Weekend Warrior

[ellie]

I've taken insperation from Roys' post in my other thread!

If you were to have a sedate run of the mill car for normal use (eg. starlet) so that you could build up a weekend warrior to very regularly participate in motorkharna, skid pan days, trackdays, to dutton rally, targa even what car would you realistically choose?

Now, I have to set a few loose guidelines=

1. It would have to be on a tight budget - More emphasis on D.I.Y (By tight, I mean cost effective. Fun/$)

2. parts readily availible - And hopefully cheap

3. Be a good all round performer Etc. etc.

Roy may want to elaberate but he said he would have got a mark 1 escort!

And i toyed with the idea a while ago with the OLD old CRX with the 1.6 VTEC in it. Stripped, roll cage, seats, suspension, brakes etc.

For example= A friend of mine Built the puma clubman with the SR20DET from SYD. for about $22G all up. (same as in hot 4's ages ago) Quicker than a Farrari!

What would you get?

Edited May 2, 2006 by ellie

[mazgtr]

Datsun 1200 Coupe with a SR20DET conversion. Big brakes and trick suspension.

MX5 with a 13BTurbo...

[Roy]

Ok its not an Escort, which would be my choice…but here is an example of what $2500 buys you. A log booked and caged Mk1 Cortina. Close Ratio Lotus 5 spd. Twin 40mm Webers on a 1500cc engine. All rally prepped and only entered and completed 4 events. Now you would normally expect about to pay $4500 but was getting too much bird poop on it from the couple of months it sat in the yard under a tree. And the owner is off OS at the moment doing some Cross South America Rally so wanted it to go to a good home rather then sit there.

It is ready to enter any Historic gravel rally, any tarmac rally like Classic Adelaide and would be a hoot and cheap to fix. The body has two small touches of rust but nothing major, we are telign 50cent pieces. I wanted to buy this car, but I need to get my car back on the road before I go buying another car…fingers crossed a cheap Mk 1 Escort will come up towards the end of the year.

It won’t be a missile at a circuit, but it would be a good car for motorkhanas, tarmac rallies, and on the gravel. Where you have long straights like many tracks you will struggle to be quick but would be a great learning car. At the end of the day, the car weighs under 900kg, so 80-100hp will still move the thing along ok.

The only thing you need to consider with doing such a variety of events, especially the rally stuff is you will need a good circle of friends to crew for you…as they are not the sort of thing you can do by yourself…and its better to have a friend be your navigator, much more fun when you can hurl abuse and appoint blame to one another

[someonestolecc]

Shit yeah. Is that thing still for sale Roy? Is it in Mel or Syd? Race/Rally rego? What is the deal with log books do you need to keep updating them to keep race/rally rego? Do you need a CAMS license to own it/register it?

I would have said a cheap built s13 for sure. Parts easy, easy to get power, easy not to kill in stock form. Just throw in some suspension bolt ons of choice, a diff, a seat, harness and away you go... I'd love to do that for a drift/road rally car but I don't have the money to get a car like that let alone swap suspension and change settings between drifting and stuff I'd like to do later in life like dutton/targa etc etc

On the bright side by the time I can afford it I'll be able to enter a silvia or cefiro into historic

[Roy]

It has Club Historica Rego so can be driven to and from events, to the mechanics, to practice days etc. Just need to apply to CAMS and get a permit to drive it in case you are pulled over.

...and no longer for sale...as my boss bought it:(

[ellie]

Exactly what I'm talking about! Piles off fun with out worrying about righting off your big dollar road car!

I think 13B turbos and engine conversions are going to get costly and remember that it will be scrutineered

Edited May 3, 2006 by ellie

[Roy]

...and remember that it will be scrutineered

And such mods will exclude you from some of the more organised/larger events. Fine for motorkhanas etc, but try and enter that into a rally, be it dirt or tarmac and it would be excluded because of the mods. Hell you could even go Appendix J racing in an old log booked HRA car

[gtr660hp]

go out and get ya self a 125cc cart for 4-5k. I did-more fun then any car and way quicker-the cart makes my 660hp GTR feel sloooow

[Duncan]

race only import r32 gtst

[someonestolecc]

It has Club Historica Rego so can be driven to and from events, to the mechanics, to practice days etc. Just need to apply to CAMS and get a permit to drive it in case you arr pulled over.

Thanks for that Roy.

We've both had enough dramas with our cars... Wanna go halves?

(p.s. what do you mean arr pulled over.. is that like when a pirate pulls you over? ... heh sorry )

[AzzurrA]

Matt... get your work to swing us a brand new M6 and we'll compete in the Targa Tas next year

on a more serious note, i hear that S13's are eligible for IPRA now... would make a nice learning/base car... parts are cheap and plentiful, the car itself could be had cheap enough... can be made to go/stop/turn fairly well on a budget...

