I have read some amazing build threads on the forums here and have been highly impressed. I wanted to share another approach that worked for us. It's a three step process: 1.) Buy a beater. 2.) Do the minimum amount of work to make it reliable and safe. 3.) Drive and smile.
In the fall of 2022 I acquired a turd of a Ford Explorer (is there another kind?) from a friend. We used it as a beater for a little while but it had some intermittent issues that I ran out of desire to chase so I decided it had to go. It was a gift, so I didn't feel good selling it for profit. It was also crap so I didn't want to give it to anyone who might hope it was reliable. In the spring of 2023 I started looking for creative ways to end its life. I remembered having seen RallyCross and thinking that it looked fun. I did some digging and found that the Explorer was not a viable candidate but the seed had been planted.
My daughter and I took a ride to a local Susquehanna Region SCCA event in late May of 2023 and did a ride along with a competitor. We were immediately hooked and put the feelers out for a car - hoping to make the next event in two weeks. A local had a very well-used 1998 Outback Sport that he was no longer using and offered it to us for a fair price. We picked it up the following weekend and began our extensive prep. That included an oil change, air filter, fluid check, a quick visual once-over, and some fuel. The car came with snow tires on steelies and factory aluminum wheels with junk tires.
We showed up, signed up, asked a few questions, and hit the course. The car didn't break and we had fun. Below is a pic from that first weekend with my daughter at the wheel.
After that first weekend, I decided I couldn't deal with the red door and broke out the Rust-Oleum. Ebay provided numbers as well.
Photo: Ralph Ertel, Jr.
My daughter missed a couple of events due to work obligations but I was able to make all of the remaining events for the 2023 season (five if I recall correctly). The car worked just fine and was never a limiting factor in the stock AWD class. I had one good day and pulled off a win.
I'm not much on cosmetics - I like beater cars. That said, the Subaru was damn ugly. I mounted snow tires on the aluminum wheels and installed those. Now, if you squint when you look at it and then turn away quickly, it looks OK. That's good enough for me.
The point of this post? For really small money you can pick up a beater car and have obscene amounts of fun. If you're on the fence - just do it. I am drawn to the idea of building something kind of obscure for RX but for the foreseeable future (or until it dies) the Subaru is perfect. Upcoming mods for the 2024 season: Maybe a roof vent. Maybe some stickers - because racecar. Maybe cat-back exhaust so that I can hear what the engine is doing. Maybe not any of that.
When I saw the title to this thread, I thought this might be relevant to my interests. Nice to see you here! There are a few other familiar faces you might find as well.
Beater Outback Imprezas can be quite a good time for little money.
Nitroracer (Forum Supporter) said:
When I saw the title to this thread, I thought this might be relevant to my interests. Nice to see you here! There are a few other familiar faces you might find as well.
Beater Outback Imprezas can be quite a good time for little money.
Nice to see the front of your car! Figuratively speaking, I'm usually looking at the other end.
Motojunky said: ... 1.) Buy a beater. 2.) Do the minimum amount of work to make it reliable and safe. 3.) Drive and smile. ...
This really defines it for me. Once I thought about getting into road racing at the local track - then I looked at the commitment of time, car and money to make it worthwhile. Life goes in too many other directions for me to make that work. Rallycross has been more fun for me than a track day and it doesn't even matter what car I bring. I can drive the car as hard as it can take it. If I have an off, I might damage a tire/wheel or do a little body damage, but it's not like having an off at 100 mph into a wall. $ per grin it's the most fun I've had with a Porsche.
Beater Outback Sports for the win!
That thing really loved to go on the dirt, almost to the point where it was too easy. I recall a nationally competitive driver in an STi chucking his helmet in grid because he was getting 'beat by an outback' Mine had so much subaru-lego going on it was about 7 different cars when I had to sell it to move out east. The most worthwhile mods were a rear sway bar and VLSD diff off a GD WRX, and a 2.5RS drivetrain to get 4.11 gears and rear disc brakes. It'd just rotate in on braking and then full throttle all the way out.
Well, I got one no maintenance season out of the Subaru. Time for a clutch and a few other "while I'm in there" things.
The clutch disc looks good. The pressure plate and flywheel are smoked. The rear main and oil separator plate were leaking pretty good too. New parts will be here in a few days.
Good opportunity to remove years of caked on mud and oil. Gonna take another round or two.
camopaint0707 said:
where do you rallyx at?
