Great Lakes Rallycross National Challenge Wrapup

"Santiago of Escuderia Boricua" (sdiglesias)
07/29/2015 at 21:14 • Filed to: None

The 2015 SCCA Great Lakes Region Rallycross National Challenge ran this past weekend, 7/25-26. The heat was brutal and the dirt kept changing. I’ve combined all my runs into a single video below. We did 18 total.

This event ran at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, MI, a local dirt oval. There were two main parts we used, the dirt track and an outer oval of loose dirt. With the heat, it should have been a smooth event. The track is next to a pig farm, however, which meant that on Saturday the owner would spray water on the track every few runs to keep the dust down.

I made a major miscalculation for the first six runs on Saturday and left my prius tires on. The grip was good in the inner oval, but on the loose, muddy dirt, I had no traction. If I got off the relatively dry inside line, I would immediately go sideways. I fell pretty far back.

Because of the watering delays, we only had 30 minutes between the first and second sessions. I ran to my car and managed to throw my winterforces on just in time for the parade lap. The traction difference was huge, and I started to claw some time back. We only had four runs saturday afternoon, so I finished somewhere mid to low pack in the field of 8. I was about 20 seconds behind third, and I was gunning for it because I wanted to try and get Subaru contingency money.

On Sunday, the wind shifted and was blowing away from the pig farm. This meant that the track no longer needed to be watered. I left my snow tires on, which was probably the wrong choice. A large portion of the track was well rubbered in, and the drivers in 1st and 2nd were running performance street tires. Third place was still using snow tires, though, so I still had a chance to outdrive them. I’m also not positive that the winterforces have that much more grip than the stock Primacy HP prius tires.

The Sunday course was a blast. This was my first rallycross since !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and I was getting good at trail braking to late apex my car and dance at the edge of traction. The crossover from the outer to inner track involved a hairpin, and I was handbraking it for most of my runs very comfortably.

We did eight runs on Sunday. For the first five runs, I was feeling cautiously optomistic. I was 2-3 seconds per run faster than the driver in 3rd. In a stroke of luck, the driver spun before the finish on his sixth run and finished with a slow enough time that the organizers gave them a DNF because it was less time. I drove my last few runs at 90%. No point in throwing away a podium. I finished the weekend in 3rd, about five seconds ahead of fourth. Seconds place, a Miata, was well ahead of me, and the class winner in a 996 was way ahead of second.

I’m happy with my result. Now I just have to see about getting that money from Subaru...

(Photo credit to Scott Banes, last one is mine)

DISCUSSION (35)

MM54 > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 21:30

I really need to find somewhere around here that runs rallycross, this looks like an absolutle blast!

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > MM54
07/29/2015 at 21:34

So much fun. Find your local SCCA region and see if they do rallycross

MM54 > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 21:36

They don’t :( There’s a once-a-month autocross and that’s about it. I’ve tried pretty hard to find anywhere within a couple hours that does it, but no.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > MM54
07/29/2015 at 21:41

How ambitious are you? You could always start a RX program. Back in Alabama, we could run fun events with like 15-20 drivers. Finding places to run seems to be the hard part.

MM54 > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 21:49

If I knew of somewhere to run, I’d totally start a program for it. The problem is I’m new to the area and have no idea where (if anywhere) someone would let us rip up their field once a month. I’m looking to buy some property in about a year, though, so maybe I can get somewhere with a field...

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > MM54
07/29/2015 at 21:52

That would be epic. You’d just need a grass field about the size of an autocross course

Milky > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 21:52

I was actually looking up the schedule just a few nights ago and saw there was one just north of Ann Arbor in a month and half. Was really debating though because the only tires I have right now are pilot super sports. This posts makes me feel slightly better about that.

