great events.

 
yeah NASA runs a great series here on the east coast. trouble is they get little to no national media coverage because they dont draw in the big names.

I look forward to running maine this year, I will be starting in the back of the pack, but hey at least i know my wife and kids will be there to cheer me on.

 
Have been biting my tongue waiting for things to settle a bit before weighing in on this issue.

The euro rallyX thing seems like yet another move away from "real" rally like has been practiced in USA for many years. we already have a series in US that is very much like Euro rallyX, it's called "off-road truck racing" like CORR or whatever it's called now. these are fube framed silhouette racers with easily replaced bodywork, designed for hardass wheel to wheel paint swappin racing. OK, so cool, but don't expect to see "real" rally cars (STI/Evo/VW/Mazdas based on production unibody shells) bashing each other to pieces....even Subaru USA's and Pastrana's and Block's budgets wont stretch that far! Time will tell how it all shakes out.

Another move away from rally as we've known it is how the R-A East Regional series will now be including tarmac hill climbs. not that hillclimbs are bad, they're just NOT rally...heck, many eastern hillclimbs don't even allow codrivers (um sorry, I mean passengers) on hot runs. and since the season points totals are pretty evenly split between the tarmac and gravel/snow events, a team that wants to do well needs to run both type events.

In fairness, I'll have to attend a few of the new regional "rally" hillclimbs before a definitive picture emerges. But sufice to say that if most of the East's committed and determined rally teams aren't interested in the hillclimb aspect of it, how does that advance state of the sport. How the hillclimb guys will adapt their cars to gravel spec (unlikely, many hillclimb cars n cages won't pass rally tech) and how the gravel guys adapt their cars to tarmac spec (yet more expensive equipment for a sport that's already priced itself out of reach for grassroots teams)....hmmm, makes ya wonder wtf the sanctioning bodies are thinking.

It all makes the NASA and Canadian events look pretty inviting.

 
I didn't even know that NASA exsisted, but there still aren't many events in New England. The Team O'Neil Rally is in New Hampshire and I am really looking forward to it. It looks like to make more than two or three rallies each year, a good amount of travel is required.

 
It looks like to make more than two or three rallies each year, a good amount of travel is required.
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Yes, think of rally travel as the "rally before the rally" and you'll not get put off by the miles involved.

 
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