6th Gen Celica Rally Car AWD Build, Rebuilding after the roll..... Options

[czwalga]

I just bought a 95 celica GT liftback for the sole purpose of rally racing. I'm building it to meet Rally America and NASA specs.



I'm scrolling through reading as much as I can about the car, but any opinions on weak areas on this car would be appreciated; as in stresses a rally car might really effect. I will be welding as many seems as I can find, at minimum 6 point cage, but i'll probably make it 8 as i plan on going through the firewall to the front strut towers. Basically just reinforcing anything I can. My goal is to compete in blackriver stages next september.

This post has been edited by czwalga: Aug 6, 2012 - 7:31 AM

[windowlicker]

my ears were burning cause someone was talking about me..lol

good to see another person on here getting interested in rally with their celica. the best thing to do would be to start with reading the hell out of the rally america/rally car rule books. rally america is changing over to the name rally car, but i'm pretty sure that the rules are not going to change much in the way of what you will need to do with the cage. i think you're also gonna be stuck with what ever engine you currently have as you will need to build up your coefficents (kinda like your racing licenses) in order to move up to faster cars. they don't just let you build a fast unlimited awd car without knowing you can drive it and not kill yourself and others. personally, i am a huge advocate of starting off in a slow car, learning better techniques, then moving up with power after you've learned as much as you can in a slow car.

there are a couple really good websites that you will be able to ask more questions pertaining to rally orientated stuff. the first one is specialstage.com and its mainly stage rally guys on there, but its got a lot of good info. the other is a site i frequent a lot and its got a lot of info on a lot of various types of rally orientated things and its called dirtyimpreza.com don't be scared away because it at first look seems like a subaru only site, because there are quite a few of us that don't have subaru's, but we go on there for info on racing, find events that are local to you, and there are some good vendors for rally related stuff on there.

i strongly urge that if there is a rallyx event in your area, get out there and get some seat time. the more seat time and in a "race" setting you get, the better. a lot of the guys out here that run stage rally are also big into rallyx because it allows them to get the practice they need on some technical driving skills in between stage rallies. for me, its the only economical rally events that i can afford to compete in at the moment with my celica. i also really enjoy it as well and the car does pretty decent. i was really surprised with it the first rallyx i drove in and have been really happy with the car ever since (i'm about to finish 2 full seasons of rallyx with the celica). the thing i really like with the car is that it rotates well in the dirt with left foot braking. i never really cared much for left foot braking on pavement, but on dirt, its amazing how well the car will turn when timed out right. also having a slower car is kinda nice because there are a lot of times when i just keep the throttle pinned and don't really need to lift at all.

if you have more questions, feel free to ask.

[czwalga]

my ears were burning cause someone was talking about me..lol

good to see another person on here getting interested in rally with their celica. the best thing to do would be to start with reading the hell out of the rally america/rally car rule books. rally america is changing over to the name rally car, but i'm pretty sure that the rules are not going to change much in the way of what you will need to do with the cage. i think you're also gonna be stuck with what ever engine you currently have as you will need to build up your coefficents (kinda like your racing licenses) in order to move up to faster cars. they don't just let you build a fast unlimited awd car without knowing you can drive it and not kill yourself and others. personally, i am a huge advocate of starting off in a slow car, learning better techniques, then moving up with power after you've learned as much as you can in a slow car.

there are a couple really good websites that you will be able to ask more questions pertaining to rally orientated stuff. the first one is specialstage.com and its mainly stage rally guys on there, but its got a lot of good info. the other is a site i frequent a lot and its got a lot of info on a lot of various types of rally orientated things and its called dirtyimpreza.com don't be scared away because it at first look seems like a subaru only site, because there are quite a few of us that don't have subaru's, but we go on there for info on racing, find events that are local to you, and there are some good vendors for rally related stuff on there.

i strongly urge that if there is a rallyx event in your area, get out there and get some seat time. the more seat time and in a "race" setting you get, the better. a lot of the guys out here that run stage rally are also big into rallyx because it allows them to get the practice they need on some technical driving skills in between stage rallies. for me, its the only economical rally events that i can afford to compete in at the moment with my celica. i also really enjoy it as well and the car does pretty decent. i was really surprised with it the first rallyx i drove in and have been really happy with the car ever since (i'm about to finish 2 full seasons of rallyx with the celica). the thing i really like with the car is that it rotates well in the dirt with left foot braking. i never really cared much for left foot braking on pavement, but on dirt, its amazing how well the car will turn when timed out right. also having a slower car is kinda nice because there are a lot of times when i just keep the throttle pinned and don't really need to lift at all.

if you have more questions, feel free to ask.

How has the car held up over the last 2 years? Any weak points on the stock suspension? I'm going to try and make a rallyx before I definatly want to however the only place that was semi-close shut down over the summer.

I completely agree about starting small, i'm not doing anything to the engine atleast for a while. Like I said I learned my lesson with the rx7, built to road race, waaaay to fast to road race for my driving skills. Now its just a drag/street car.


Anyways the one good thing is i'm not going in blind. One of my friends convinced me to do rally instead of build another road race car (one that I could actually drive). He has a 90's CRX. I really dont like CRX's but this one is pretty cool. Built to meet RA and NASA specs.