Advice On Car For Targa Rally

[GSH]

If i get an escort what can i do to hot it up apart from webbers? and a cam

[Rev28K]

How about attending the event first, speak to the organizers and the competitors. Maybe try and wrangle an entry with someone as a navigator.

See what it is like from the inside and learn from others that have been there and spent the $$ on what works (and what was a waste of time!!).

Then you’ll be better prepared to spend the bucks properly on NEXT year’s car.


Just a suggestion…..

[Steffo]

I'd probably go for an S13 Silvia Turbo. Top chassis, inexpensive and you can do lots to them.

Rev28K's advice is also quite good...

[Piotr]

Race only Series 6 RX-7's can be had for 10g. Twin turbo, plenty of power, good suspension and very easy to mod

[XA-Coupe]

Originally Posted by GSH

If i get an escort what can i do to hot it up apart from webbers? and a cam

Same as any engine, head work, cam, exhaust, carb, but you don't need a stinking hot motor to do well in these things, you need good brakes, good handling and reliability.

[4Vman]

If you're on a budget there's one thing for certain.. steer well clear of turbo engines.. especially older ones, they're unreliable money pits when stressed in a competition type environment, stick with N/A, like 99% of other competitors do.....
As others have said, attend an event and speak to others, get a feel, spend your money of safety, brakes and handling before power upgrades, and then build for reliability.
you don't need a billion HP to have a great time, in fact less is better when you're starting out, handling, braking and reliability will put a bigger smile on your face than an over powered poor handling unreliable death trap.

[sprjenkins]

Originally Posted by GSH

yeh i know, 5k entry fee? BUGGA THAT i know the Dutton rally comes to Perth and is as good or better so ill do that because its a cheap entry fee i hear.

The Dutton Rally is good but it focuses more on driver skill event such as motorkhana's and really doesn't have that much in the way of timed speed events( tarmac rally stages) like Targa does. Theres a few circut sprints but its mostly autotests and motorkhana's.

That being said you can either enter by yourself, entry fee being $2070.00 or a driver/co-driver pairing where you each drive all the events for $2790.00

Then add $85 for a medical kit, the price of a cams level 2S license $83.
Your meals are paid for but accomidation is not. Crew members pay $390 for their meals.

Then you need all your fuel, tyres (you'll need more then one set) and thats before you even start thinking about buying and modifing a car

[sprjenkins]

So my point is think really hard about how much of a budget you have. Don't do the rally in your daily driver because your almost guaranteed to break something. You also must have a car trailer otherwise you could be in trouble.

Have a look on www.my105.com and see if you can find something thats already prepped in your price range, quite often they also come with a series of spare parts/ extra wheels and tyres etc. Save you a lot of work.

You'll need a budget of about $4000-5000 between driver and co-driver for entry, fuel, tyres, brake pads etc plus car, trailer, spare parts

[phill_33]

what about a gemini.. they come in a few body types, easy to work on, easy to find, cheap to buy and parts are plentifull. thiers a few engine conversions avalible such as the rb20det, and the rodeo 2ltr is a bolt in swap as far as i know. thier is heaps of info on www.ozgemini.com : i recomend u take a look. also thiers www.gemswa.com seing as your in perth that might help hunting on down if u decide to go with it :

[Casablanca]

i like the escorts we managed to fit a twin urb twin carby setup after shaving nearly the entire engine bay out. i'll try and dig up some pics it was pushing out close to 1000hp at the wheels was mine and my mates project car we also intended on racing it but didnt want to destroy it. been on a few test runs though and it was insane.

[Daymoe]

My driving instructor has a Datsun 1600B he uses for rallying

[XR06T]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

you don't need a billion HP to have a great time, in fact less is better when you're starting out, handling, braking and reliability will put a bigger smile on your face than an over powered poor handling unreliable death trap.

BINGO

i'd go for an escort or gemini, good tyres and brakes and you'll have a ball.

if you already have L3 cams then maybe look at a race only import, but i'd still stick with the esky

[FTe342]

I have done 3 NSW Dutton rallies. The 1st in my stock AUII XR8 auto. The other 2 in the TE.

I shared the drive with a co driver in the XR8 but wouldn't recommend it. The car does twice the work and gets handed to one or the other straight after its come in with hot brakes and squirmy tyres. Better off doing it yourself.

First time I would just run your XR8. Don't have to go 10/10ths and you will still enjoy it. Duttons are very well organised and the cheapest entry fee for a road registered car you will find.

With my XR8 all I did was install DBA 4000 rotors with Bendix Ultimate pads in the std calipers. Firmer std height Kings springs with Koni externally adjustable shocks wound up to hard (except for the drags). A set of semi slicks Bridgestone RE45's or Yokie AO48's and your in business. Drive it there and drive it home. Take a mate as pit crew with another car to carry your tools, jack & spare tyre and personal bag so you don't have to unload/reload at each event. We did 34 events over 3 days last year. I came 2nd in class and beat a then new BA GT that was tricked up in the event and also beat it around Eastern Creek. I even had a stock exhaust. Its more important to be able to turn and stop than have outright speed.

Have a look at the Dutton Rally website http://duttonrally.com/

Get organised you only have 6 mths! The first year you are really only there for a look to learn the process and get familiar with the tracks. I would be suprprised if you could do a Targa West without prior experience. It was my Dutton experience that got me the entry into Drive Bathurst event I did recently