I was talking to some friends this morning who have no racing experience but have always been interested in rally stuff. I've been racing Champcar for a couple of years now and have never really had much interest in rally, but if it gets some good friends involved in racing I'm sure I'd have fun. One of them has a a Land Rover Discovery II, and I just finished rebuilding my '91 Montero. I emailed the SCCA about rallycross, but they require all trucks to be 2wd and stock ride height to avoid rollovers. Is there a timed racing event at the grassroots-level for vehicles like ours? I'm not too interested in really extreme off-roading, like burying the truck in mud or crawling over boulders, but something like navigating dirt roads/trails or racing across a frozen lake sounds like a lot of fun. Is there a GNCC for trucks? If there is an obvious answer to this, please excuse my ignorance. Prior to the Montero, all my cars were pretty short on ground clearance.
In for information. In North America there seems to be nothing between the Gambler rallies (where bringing a vehicle that's actually decent at offroading seems to be frowned upon 
) and the Mint 400. There are some stage rally and rallycross series that have a class for SxS/UTV but not ordinary production-based 4x4s. Then you get into really extreme stuff like SRRS and King of Hammers.
Next closest event I know of might be the NORRA rallies in Mexico.
I'm not aware of any "race" events for the average 4x4 because you always end up getting into modification that turns it into more of a trophy truck or something like the KoH rig/ultra4/4400 class type stuff. There are some navigation events out there, but I don't think they are competitive. For example, there's an "adventure raid" that follows the Sonora Rally coming up here in a few weeks, and there's the Rebelle Rally (I think specifically for women?) associated with EpeditionPortal.
There may be some subclasses of race events that require a more stock-type vehicle, but having raced several of those multi-class events with shared courses on dirt bikes, I'd hate to run an ultra4 course on a reasonably stock rig. The long travel trucks plus power and speed make for some pretty wild, very long whooped out sections that you just have to have a pretty well built rig to have any fun with. But hey, Class 11 exists, so maybe it's more fun than I think it would be.
The Aussies used to have a great series that I always wanted to try in my old XJ when I had it.
I remember a video of a Toyota 4runner (I think) just flogging on his rig killing it to the song Cotton-eyed Joe. I was in love. Have not been able to find that video in years.
The SCCA has a specific width vs height rollover rule. That's what you need to check. I don't think most vehicles you mentioned meet it. A Porsche Cayenne GTS in sport mode does..... and they are very fast on dirt.
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Most SCCA chapters would not let it run, truck based vehicles explicitly prohibited.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Most SCCA chapters would not let it run, truck based vehicles explicitly prohibited.
How is a unibody Porsche a truck based vehicle? Can you name the truck version? I don't recall one.
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
it's a truck, the Cayenne is the truck version.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Most SCCA chapters would not let it run, truck based vehicles explicitly prohibited.
In DC, Blue Mountain, and (IIRC) Susquehanna over the years we've had some truck-based vehicles run, including two Comanches (one of which took 2nd in season SR in DC behind an S2000), an occasional XJ Cherokee, and even a Grand Wagoneer (at a BMR event on a dirt track, I have amazing video of it).
That said, I have a Raider (same as a 91 Montero, but 2 less doors) and that thing would be absolutely terrifying to rallycross lol. I feel like it's going to tip over just taking a corner on the street at a low speed :)
Of course, Mitsu did pretty well with them in Dakar, but not a lot of tight turning in that.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:
The SCCA has a specific width vs height rollover rule. That's what you need to check. I don't think most vehicles you mentioned meet it. A Porsche Cayenne GTS in sport mode does..... and they are very fast on dirt.
*name redacted* (DC-area stage rally driver) brought his daily-driver Macan S out to a DC event and crushed all the Subarus in SA at one event a couple years ago.
It did, however cause the death of his $7000 transmission a week later, apparently.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
it's a truck, the Cayenne is the truck version.
A truck is built on a frame not a unibody. There are SUVs based on trucks like the Tahoe and Expedition. The Cayenne is not that. I find your description of "truck" completely lacking.
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Most SCCA chapters would not let it run, truck based vehicles explicitly prohibited.
In DC, Blue Mountain, and (IIRC) Susquehanna over the years we've had some truck-based vehicles run, including two Comanches (one of which took 2nd in season SR in DC behind an S2000), an occasional XJ Cherokee, and even a Grand Wagoneer (at a BMR event on a dirt track, I have amazing video of it).
That said, I have a Raider (same as a 91 Montero, but 2 less doors) and that thing would be absolutely terrifying to rallycross lol. I feel like it's going to tip over just taking a corner on the street at a low speed :)
Of course, Mitsu did pretty well with them in Dakar, but not a lot of tight turning in that.
I'd probably reduce my tire height if I did find a rally event that would allow it, just to try and get the center of gravity a little lower. Sounds like a checkpoint-based 4x4 race through a mixture of trails and unimproved roads might prove popular if it existed..
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Nowhere in the definition of a truck does the chassis type enter into it, no matter what TikTok mommybloggers want to believe really hard.
1) Designed primarily for purposes of transportation of property or is a derivation of such a vehicle, or (2) Designed primarily for transportation of persons and has a capacity of more than 12 persons, or (3) Available with special features enabling off-street or off-highway operation and use.
Cayennes are trucks. They are SUVs, which are a subset of truck.
You can call them anything you want, the event steward will still say no.
