1st Rally-X
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:56 am
Date of RallyX: 03/21/2010
Location: Summit Point Motorsports Park- Orchard
Club: WDCR-SCCA RallyX
So, Shawn and I've been interested in rally-x for about 2 years now. We've known several people who do rally-x on a regular basis and were/are involved in the local SCCA club. After getting a ride at an event, we were definitely hooked, but we also knew that we didn't want to subject one of our Mazdas to the rigors of rallying. So, we kept our eyes open and about 18 months ago, we picked up a 100hp 1995 Saturn SL1 for $400 off CL. Isn't she a beauty????
The Saturn was all one color until it was loaned to Shawn's brother for a couple of months. Fortunately, good looks are not a requirement for rally. Ground clearance and a low cost of replacement parts are far more important. Unfortunately, saving to buy a house last year took priority over rallying and Sunday was the first opportunity to participate and the weather cooperated beautifully.
It's very important to prepare the car for racing. In our case, this consisted of cleaning the crap out of the car. This included removing the fuse cover panel that never wants to stay in place.
Oh, and we rotated the rear tires to the front as the tread on the fronts is rather amusing.
Sunday morning, we were up and out of the house far too early. As we discovered the night before, magnetics don't work on Saturns. Boo!!!! So, we went with tape and paper numbers. These did not last very long:
I was 199 and Shawn was 99 and we are racing in Stock FWD.
Here's some of our competition:
The turnout was about 30 cars, which is a good number for the local region, which can handle a max. of 60 entries.
Group shot:
This element of the course was affectionately referred to as "The A******".
Here is a shot of us on course in the morning, before the water truck turned the course into a mudfest:
A white Evo:
Right before our afternoon runs, the water truck came through and made it absolutely miserable for those of us without AWD.
It was still fun, but spinning mud at 20mph is not exciting.
And the last shot before we headed to the car wash:
Location: Summit Point Motorsports Park- Orchard
Club: WDCR-SCCA RallyX
So, Shawn and I've been interested in rally-x for about 2 years now. We've known several people who do rally-x on a regular basis and were/are involved in the local SCCA club. After getting a ride at an event, we were definitely hooked, but we also knew that we didn't want to subject one of our Mazdas to the rigors of rallying. So, we kept our eyes open and about 18 months ago, we picked up a 100hp 1995 Saturn SL1 for $400 off CL. Isn't she a beauty????
The Saturn was all one color until it was loaned to Shawn's brother for a couple of months. Fortunately, good looks are not a requirement for rally. Ground clearance and a low cost of replacement parts are far more important. Unfortunately, saving to buy a house last year took priority over rallying and Sunday was the first opportunity to participate and the weather cooperated beautifully.
It's very important to prepare the car for racing. In our case, this consisted of cleaning the crap out of the car. This included removing the fuse cover panel that never wants to stay in place.
Oh, and we rotated the rear tires to the front as the tread on the fronts is rather amusing. Sunday morning, we were up and out of the house far too early. As we discovered the night before, magnetics don't work on Saturns. Boo!!!! So, we went with tape and paper numbers. These did not last very long:
I was 199 and Shawn was 99 and we are racing in Stock FWD.
Here's some of our competition:
The turnout was about 30 cars, which is a good number for the local region, which can handle a max. of 60 entries.
Group shot:
This element of the course was affectionately referred to as "The A******".
Here is a shot of us on course in the morning, before the water truck turned the course into a mudfest:
A white Evo:
Right before our afternoon runs, the water truck came through and made it absolutely miserable for those of us without AWD.
It was still fun, but spinning mud at 20mph is not exciting. And the last shot before we headed to the car wash:
Co-driving in the same very small heat meant that we didn't really have time to do much other than swap numbers and then hop in the car for our next run. There is an event on 05/16 that we may be able to make. If so, we'll definitely let you know.