We had an awesome time this weekend. The California Rally Series (CRS) Ridgecrest Rally School was great! We drove the Dodge Neon to it’s limits to take 2nd in class in “2WD Rally Prep” at the rallycross on Sunday! (That’s 17th overall - out of 103 entries ) They have the results up already!

We got back around 8:30 after fighting the I-15 for the second time. We took the 60 down to the 57 (Thanks Donna Hocker!) and zipped down the HOV lanes. Avoiding the 91, the 10 and the remainder of the I-15. 6 hours up… 3 hours back.

The school answered a lot of questions about how rally works. Team management, route books, advanced co-driving, etc, etc. It’s packed into a day long class. I feel that it was a little more geared to co-drivers then drivers - which was good as there are lots of driving schools out there, but very few “co-driving” schools. Christine has a much clearer picture of exactly what the co-drivers responsibilities are. She knows what equipment she needs (rally computer, gear, map lights) and not just suggestions that I’ve made. Sometimes as a driver you tend to worry more about the suspension on your car then the footplate keeping your co-driver comfortable. I have much more confidence in my driving abilities and knowing “what to do / where to go” while at a rally.

On Sunday at the rallycross Christine and I made notes and she called them for our three runs. She has a lot more confidence inside the car, which makes me go all that faster. Look for video of our three runs soon…

Answers:
The cage just needs a plate gusset welded to the top of the main hoop. This will keep the halo firmly attached to the main hoop in an “off”. They also suggested tying the front “A pillars” into the roll cage with a long plate. Something I will certainly do.
The front skidplate worked great! It wasn’t too low to cause any clearance issues. After the warm up on Saturday, I had no worries going over yumps and big ruts.
The list is down to actually only a few key items. Spill kit, tow hooks, suits, gloves, shoes, rally computer, headsets. Some spare tires, rims, and a crew - and we’re going to a rally!
The tires are great! I spoke with Craig Hollingsworth, who has been running the Kumho R700’s for 3 seasons on his Group 2 VW Jetta. He suggested 38 to 40 psi for rallycross and 28 to 30psi for stage rally. I had tons of grip in the sloppy stuff.

So, the school was great! The rallycross was fun! We’re setting our sights on our first rally this summer. You will see us out at CRS Rallycross events all this year!

This weekend I’m hoping to put together Neon skid plate version 1.0. It’s going to be aluminum and UHDP (plastic). Here are some of my scribbles regarding the design. I’m not sure this can help anyone, but I’d like to document it here for future reference.

Page 1: This is an underside overview with some arbitrary measurements.
Page 2: The dimensions of the finished design. Some of my ideas for what should be plastic and what should be metal.
Page 3: Side view detailing the issues with the engine clearance and the front plate.
Page 4: Possible attachment methods using a metal C channel.

Used rims and new tires are on the way. Kumho R700’s in the hard compound.

If you’re going to do a rallyschool / rallycross - do it in style. Christine and I have 1 month to prepare the car. Skidplates are my top priority. I’m done futzing around.

I was going to do a whole-hog re-design of rallynotes.com - after about 4 hours of deliberation (moving things all over, changing colors) I sort of ended up where I started from. It’s simple and it works: rally notes.