It’d be my first ever actual racing event, so less traction the better since there is no way I’d win anyways.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Milky
07/29/2015 at 21:57

No snow tires? My first rallycross back in Alabama was muddy, and with my Prius tires I had to get push started half the time

MM54 > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 22:01

Or, if I didn’t try to sanction it and got a good lawyer to write up a good waiver form, could just run it through some woods :p

But yeah a large field is the best option. The downside is having to somewhat maintain this field.

Milky > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 22:04

Not yet, I killed my blizzaks last winter. The video below is in the same place also in septemeber:

So if it like that I’ll be okay. But themanwithsauce took this video last december:

really hoping its not like that.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Milky
07/29/2015 at 22:10

I haven’t been to that site, but it looks like you should be fine if the weather cooperates. Do you have separate wheels for your winters?

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > MM54
07/29/2015 at 22:20

Yeah, nobody wants cars breaking

Milky > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 22:29

Sadly no just been swapping out the tires.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Milky
07/29/2015 at 22:32

What kind of car? Annoyingly, in the stock class you need wheels the same size as stock, offset +/-10. I have 17” steelies that are very heavy

Milky > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 22:45

A Crossfire, but yea, the sauce man already informed me that I screwed myself. Went from 255 to 275 width. In the rear that is, fronts are only 235.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Milky
07/29/2015 at 22:49

Since you need new tires anyway, you could just get wheels stock size and new tires to go with them now.

Tires don’t have to be stock size. Prius tires are 215/45/17, snows are 225/50/17. Like 2 more MPH at the top of second, totally could make a difference for a win

Milky > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/29/2015 at 23:28

Ah, thats a good idea but I’m only planning on having it one more year at most. Thats why I want to get one rallycross(fire) in before it leaves me.

Thinking I’ll just drop the $65 for the one in September and wish for the best.

jjhats > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 10:09

this looks so fun! but in all seriousness doesn’t this destroy your car? I can imagine it chews up the bottom gives you huge paintchips with flying rock debris and trashes your tires and opens up possibility of a puncture. I would love to try it but only with a beater looks very rough on your ride

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > jjhats
07/30/2015 at 10:29

Depends on the site. I’ve never run somewhere that had rocks/gravel, just dirt and grass. When I started, my car already had a bunch of scratches from hitting cones at autocross anyway, so I wasn’t too worried. Never seen a puncture happen, though sometimes faster cars will debead a tire. Never noticed a lot of tire wear, since like autocross you’re only running 50-70 seconds at a time. The toyobaru also comes with a skidplate from the factory, so that gives me some peace of mind. Most of the damage I’ve done racing has been from hitting cones, during autocross and rallycross.

Skamanda > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 12:34

Nathan, the guy in the 996, is a really cool guy. His garage/pole-barn makes me totally jealous. We used his lift to swap out the cluch on my Impreza this spring. He basically heads up the local Rallycross events, right?

Oh, if you want winter tires that’ll be more balanced than the Winterforces, try the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D - they’re great winter tires, and they’re designed to have way better grip on dry pavement (since that’s most of what you drive on in most places during the winter). You’ll probably find they’re a better balance for those situations where you’re not sure which tire to pick, but might benefit from the grip of a street tire.

Skamanda > Milky
07/30/2015 at 12:42

Man, these videos make me wish I still had a Subaru to bring out there in September. There’s no way my MINI has the ground clearance to run at that place without damage... :(

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Skamanda
07/30/2015 at 12:52

Yeah he’s cool. Just wish he was slower. He appears to be in charge of the RX program.

I bought my snows before I moved to Michigan. That RX site could get super muddy, so I got the most aggressive tires I could. They served me pretty well for my first winter up here this year, never got stuck once. I think I really need better street tires.

Milky > Skamanda
07/30/2015 at 13:02

Is it slammed? That FiST seemed to have no clearance problems and I’m taking a Crossfire.

Skamanda > Milky
07/30/2015 at 13:33

It’s not slammed, but it’s got less than 6” of ground clearance, and it’s my DD. I’d autocross it, but I wouldn’t take it in the dirt. The amount the damage could cost me would easily buy a used Outback...

