Rally Cross and how to get into it

[Bigford11]

Hi all,

Looking for some advise, a friend and i are looking to get into Rally Cross.

We live in London.

I have been reading a lot of post on Rally Cross and a fair few people have been saying that going to a meet or race is a good place to start. I have been looking online and not to sure what the close one to us would be. If anyone knows one that is close that would be great.

Any advise or info would be great, especially on the specifics ie do you need a licence or any specific equipment etc.

Thanks in advance

[aeropilot]

Posted in the wrong place.....

Repost this in the General Motorsport section and you might get some answers....

[chunder27]

BTRDA is your best bet.

Cheaper, easier classes.

London is not the best location, tracks are Lydden Hill near you, and maybe Silvserstone.

Elsewhere you are looking at Pembrey in Wales, Croft in the North East, BTRDA run at Blyton in North Lincolnshire.

Not many others sadly

[fat80b]

Bigford11 said:

I have been looking online and not to sure what the close one to us would be. If anyone knows one that is close that would be great.

One thing you'll find about Rally Cross is that it isn't close by to anywhere. The majority of places that do it are at the end of a long drive and take a whole weekend away.

Bigford11 said:

Any advise or info would be great, especially on the specifics ie do you need a licence or any specific equipment etc.

Personally, I'd start stage rallying first as it is a bit more accessible (close by and there is more of it). It also wins from being a discipline where it is only(*) your mistakes that cost you money whereas Rally cross can have you caught up in someone else's big accident.

You will need a license. Get an MSA pack and get a BARS Stage rally licence first and drive someone else's rally car on the loose. (I did mine at Silverstone Rally school). Do it with a day's tuition and it is £300 including the license and test.

Equipment, (suit, boots, gloves, helmet and hans) is ~£1500

Only at this point can you then think about getting on a first event (either by hiring a car or buying a car). I have a budget mk2 escort (currently in pieces) which took about £15K but I wanted an escort and I wanted rwd. fwd cars can be had for £3K upwards with all the bits on them. Make sure seats and belts and fire extinguishers are in date as otherwise this is another £1500 you need before getting to a start line.

Each event costs me about £1000 : tyres, fuel, to and from costs, entry costs etc

Best advise though is to just do it. I spent several years talking about it and thinking about it and I should have just done it sooner. There is no fun quite like sliding a rally car round a wet stage on slick tyres as fast as you physically can passing people with 150bhp more than you.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D37gJFihMy0&t=

[andrewcliffe]

Closest venue to London would be Lydden Hill

https://www.rallycrossbrx.com/competitors

http://www.swiftrallycross.com/

https://www.bmwminirx.com/

[rallycross]

Rallycross is great fun, can be good value, and is a good place to start because you tend to get quite a few races in per day with heats and finals (I started off in motorsport in Rallycross).

As per above take a look at the BTRDA site

https://clubmansrallycross.weebly.com/

You could also give autocross a try which is the cheapest car motorsport and teaches you a lot about car control , pictures below the red 205 is my stockhatch 205 gti at Lydden and the white 205 was in an autocross in Essex, that car had a 1.9 turbo diesel motor in it.

[foggy]

http://www.teamrxracing.com/rx150-championship/rx1... for proper arrive and drive rallycross in exciting machines. They’d welcome extra numbers on the grid. Based not too far from London for a trial run too.

[chunder27]

Has to be said, 2 and a half grand for one event is not at all cheap.

[Wingo]

Rallycross has fewer barriers to entry compared to special stage rallying.
Non race B licence is a form filling exercise, no BARS test.

https://www.msauk.org/The-Sport/Types-of-Motor-Spo...

Get yourself to a BTRDA clubmans rallycross event.

Are you planning having your own car?

If you don't want to own a rallycross car, hiring is possible, the Suzuki Swift class looks like a good place to start.

Autocross is a bit more entry level.
Maybe look at Grass tracking (or autograss as some call it) some look down their noses at grass tracking, but its real grass roots stuff if you'll pardon the pun, at the top the specials are real missiles capable of wheelies off the start line.

Wingo.

[chunder27]

Autograss can be chepa at club level,.

it used to be cheap all round, even in the specials and trick cars. but that is now the reserve of 20 grand cars, silly really but hard to legislate.

Club level can be done very cheaply, and you can race anywhere within reason, no attachment to clubs really, safety is pretty good, and low entry fees etc.

[PaoloMey]

Bigford11 said:

Hi all,

Looking for some advise, a friend and i are looking to get into Rally Cross.

We live in London.

I have been reading a lot of post on Rally Cross and a fair few people have been saying that going to a meet or race is a good place to start. I have been looking online and not to sure what the close one to us would be. If anyone knows one that is close that would be great.

Any advise or info would be great, especially on the specifics ie do you need a licence or any specific equipment etc.

Thanks in advance

Not bad, reading about it makes you buy a rally car, plus a license and off you go?
Any experience prior to reading could come in handy or it will the your last reading for a while.