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This section is going to take a fair bit of work, so sorry it's not finished yet. But when it is,
you'll hopefully have an insight into how you go from zero to hero in 289 easy steps. Or to clubman
in 12. It only concerns Stage Rallying and does not consider other forms of motorsport such as
Road rallying (much cheaper than stage rallying) or sprinting. So here goes.... 1 - Prep your Mind The first thing you need to do is get yourself in the right frame of mind for what rallying is about. How much investigation have you done? Ideally you'll already come from a rallying background - perhaps you've done marshalling or road rallying already, or have helped crew for another person. Either way, try not to set your goals and expectations too high; it hurts more when you fall. Everyone has aspirations of being the next Colin McRae but it helps to "keep it real" - big trees from little acorns spring. Club-level rallying is not glamorous. Most rallies take place on private ground, forestry commission land, disused airfields or military bases. As such, very few of them are open to the public and dreams of building up a loyal following of fans is at best limited to the poor buggers who are going to follow you around as your service crew. They will definately not find it glamorous, unless they have aspirations for lying around under a muddy car in a cold field in the middle of February, oil dribbling down their arms and puddles of muddy water swimming around their shoulders. There are no 6ft leggy blonde groupies hanging around your car begging for autographs. There is (pretty much) no recognition by the press or television. There is no bottomless bucket of income coming from sponsorship - at a club level, realistic sponsorship is non-existent, with most people having to finance their own teams. And this brings us onto the big aspect - the money. It's expensive. I mean, it's expensive. Just how much do you think it's going to cost? What figure have you got in your head? Take a look at a spreadsheet I knocked up, which will hopefully give you a rough idea as to what's involved. It's only a guideline but it may help you put into perspective the costs of rallying. Some values in it are very 'flexible'... for example, the initial outlay on a car may be a lot less depending upon what car you go for. Likewise it could be a lot more if you have aspirations for running a Subaru Impreza ex-works car! Once you've got yourself prepped mentally, the rest is fairly easy. Remember to have fun - it helps to not take it too seriously - and enjoy the experience. |