Sno*Drift '17 WILL Happen Regardless of Rally-America/ARA

"TylerLinner" (tylerlinner1)
08/07/2016 at 19:56 • Filed to: SNO*DRIFT, RALLY, RALLY AMERICA

A quick announcement from the Sno*Drift Board of Directors yesterday:

Sorry, I don’t have authorship on The Rally Takeover, so it goes here on Oppo instead.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Rally on!

DISCUSSION (12)

Dusty Ventures > TylerLinner
08/07/2016 at 20:05

This whole sanctioning body feud is a major headache for us, and presumably all the other national teams. With neither side yet having enough events to constitute a national championship, and no idea which series will be considered the national championship, we have no idea what events to plan for or what rules we’ll be prepping our car to.

TylerLinner > Dusty Ventures
08/07/2016 at 20:07

It really does sound like a mess right now. It was understandably the talk of the rally. It doesn’t affect me much as a volunteer because I’ll go whether it’s R-A, NASA or ARA.

But hopefully the rules will be similar for you competitors in order to facilitate a smooth transition. That would be the smart strategy for ARA and I think O’Neil is experienced enough to understand.

Dusty Ventures > TylerLinner
08/07/2016 at 20:44

The big confusion comes with the top three classes in RA: Open, National Limited Open, and Super Production. NLO is new for this year and was created as a way to allow more freedom than Super Production (SP rules are basically “add safety gear, suspension, brakes, and a tune, everything else must remain stock all the way down to the dashboard and center console”) but keep costs down from the madness that Open class has become (those factory Subarus are now $500,000 cars). Possibly more importantly, it was designed to put teams on a more even playing field where the top cars aren’t financially untouchable to the majority. NLO, which requires the bodies to remain stock, prohibits sequential gearboxes, but allows H-pattern dogboxes and open engine rules, was (allegedly) to become the top class in Rally America next year. That already had us on the fence between NLO (where we’re running this year) and Super Production because in NLO trim the car is faster and cheaper to maintain, but we wouldn’t be able to compete with factory Subaru if they’re forced into our class next year (we were hoping to go for the national class title next year). To switch over to SP for next season would cost us at least $15,000 in car prep though (probably closer to $20,000), and shit doesn’t last as long because it’s stock, not built for competition.

With five national classes people were already saying there’s too many, so the question is which (if any) will ARA kill? Open because it’s become a budget game? NLO because it’s too close to Open and SP? Or SP because it’s expensive to run and primarily exists in RA as a manufacturer draw?

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > TylerLinner
08/07/2016 at 20:58

Thankfully Tim O’Neil loves 2wd, so I’ll be good. No changes I’ve heard at all for G2 besides possibly more exposure

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Dusty Ventures
08/07/2016 at 20:59

Put a spool in the center diff and run G5

Dusty Ventures > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
08/07/2016 at 21:15

No G5 in National, just 2WD. And those Fiestas would eat a 2WD Subaru alive.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Dusty Ventures
08/07/2016 at 21:23

You could go diagonal... Spools front and rear, and just drive the front left and rear right

Dusty Ventures > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
08/07/2016 at 21:28

I think you just want to be able to beat us yourself

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Dusty Ventures
08/07/2016 at 21:49

I definitely wouldn’t beat you on pace

I’d beat you when you snapped a half shaft every other stage

sdwarf36 > Dusty Ventures
08/07/2016 at 22:12

We’ll let you run. ;-) Come up + visit us Aug 27-28 in Burke,Vt. Watch -work or find a right seat to sit in.

Dusty Ventures > sdwarf36
08/07/2016 at 23:35

I’m out at Rally Ojibwe that weekend

TylerLinner > Dusty Ventures
08/08/2016 at 07:07

Cool. I did not know this! Thanks for the explanation. I have to imagine Subaru USA will put forward a high-budget car no matter what class they’re in, so ARA may as well make the competition fun for everyone else.