A big jump from drift to rally

[ericson]

To begin with, please understand any grammatical errors since I'm not a native English speaker.

I'm Eric Son, an 18 year-old overseas student who lived in Australia for about 6.5 years, those who are wondering where I came from, I'm from S. Korea. I quite enjoy living here and I *just* migrated from drift to rally.

I bought every single issues of AutoSalon mags and attended some drift comp/races as a spectator and I was planning to practice drift when I go to uni but well, my interests have changed, to RALLY

I joined this forum to give myself a head start about rally when I go to uni, like how to getting a CAMs licence, tuning a car, etc. But the funny thing is I never driven a car more than 86km/h, of course I got a P1 licence without a car - I first need to learn to overcome that fear of high-speed.

Well, that was me ;;

[Mickb83]

Welcome Eric,

Where will you be living? Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne?

There should be plenty of people on here to help you out and depending upon where you will be going to Uni there should be plenty of car clubs willing to help as well.

Cheers,

Mick Bannon

[Mark]

Eric,

As Mick said, where are you at Uni?

Also check out this if you haven't already:
Brindabella Motor Sport Club - Australian Rallying Forums - FAQ: Rallying FAQ

Mark

[ericson]

I'm year 12 student, not a uni student yet sorry for confusing you.
I live in Sydney, inner-west area. You all from ACT?

[BEN]

Hi Eric,

Not everyone here is from Canberra, it just this is the Rally Forum everyone seems to congregate to.

Shameless plug, in Sydney one of the biggest rally orientated car clubs is
NSSCC. Which i am a committee member of as well. Lots of us are members of multiple clubs.

www.nsscc.com.au

Come to one of our Club Meetings at West Ryde and say hi.

Ben.

[ericson]

Thanks Ben for letting me know another car club, but it is hard for me to keep up with meetings etc. Here are the problems for the future:

1. not an Australian citizen (major obstacle)
2. parents live in Korea, while I'm here studying as a high school student
3. finish HSC, goto uni for a year then,
4. must attend compulsary Korean Army Service for two years then come back
5. extremely limited budget unless I get a good job
6. must renew, no, probably start over my drivers licence from L

So, it will take me about 5 to 7 years to get started on proper rallying. I just think about rally everyday but I can't seems to make it happen...*sigh* I at leasted wanted to experience the rally as a passenger before I go to army service. So here I am, with lots of obstacles. BUT I will try to overcome those and get in to rallying.

[Jme]

Eric- many people who rally do so because the passion for the sport has driven them to get in a position to compete. It's not easy... you need to get a grip on the financial side of the sport, the cars require countless hours of prep- much more than drifting and you always need help... co-drivers, service crew, mates to help you get it on the trailer or push it in the shed etc.

Best of luck. If you are keen people in the sport will take you on and give you opportunities. Even if it's washing the windscreen, doing tyre pressures and filling the car with fuel it's an important part of the sport, and you get a grounding.

I've just started driving seriously at 34yo. I had a rally car at 17 and bounced off a few banks and trees and realised that I couldn't support the financial side of it. I co-drove and serviced for years, and learned the game at a very small cost relative to the lessons learned. Ok, I have a rally family and people/friends in the game, but still that path should be considered as an option.

Get involved.

[ericson]

Originally Posted by Jme

Eric- many people who rally do so because the passion for the sport has driven them to get in a position to compete. It's not easy...

Thanks Jme, I'll try to obsorb as much including "Get involved"

[mike86]

I made the jump from drifting/tarmac work to gravel rallying with my 86. Best thing I ever did. I know how hard it is financially as I’m not that much older than you (20) and going to study this year will be even harder. But if you love it enough you will scrape enough coin together to compete.

Maybe put something basic together to do dirt/tarmac motorkhanas and khanacross's? Something like a KE70 etc that will take ALOT of abuse and not give you too many troubles.

