I actually built my cage myself, and then paid to get it welded, but I had access to a good bender and notcher and welder at the shop where my car lives. Just to give you some ideas, here's what a current FIA spec cage looks like (my cage)

2000 Impreza wrote on 07/21/10 at 15:45:32:



On this point, what I would do is plan on just finishing every rally the first year. Don't even worry about times. Getting to know how the car works, how the team works, what the stages look like, how to deal with mechanical issues, how the rules work etc. all take a lot of time to figure out. By simply planning on finishing every rally you'll get a lot of seat time and you'll become familiar with all the stages. Not that every rally uses the exact same stages every year but knowing where the 'gotchya's' are can save you skin if you're ever running that stage full out again in the future.

In your second year of competing you can start thinking about where you want to place in the finish order and figure out what you need to do car-wise and skill-wise to get yourself into that position.  

I got your back Cory

Hi

Don't take this wrong way, you may be in love with Subaru, Mitsubishi, Audi etc.

But if you are novice, start with a  2wd car, rear or front drive.
Rear drive is a little scarce, you may may need to  stick to front wheel drive.

Make it reliable, get seat time, learn to drive the wheels off of it.

2wd is less expensive to run than an AWD car in the same class, production or open/g2/g5

Pick a car that you can source parts for readily.  
Good parts, not things that will let you down.

Rare cars are cool, head turners etc, but having to wait for a custom part while the summer passes and so do rallies, really sucks.

First thing is safety,and reliability, with  suspesnion, gearing and brakes.  The last thing you work on is power increase, that comes with time.


Dan Sprongl
Four Star Motorsports inc

"2wd is less expensive to run than an AWD car in the same class, production or open/g2/g5"
I always hear that awd will be a lot more expensive.  Having never raced either I am not sure why that is?  Will there be that much more breaking on the cars?  Are the parts just that much more expensive?  I suppose if I was driving a fwd civic or something along those lines the parts would be dirt cheep.

Not to mention the cost of racegas (110 oct.) which is currently ~$3.62/L and you'll need a ton of it.

You'll go through brakes faster as well due to the heavier car at higher speeds. Running 2wd saves bringing as many extra tires to events, and they also last longer since you probably won't have the power to churn them like you would in Open.  

This is all assuming you don't crash in the process of racing. I don't know about you, but I know I can source Ford parts for the Focus a LOT cheaper than Subaru parts.

Even if you don't crash, though I can't confirm this from experience, I can only assume that the bigger, heavier car breaks a lot more of itself when it lands at much higher speeds if you don't land somewhat properly. Of course the argument could be made that the parts are beefier so they can withstand the pounding.

Also if it's your cup of tea (if it isn't already it eventually will be), the go-fast bits for 2wd cars tend to be cheaper (again comparing Subaru with Ford) and fewer of them needed (no crazy turbo).

Just thought I'd throw in what little experience I have so far!

I agree with you Chris, however watching from the sidelines ....

Very few people have the self control that Randy does. It seems ineveitable that the RS's end up with STi motors, big turbos, race gas, etc.

Randy keeps his N/A 2.5 and drives the hell out of it.