When Getrag debuted its AWD MCS a while back, there was a lot of discussion over on Motoringfile about MINIs in the WRC. I know that's not really a possibility due to the MINI's current dimensions, as much as I would love to see a Richard Burns driven MINI factory faction contest the championship.

Still, are there any MINIs currently rallying in the US? Maybe doing ClubRally? I know there's a vibrant AutoX community, but is anybody taking advantage of MINI's rallying heritage in a way that's more meaningful than driving around in an MC40?

 

I saw this MINI at the 2003 SCCA Oregon Trail Pro-Rally event.

 

See, that's awesome. As much fun as AutoX is, rallying is the kind of racing this car begs us to do. Groovy pic.

 

I would jump into rally racing in an instant, but the US is not a big rally racing country. If I was still living in Europe I’d be able to find local on/off road rallies at a club level where MINIs in a class would be completive.

We may have a few areas that have true rally racing, but where I live only auto-X and a few track events are offered so I race where I can.

 

I'm lucky enough to be within driving distance of two SCCA ProRally events -- Ojibwe Forest and 100-Acre Woods -- and there's a fair amount of ClubRally activity around too, but you're right; it's nothing really like what they have in Europe. It's a damn shame too, since I think there could be some pretty hot MINI rally action if somebody was to put their mind to it....

... an idea begins to form...

 

How about tarmac rallying? Is that more abundant in the states?

I've always dreamed of rallying a mini

 

Searocko, That was the Wong's car and it is a very well built car from Cascade Autosport up in North Bend.

They competed in Production which is bone stock except for suspension and general rallly prep. Not sure how they did with the car as we were not running a full schedule in '03.

Rallymini Tarmac rallies are pretty much non-existant here. There are a few stages that are legendary on Tarmac but not entire rallies.

Dan Garber
Mountain Road Motorsports
Car 255
2000 Impreza RS

 

Although, if one was to start a MINI rallying circuit, I'm sure one could track down enough contiguous tarmac to make paved-surface rallying (Monte Carlo style) a good possibility. I have yet to see The Dragon, but it seems like that would be a pretty good stage; if the surrounding country is equally as technical, then it's pretty easy to imagine a Dragon Rally race.

And, as pointed out above, we don't have too many tarmac events in the US. But that doesn't mean we couldn't in the future, you know?

 

Sounds like a great idea....so when are you setting it up

 

Unfortunately, SCCA ended their Club Rally and Pro Rally programs for 2005... given the recent accidents involving spectators over the last several years, SCCA couldn't afford the insurance (the rally programs were even being subsidized by the Solo programs). Sad, too, IMHO...

 

I had no idea... so if I understand correctly, this means that there's NO rallying in the US now? Boy, that is sad. So much for our hopes of hosting a WRC event here, huh?

 

The programs were moved from SCCA to another sactioning body, offf the top of my head I can't remember who. The same admin is there just new body.

Out here in the NW is was not too pretty. The Rally staff out here did not get along with the heads and lost sanctioning for Wild West over basic details. The death of Lovell out here at Oregon Trail did not help any matters either.

As far as a Tarmac Rally good luck. The big issues are Insurance the American public likes to sue over a mosquito peeing in the woods. This leads to huge costs for the event organizer. Those costs are passed to the competitors. Entry fees were around $250 in 2000 those same events WITH corporate sponsors to help costs were upwards of $500 just 2 years later. The rumors circulating before the demise of SCCA Rally was that we were going to be seeing $700+ event fees due solely to insurance costs.

 

Rally America is the new sanctioning body. Here's the 2005 schedule. http://www.rally-america.com/info/Ra..._Schedule.html

 

A $700 registration fee does seem a little prohibitive; I've always just been a spectator at these events and never really (seriously) considered competing. But at least somebody took over running the events. That was a sad few days when I thought there was no more rallying! Rally America looks like a good outfit.

But as far as insurance costs go, do you need that for sort of quasi-official racing? Are MINI meets like The Dragon and AMVIV required to carry insurance? I realize that these aren't races, but it seems like a pretty easy hop from getting together a couple hundred MINI enthusiasts to closing off some roads and setting up timing. But... once again, I've never organized anything like that, so I could be VERY wrong about it. Fun to think about, though.

 

First, the MINI meet at the Dragon is an unofficial meeting of MINI lovers and your insurance will cover your problems should any arise. However after saying that, this year’s event will be insured as an event from what I’ve been told.

There may be roads in some states that may allow closure for some type of rally race, but I’m sure it would have to be coordinated with the local city or state authorities. Also I would think there would have to be easy access ways for the local folks to bypass this road area.

The Dragon offers none of this and runs between two states. Add to the fact there are accidents there regularly that the authorities would rather not have to deal with because of the remoteness of the area and a reason it’s patrolled so heavily with very steep fines.

A rally may be pulled off somewhere if you make lots of calls and have big bucks, but I don’t ever think you will get the Dragon as one of them. If so I would think the bikers would have done it long before now.

 

Link to the Mini Rally Team that was seen in Oregon a few post up:

http://www.dtrally.com/

Cheers,

 

Excellent! That was exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! Nice to see somebody getting serious about "playing in the dirt" in their MINI.

 

Closest thing to an Endurance Rally I could find is the ONELAP of AMERICA

Randy Webb and I will be entering it, 7 days, 3,500 miles between tracks

Car # 37


www.onelapofamerica.com

Also the Newfoudland targa is a real Road Rally race

 

When or if the next gen MINI gets a 2.0 Lit turbo engine then it homonglated(sp?) to compete in WRC events with EVO's and WRX's.

That would be bad ***.

 

I have always wanted to rally. Were i live i have tons of curvy paved and dirt roads. My wife and I race around a bunch. Some day i will be doing the pikes peak in the mini.
Derek