WHO TO CONTACT IN YOUR
AREA
The Canadian
Association of Rally Sport (C.A.R.S.) is the governing body of
Rallying in Canada and has affiliated club all across the nation.
Each region in
Canada has a number of clubs, one of which is probably near to
your city or a city near you . To find out which Rally club is
nearest to your home go to "Clubs" page of the Canadian
Association of RallySport.
Most clubs have regular meeting schedules, you should phone the
closest club in your area and ask when is their next meeting
so that you can attend and join the Canadian Association of Rally
Sport. You can attend a number of events and volunteer in them
without becoming a member but you will need a membership to obtain
a Rally License.
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HOW TO GET YOUR FIRST RALLY LICENSE
To obtain your
first Regional Rally license you need a club membership, a medical
examination (Forms available at the Club), a First Aid certificate
and a Regional license fee.
To upgrade to
a National license you need to have successful completed at least
2 events or one event and the Rally School.
Keep
in mind the entry fees to a regional rally and the Rally school
are practically the same amount but as a beginner you will learn
more from the Rally School than doing one more rally.
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CAR CATEGORIES AVAILABLE TO COMPETE IN
The Canadian
Association of Rally Sport recently passed a set of new rules
for car classes in Canada starting January 1st. 2013. These new
rules provide four basic classes for four basic rally car layouts;
2 Wheel Drive & 4 Wheel Drive cars and Production & Modified
cars
: A- Production Based cars
where modifications are limited and B-Heavily Modified cars
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A - PRODUCTION CAR CLASSES |
B - MODIFIED
CARS CLASSES |
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PRODUCTION
2WD - Basic guidelines
Production vehicles with
Normally Aspirated engines up to 2500cc. or Forced Induction
engines with a maximum displacement of 1600cc. No Forced Induction
Rotary engines allowed.
Cars usually seen in this
category are: VW Golf GTI 8v and 16v, Mazda RX7, Toyota Celica,
Honda civic, Dodge Neon, Mini Cooper, Fiesta, Fiat, etc.
Limited modifications allowed
making this class easy to start with and easy to maintain. Vehicles
are allowed to have upgraded and/or adjustable suspension, Brakes,
Limited Slip Diffs remaped ECUs and removal of some interior
trim and weight with restrictions.
For more details please
read or download the CARS Rule Book at: http://www.carsrally.ca
(Go Rallying ! page)
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OPEN 2WD - Basic guidelines
This car class is similar
to the Open Class listed below but with two basic restrictions
1- No 4wd. 2- Maximum displacement of:
2000cc. for Forced Induction
engines,
2500cc for Normally aspirated
engines with 6 cylinders or less and
3000cc for Normally Aspirated
engines with 5 Cylinders or less.
For more details please
read or download the CARS Rule Book at: http://www.carsrally.ca
(Go Rallying ! page)
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PRODUCTION
4WD- Basic guidelines
These are production vehicles
with turbocharged or supercharged engines and with 4wd systems
that must be competed in stock form as it was sold by the manufacturer.
Vehicles in this class are allowed a few modifications such as:
suspension, removal of some interior trim, free turbo boost,
etc.
For more details please
read or download the CARS Rule Book at: http://www.carsrally.ca
(Go Rallying ! page)
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OPEN 4WD - Basic guidelines
Cars in this class are
usually AWD Turbocharged vehicles with engines of aprox. 2000cc.
These cars can be heavily modified from engines to transmissions,
interior and even some exterior modifications. Depending on the
car and how it is build, this class could become the most expensive
to compete in... but also the fastest. I recomend you DO NOT
start rallying in this class!
For more details please
read or download the CARS Rule Book at: http://www.carsrally.ca
(Go Rallying ! page)
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GROUP
5 - Basic guidelines
NOTE: this class
is scheduled to be phased out by January 1st. 2015
Class consists
of 2WD vehicles with normally aspirated or forced induction and
a maximum displacement of 5.1 litres of corrected displacement.
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WHAT
IS "CORRECTED DISPLACEMENT" ?