[yogi000]

Ok its not an Escort, which would be my choice…but here is an example of what $2500 buys you. A log booked and caged Mk1 Cortina. Close Ratio Lotus 5 spd. Twin 40mm Webers on a 1500cc engine. All rally prepped and only entered and completed 4 events. Now you would normally expect about to pay $4500 but was getting too much bird poop on it from the couple of months it sat in the yard under a tree. And the owner is off OS at the moment doing some Cross South America Rally so wanted it to go to a good home rather then sit there.

It is ready to enter any Historic gravel rally, any tarmac rally like Classic Adelaide and would be a hoot and cheap to fix. The body has two small touches of rust but nothing major, we are telign 50cent pieces. I wanted to buy this car, but I need to get my car back on the road before I go buying another car…fingers crossed a cheap Mk 1 Escort will come up towards the end of the year.

It won’t be a missile at a circuit, but it would be a good car for motorkhanas, tarmac rallies, and on the gravel. Where you have long straights like many tracks you will struggle to be quick but would be a great learning car. At the end of the day, the car weighs under 900kg, so 80-100hp will still move the thing along ok.

The only thing you need to consider with doing such a variety of events, especially the rally stuff is you will need a good circle of friends to crew for you…as they are not the sort of thing you can do by yourself…and its better to have a friend be your navigator, much more fun when you can hurl abuse and appoint blame to one another

these are awesome cars, my brother owned one for a while....with the (ithink) from memory the 1600 motor with the single top webber.....it sounded so sweet..

[Roy]

Ok, i want to buy this car...but all my money is earmarked for new paint, engine and Dutton entry so ...please someone lookign for a fun full time weekend car buy this ...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Ford-Escort-Rally-C...1QQcmdZViewItem

[Duncan]

why on earth would you want a fraud escort when you could have an IRS datto 1600 of the same vintage?

[Roy]

1600s are so much money, they are gutless, they are ghay, they cost too much, they are ghey...they cost too much for the buckets of sh1t they usually are and Escorts are cool

[scathing]

As people have said, the entry rules will restrict what kind of mods you can do to the car so it'd be very difficult to have something affordable that can compete in such a wide range of motorsport and be competitive in all.

Me, on a low, low budget I'd go an S13 Silvia with SR20DET. Parts are everywhere, they're a bit lighter and more nimble than the Skyline (which is great for the tighter courses like road rallies and motorkhanas) and they're RWD.

On a slightly higher budget, an early model WRX or old Evo / GSR. Something 4WD turbo, so maybe even a Laser TX3 Turbo. On the low grip stuff (motorkhana, skidpan) your 2WD cars will need a far superior driver, and for the faster stuff like road rallies I'd feel safer in a 4WD car.

[ellie]

Thems fighten words Roy :laughing-smiley-014:

Funnily enough, one of the guys at work has just completed the initial part of his restoration of a mk1 escort with the 2L cosworth motor in it and it absolutely flies! spins the tyres no worries and is a bunch of fun but then you try and turn it and i remember why i love new technology so much! LOL!

[someonestolecc]

Ok, i want to buy this car...but all my money is earmarked for new paint, engine and Dutton entry so ...please someone lookign for a fun full time weekend car buy this ...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Ford-Escort-Rally-C...1QQcmdZViewItem

Damnit Roy that ebay link that car looks nice. No idea how I'd drive it on the road without a trailer though - is that the sort of thing you could get UVP then race/rally rego for?

Just out of interest if I was to import a silvia with a cams 3 license for race/rally import.. Could I then register it with race/rally rego or does race/rally import mean it will NEVER EVER get any sort of rego?

[Roy]

Damnit Roy that ebay link that car looks nice. No idea how I'd drive it on the road without a trailer though - is that the sort of thing you could get UVP then race/rally rego for?

Just out of interest if I was to import a silvia with a cams 3 license for race/rally import.. Could I then register it with race/rally rego or does race/rally import mean it will NEVER EVER get any sort of rego?

Yeh, you can get the car log booked and that means when you want to drive it to an event you can apply to CAMS for a permit and you are then ok to drive it on the road. You can get permits to take the car to a mechanics, test dat etc etc. Cant go to KFC or the pub though

Here are some pics from the other weekend, event was called the Murrindindi Magic...ive volunteered and helped with route charts the past couple of years, this year i didnt help as ive been working on my car (some would call it work). They are great fun even as a person volunteering or crewing for a car

[ellie]

The middle one is exactly my aquantances minus the pin striping on the side. That would be a big can of adrenalin racing on dirt in the dark. Ohhh Yyeeehhhh!