Advice for Rally virgin !

[Pugdriver205]

Hi all - Need advice please ? Have taken plunge after watching for few years and am going to start competing next year on single venue tarmac rallies local to me.. Have agreed purchase of an Impreza RA (A good choice?) which will be converted to RWD (Don't all shout at me at once please !) What I want to know is apart from the obvious - Seats, Cage, Belts, intercom - What else do I need / need to do to the car - Are hand held extinguishers ok or must they be plumbed in ....Etc
I will initially be running at Smeatharpe if that makes any difference ??
Please let me know what you think please ?
KR
Peter

[BertMk2]

Glad to see someone take the plunge I can't tell you if the Impreza is a good idea or not but there do seem to be more people going down that route now with the RWD conversion.

You need a plumbed in extinguisher (we have a 4 litre plumbed in and a hand held in our car), the nozzlez also need to be correctly located. All the info is in the blue book as to minimum sizes/requirments. Also make sure you have a sump guard fitted - I was surprised by how much a battering that gets.

Do you have a co-driver lined up or will you be touting for a passenger - if you've got one lined up and they've never done an event before see if you can go along to an event with another crew and get your co-driver to run through everything with the co-driver of the crew (time cards, road book etc etc) so you're not totally blind on your first event competing as a crew.

I'm sure there's more good advice out there - any more questions just ask

[Pugdriver205]

No nav sorted yet but have a few conatcts that may well bar fruit - I am hoping the "blank" who fired me up at the rally school honours his promise and sits in to start with !! - What's the deal about fire proofing the car and fuel sampling (both things I have heard about)...
Thanks for the original answer...

[BertMk2]

Fuel sampling is something that's been introduced recently in the British championship, I'm not sure when (if) it's being introduced across the board - worth checking the blue book again. Essentially you have to provide a means of taking a fuel sample using a standard "dry break" coupling - all cars would have the same fitting so scrutes can test cars using standardised equipment without the need to rummage in fuel tanks or start disconnecting bits of the fuel system. We've never had our fuel tested - most single venue events don't stipulate a restriction on fuel type so it's not been needed.

As far as fire proofing goes - you have to make sure there are no holes in the bulkhead (fill them up if there are) or into the boot (assuming the impreza has a firewall between crew compartment and boot?). You shouldn't be able to see daylight anywhere through the bulkheads. Basically you don't want fuel getting into the crew compartment so block any holes!

[Pugdriver205]

Thanks for that - I am probably dim ( NO comment) or its the 3 pints of guiness (!) How are the cars I see at the events fireprooofed - there are no divisions visible from boot to cockpit ?

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Pugdriver205

Thanks for that - I am probably dim ( NO comment) or its the 3 pints of guiness (!) How are the cars I see at the events fireprooofed - there are no divisions visible from boot to cockpit ?

The Blue Book does covver all this, but in essence:

The areas that need to be sealed, to prevent fuel or fire getting into the cockpit are 1) the bulkhead between the cockpit and the engine compartment and 2) between the cockpit and the fuel tank.

If the fuel tank is under the floor, then the floor must be sealed.

If the tank is in a seperate 'boot' then the rear bulkhead has to be sealed.

If the tank is in the boot, but there is no bulkhead, the tank (and filler, incidentally) has to be sealed within an all enclosing outer container (e.g. a bag tank in a sealed alloy box)

Methods of sealing holes can include welding on patches or adding fibreglass/resin "patches", blind grommets for round holes and for seam gaps, braze them up or use a flexible "putty" - silicon sealant or Sicoflex type products for example. This type of sealant is also useful to seal the edges of a patch, if for example you cover larger hole by pop-rivetting on an ally panel, and is useful for all other minor gap filling.

[BertMk2]

The Escort I co-drive has a rear bulkhead so with the tank in the boot we made sure the bulkhead was sealed (lots of silicon!). Cars like 205's and Novas generally have the tank in the original location under the floor so the floor is sealed and a tank guard put on to protect the underside of the tank. Cars that have the tank in the boot but don't have a rear bulkhead use the bag/alloy case method (think ATL fuel cells).

[Lancsbreaker]

Best advice I could give you as one who started stage rallying over 35 years ago - join a local motor club who have members who compete on stages, and go spend some time with them observing what they get up to, doing some servicing for them, helping with pre-event preparation.......

I've always found fellow club members to be a great source of practical assistance and advice about what is needed, and indeed made lifelong friends through my club.....