Skamanda > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 13:35

Yeah, I’m surprised if you’re doing AX/RX, that you’re still using the Prius tires. I’d have expected you’d be on Conti DW’s at least, if not something more spendy...

Nathan also has a stage rally car that he’s rebuilding from a crash against a tree. He’s fast at rallycross beacuse he does proper rally, too... ;)

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Skamanda
07/30/2015 at 14:07

My original idea was to burn up my tires while I get better at driving before I upgraded. Now I’m so deep in other projects, including an e36 stage rally car, that the FR-S is a lower priority. I wanted to run it at this event, but I blew it up at an autocross two weeks ago and wasn’t confident it wouldn’t break again.

Skamanda > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 14:16

Nice! I can’t be arsed to throw down the kind of money it takes to prep a car for stage rally. I’m fine picking up a used outback or impreza, throwing some tires on it, and getting slippy on a rallycross course. Just putting in a logbooked cage costs as much as I’d spend on a pretty decent 2000-2004 Outback Limited...

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Skamanda
07/30/2015 at 14:19

Yeah. I’m doing everything else on the cheap, but I’m getting TRF to do the cage. If I have no unexpected expenses, I should be just about broke after my first rally. Totally worth it.

Skamanda > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 14:26

LOL Fair enough. I’m just a lot more frugal about my fun than a lot of people. Part of why I haven’t tossed as many upgrades on my MINI as I could. I figure I’ll pick up an 03-04 Outback, put some decent off-road wheels and tires on it, some skid plates, and spend the rest on LED light bar and such. All said and done I can probably have it fully built out for $6k’ish, including the car. If I went the stage rally route, a good cage would take up half of that!

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Skamanda
07/30/2015 at 14:30

True. You can pick up a used FWD or open light car for $10k though, maybe less, and that would come with a logbook. After going to rally school, nothing will stop me from getting out and rallying. Fully addicted.

Skamanda > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 15:44

Yeah....see....FWD on dirt doesn’t interest me. I understand how much fun it can be, but it’s just not the same.

I’d love to go to a rally school, but I run into the same problem there that I do with building a stage rally car. The cost is more than it’d take to buy the car I’d drive...

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Skamanda
07/30/2015 at 15:46

FWD can be pretty interesting since you never lift. Not many people build RWD cars in the US unfortunately. E30s and E36s are pretty popular in Europe though.

Open light is fairly popular. An old impreza can still be decently fast.

Skamanda > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 16:19

I’m a big fan of AWD in low grip situations. More control than RWD. I don’t plan on owning a summer car, a winter car, and a rallycross car - so I have to consider the winter car and the rallycross car the same one. I’d love to pick up a GC Impreza, but they’re bubbled just as bad as E30s. I can get an Outback with heated, leather seats, and a sunroof, for half the price of a clean, rust-free Impreza. I had a 2006 Impreza, but in deciding to upgrade it, I lost interest because the EJ253 is just the wrong NA engine to do anything with. The 2000-2004 Outback/Legacy seems to be the sweet spot for features, and an EJ251, for a reasonable amount of money.

I don’t see anyone in the results of the Detroit region SCCA rallycross pages that’s driving one, but honestly I’m not out there to take home the gold - I’d out there to drive quickly, practice car control, and have some dirty, slidey fun...

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Skamanda
07/30/2015 at 17:10

There have been much stranger cars. Some people ran an AMC eagle this weekend. It looked suitably fun and ridiculous

Skamanda > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
07/30/2015 at 17:22

Look at the older results - they dominated with that thing a few months ago!

There’s also a Rav-4 somewhere in the older events.

There was this great MR2 that was lifted, with offroad tires, and a light bar on Craigslist. I’d given serious thought to buying it for Rallycross, but I really need the extra room of the Outback...