Cars come in all shapes and forms from
normally aspirated engines to turbocharged engines.
In order to make
it a fair playing field between different engine sizes and designs
the motorsports world has come up with "Multipliers"
for some engine types that might give them an unfair advantage
over other more basic designs. These multipliers are applied
to the engine size as follows;
A Turbocharged
or supercharged car has a 1.7 multiple added to its engine size
Example: A VW
Golf with a 2000cc engine fits in the Production 3 class (production
based cars of 2000cc or less) But a similar car such as a Subaru
Impreza WRX which also has a 2000cc engine with a turbocharged
now gets a 1.7 multiple :
2000 x 1.7 =
3400cc There fore it's "Corrected Displacement" is
3400cc placing it in the Production 4 class.
This
is very important to know when you are choosing the vehicle you
want to compete in
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WHAT TYPE OF CAR SHOULD
I BUY OR BUILD?
This is a question
that is asked most often. Jorge Dascollas has been involved with
this sport since 1984 and has successfully competed with a wide
range of cars and classes, from RWD - Open class - Mazda RX7
to FWD - Group - Golf GTI to 4WD - Production Class - Mitsubishi
Eclipse.
He has prepared
the information below that covers a wide range of often asked
questions. Please keep in mind that car class rules are presently
going through some changes and for this reason some facts might
change in the future.
As you can see
above under Available
Car Categories
, Rally classes
are divided into two major groups; OPEN (modified) CARS and PRODUCTION
CARS. Just the same you can also divide drivers into two types
of competitors;
1- If you are
the type of person that likes to drive a rally car but do not
really like spending a lot of time in the garage working on that
car, You really enjoy jumping into the driver's seat but when
maintenance work is required, it better be simple or the kind
of work any garage or dealership can handle and will not require
getting a second mortgage on your house to fix it: Then you are
the type of competitor that PRODUCTION CLASS is more suitable for you.
2- If you are
the type of person who enjoys just as much spending time working
on the rally car as driving it in a rally, enjoys modifying components
and always trying to find ways to make your car go faster with
new technology or your own ingenuity even if the cost of running
such car is high, Then the Open 2WD or Open 4WD are the classes
of car best fit you.
HOW MUCH
DOES IT COST TO BUILD ONE?
Please first
refer to the blue table above where PRODUCTION and OPEN CLASS are described so that you know what class you
would like to compete in.
The figures listed
below for each class is a general estimate based on actual costs
of building previous rally cars and current prices of manufacturing
shops so that you can compare the average cost of building a
car versus buying a used rally car if you happen to be lucky
enough to find one already built rally car for sale, if so, it
will almost certainly be a better deal to buy it than to build
your own, don't kid yourself; there are always hidden costs when
building a Rally car and a used rally car is usually sold for
less than what it cost to build it.
OVER AND ABOVE
THE PRICE OF THE BASIC STREET VEHICLE THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL NEED;
|
ITEM |
LOW |
HIGH |
ROLL CAGE
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$2,500.00
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$4,000.00
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SEATS (pair)
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800.00
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2,000.00
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HARNESSES (BELTS)
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500.00
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800.00
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TRIP COMPUTER
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500.00
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1,100.00
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SKID PLATES
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150.00
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400.00
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MAP LIGHT
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50.00
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65.00
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FIRE EXTINGUISHERS.
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100.00
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150.00
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TOW ROPE & TRIANGLES
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50.00
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50.00
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TOTAL
COST TO PREPARE A VEHICLE
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$4,650.00
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$8,565.00
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The above
prices are only general guidelines and do not include federal
or provincial taxes, prices will vary according to your city
or region, quality of parts and labour and how resourcefull you
are.
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ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT
It is strongly
recommended that you also budget for a proper suspension upgrade
suitable for rally competition. Some samples are; (Bilstein,
Hot Bits, DMS, Proflex, Ohlins, etc)
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BUSINESSES THAT SELL OR MANUFACTURE RALLY
EQUIPMENT IN CANADA
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