Harrisburg. We were just chatting in your rules post a couple of days ago. :)
Parts arrived and the engine is back in place. My hoist hangs from an I-beam which means having to roll the car to remove/install. That makes supporting the transmission with a jack stand impractical. A couple of 2x4s across the strut towers works well. The orange ratchet strap helps with adjusting the engine angle when working alone.
Unfortunately the slow steering rack leak I've had since I got the car has become a big leak. A "fix it now" leak. I was out of town for a week for work so I used that time to order a new rack which has arrived. Hoping to have time to install this weekend.
The new steering rack is installed. Toughest part was getting the lines connected where they join as they pass through the subframe. Would have been gravy if I'd have done it while the engine was out.
Neither the new rack (with inner tie rods) or the new outer tie rod ends came with the jam nuts. New ones will be here tomorrow but I figured I'd snag the ones from the old rack just in case. The outer tie rod ends made me work for it!
I buttoned up the steering rack install last night. I set the toe (0) using my eyes, a tape measure, and a straight edge. The car drives dead straight and feels "normal." For a RallyCross car that doesn't see street use, I'm inclined to call it good enough. Thoughts? Good enough, or do I haul it to the alignment shop?
In reply to Motojunky :
Good enough imo. Though we have run a bit of toe out in the previous car.
If you aren't happy with how it feels on dirt then align it, otherwise, save the dollars for more events!
Yeah, I've never aligned a RallyCross car.
It matters where the weight is, and not really where the tire's pointed. Dirt surfaces are a lot more tolerant of slip angles.
Think I'll sleep on it before I start cutting...
I'm glad I slept on it. I measured the first location with the headliner in place. Tonight I removed the headliner to find that my placement interfered with a roof rib. A quick relocation and it was time to cut. The cut went quick and easy. Unfortunately the tape I used to "protect the paint" pulled up the paint when I removed it. Good thing this isn't a nice car! Rustoleum to the rescue!
Turned out not too hateful. Moves a fair amount of air and looks like it will keep the water out. Time will tell on that one. I might not be so quick to do this to a nice car, but I'm feeling good about it for a beater Rx car.
I used this vent:
https://a.co/d/7rqZiCt
Had my first RallyCross today after the clutch and steering rack replacement. Everything worked just fine and the car had no issues. I tried to go fast on my first couple of runs and quickly realized the more I tried to push, the slower I went. I stopped trying to go fast and just tried to be smooth. I managed to not hit any cones all day and tip toed around the course for a class win. It was so slippery that while working the start I had to push several RWD cars just to get them moving.
Oh, and the roof vent seems to be a nice addition. It wasn't super hot today but it was wet and humid. The air flow was nice. AC would be nicer.
Wow that looks pretty slippery.
The beater Outback Sport continues to deliver. The only work I did to the car between the prior RallyCross and yesterday's event was to fix an exhaust leak at the converter. Had to cut out the old rusty bolts but it went pretty smoothly. A new gasket solved that problem and allowed me to hear another leak further back in the system. That one can stay there for a while.
It was hot, so the club chose to run a compressed schedule. Group A would run 7 runs, then a quick break, then 7 runs for group B. This minimized the time out working the course. I was grateful to be in the group that worked first as we got out of the sun before it got too brutal.
For the first time this season my daughter was able to join me. Her first three runs were less than ideal - she was out of practice and a little nervous. After an off-course on her third run she settled down and had a bit of a breakthrough and started getting comfortable letting the car move around. Her next four runs were much faster and consistent and in the ballpark of the other drivers in the class.
Live timing wasn't working, so unless you happened to see your competitors times, you had no idea where you stood. I liked that a lot. I always say that I'm not going to look at the times and just have fun, and then I always catch myself with my phone in my hand checking between runs. My times were very consistent except for the one run I botched that was 6 seconds slower than the rest. I did that thing were you make a mistake then over-correct and carry the mistake through the next bunch of corners, losing more time along the way. Looking at the posted results when I got home it looks like I had a good race going with another driver for the class win. Unfortunately his car didn't play along and gave him trouble on his last two runs.
This RallyCross thing is absurd low-buck fun. I can't recommend it enough. We also signed up for an Autocross next month. I picked up some cheap all-seaons which should be terrible for the application, but it'll give us a chance to try something new.