[ericson]

Originally Posted by mike86

I know how hard it is financially as I’m not that much older than you (20) and going to study this year will be even harder. But if you love it enough you will scrape enough coin together to compete.

Maybe put something basic together to do dirt/tarmac motorkhanas and khanacross's? Something like a KE70 etc that will take ALOT of abuse and not give you too many troubles.

Got some similarity there I love AE86 Hatchbacks, its vehicle design and of course, the four-cylinder 4AGE AE101 16 Valve TwinCam engine with ITBs, sounds, ohh, a beautiful harmony. Oh, aren't KE70s hard to find these days, correct me if I'm wrong? It's a nice and small FR car though. Also, the little tag saying "NA is best", I prefer NA too. Some similar tastes.

You are 20 years old and competing in events. Love to see people with around my age. It must be hard for you to study while competing, is it your career to become a professional rally driver? Because I am wanting to compete, as my hobby, as I like/love driving cars.

Where about do you live?
Edit: Oh you live in Adelaide, it's a little bit far away from where I live.

[afifield]

Welcome Eric.

There's a wealth of information to be found on here, but don't let some of the "stronger" discussions put you off.

If you're interested in getting into something extremely affordable while building your skills towards rallying, starting out in Motorkhanas (on dirt or tar) is your best bet. As you progress, you can move into khanacross (dirt only). From there, the next closest thing for you is to get into Rallysprints. They're still cheaper than full rallies, but will require close enough to a fully prepared rally car (which is a big step from Khanacross)

If you have some spare time in two weekends time, come out to the Motorkhana training day at Eastern Creek. If you have a small amount of cash, a car available and a willing guardian, you should give it a try.

Some info is available here:
CAMS - Confederation of Australian Motor Sport

I'll see if I can dig out some more info for you. You will need to enter before the event for this due to it's popularity. Normally all you need is to turn up on the day at most motorkhana/khanacross events.


The first round of the NSW Motorkhana Championshipp is also on two weeks after that (28th Feb), at the Nirimba Education Precinct near Blacktown (actually Quakers Hill). It's also worth a look there to see the fun you can have at very low cost (maybe even on a uni student budget ).

If you come out to either event, come and say hi. I'll be scrutineering at both events. I probably won't have time to chat before 10am at either, but it gets quieter for me once the event starts.


Regards
Andrew

[Jme]

Hi again Eric.

Motorkhanas are 5hit.

Sorry Andrew... but they are. The best thing about most khana's are the sausage sandwiches.

People are interested in rallying because of it's dynamics. Rallying is 'mad', the drivers are 'crazy' and there is an 'extreme' element which draws interest.

Sending young people to a motorkhana to feed their interest in rallying is like sending young, aspiring musicians to a Michael Bolton concert.

Just my opinion.

[afifield]

Yep Jme, you're welcome to your opinion, but that is the only progression our sport has. If Eric sits around for the next 5 years thinking about competing, then jumps into a rally as his first event he is almost certain to crash, wasting his hard earned $ and will probably go back to drifting or throw it all away.

Starting in motorkhanas and khanacrosses at 16/17 will get him a half-decent grounding in car control (albeit at relatively low speed). It will also allow him to get out there and compete while he has absolutely no chance of rallying (due to budget constraints, study, time etc).

If he comes back from his year overseas and gets a car, he can compete in his daily driver while studying (and the budget as a student is likely to allow this). He can then build/buy when time/$/location allow.

[Nighto]

Originally Posted by Jme

Hi again Eric.

The best thing about most khana's are the sausage sandwiches.

People are interested in rallying because Rallying is 'mad', the drivers are 'crazy' and 'extreme' which draws interest.


Just my opinion.

At least you got 2 things right JME.......

[mal sinfield]

Hi Ericson and welcome to this disease we have become involved in, i've been doing this for more than 40years and love it.
Jme and the Sausage King are good value too

Go for it Cheers Big Mal ..................