Guys,

Since this is one question every newbie wants answered, lets keep a separate thread for this. Requesting all senior members and rallyists to contribute to this thread.
Pls post only genuine questions or contributions.

Hope this helps.
Tom

OK Here goes..

Join RALLY.CO.IN!
-Make sure you have money.
-Get a car and have it prepared for Rallying prefrebly by a reputed tuner/garage.
-Get your MAI Licence.. go to http://www.mai.co.in and download the forms.
-Make sure you have a Co-Driver.. yes as silly as this sounds I do have people coming and asking me if they can go for a rally alone.. simple answer.. NO YOU CANNOT!
-Get the appropriate driving equipment such as overall's, gloves, helmet, shoes, etc.
Lastly, go for your first event not with the idea of winning.. but keep it as a LEARNING EXPERIENCE.. if you win or even come in the top 30% of the field.. make sure you have more money to do the next round of rallying.. coz then your good.
All the best.
Doc.

My 2 cents

-Try to get a few driving pointers from an experienced rallyist
-Try driving with him as co-driver. Can even just be a street car
-When you are confident that you have what it takes, then find an experienced co-driver. He will help you learn the ropes faster
-Then get advice on type of car, tuner/garage.
-Enter your first rally and remember you must first finish to finish first.

Keep your sense of humour and your wits about you. Happy rallying

here goes..

* go watch an event before you enter, by looking at it from a spectators point of view you see a lot more about how things go about from wednesday to sunday.

*if you have the money & are sure this is your calling then get yourself a car prepared by a good tuner, other wise rent a car from various teams who do rent, this way for your 1st rally things like service, scrutiny etc are taken care of by the team.

*enter your 1st events with a level head...you never stop learning new things in rallying

* work on getting funds as sponsership.

* have a plan before entering rallying... what you want out of it etc.

Hi Even i would like to know what would be the approx cost of getting into rallying, and what is an avergely good car for rallying

Hey Nasir,
Costs vary on who you give the car to be prepped to and what your relationship is with a tuner.
Can vary from 1.5 lac's to whatever you wanna spend.. that is in addition to the cost of the car.
Service again is very specific as to your relationship with your tuner/service guy.
Again this varies from 30K to 85K depends on what class your in and what you use/break/replace.
Cheers.
Doc.
PS THESE ARE JUST GUESTIMATES... ACTUAL COSTS WILL VARY

In my opinion, any new comer who wants to get into rallying should understand motorsport by participating in events as either a marshall or a volunteer.This would help him or her to respect everyone involved into making a successful event.
Why I say this is generally, guys who get into rallying feel themselves a level above the people on field waiting for hours as marshalls for these rallyist to drive fast or even have a safe event. Respect them please.
Motorsports initially is expensive till you find yourself lucky to get some sponsors knocking your doorsteps. You got to be ready to spend on preparation of your vehicle without compromises which can bring in good performance.

Identify the good tuners in and around your area and interact with them with the latest rules and regulations to build your vehicle which will not put you or your tuner into embarrassment during post event scrutiny.
You got have a sensible friend who is equally interested to be your co-driver. Guys are lucky nowadays with few seniors helping them in running rally school for a cost. Also unlike my days stuffs like rally gears, few cricital parts are almost available off the shelf in India and also good access across the globe to procure the same.

Interacting with your co-driver, going to watch few events and meeting up with seniors will be the most basic stuff to start with.
Above all, you may be a fast driver on public road touching high speeds may not make you a successful rallyist but yess sensible team would make it to greater heights.
Keep your head glued to your shoulders.
Do not cut short any procedures like having your ASN licence, Insurance of yourselves, your vehicle to be kept ready well in advance before any event. Most of the guys would spend more money and time marketting their new venture called rallying with their friends than actually involving themself to be a sensible rallyist. Be sensible !
Please do not consider that I am still in the old school of thought but these are my opinion which I struck studiously and has brought to a level where I do run some events myself.

So guys welcome to the wonderful adventurous sports and cheers

the cost varies like if you buy sparco seats then it is about 25000 if you put locally made seats it will be about 12 or 13 k. steering you can use the stock or you can get a deep dish steering 3 to 4k, head hone set the costs varis. shocks you can get janand shocks or koni or dms janand i dont know koni 20k dms i think it is 1 lakh and odd.

The best Advice i cn give is...... Be on a service crew for a year or so.. see what happens to cars that are Jumped too high, see the amount of work it takes to build one , see what the heartbreak is, see what the fun is, see up fron what the costs are, see other competitors and what they do to build their cars... see it all upfront and for yourself then make an informed desicion.... also see the poop that people talk. If after a year of getting your hands dirty you still think its fun... then take the next step. Driving is the fun part... but you cant drive unless you know what it takes to keep your car running....

in my opinion the best way for a new person to start rallying would be to get a decent preowned car/gypsy, fit in a roll cage & all the things which are mandatory. enter an event, interract with the drivers out there ( everybody in the indian rallying circuit is extremly helpfull) & then try & learn rally driving in the first few rounds, understand the handling of the car & improvise on your past mistakes instead of trying to set the fastest stage times in the very first roung:-)

My Advice to a new comer :

1. Meet experienced people in rallying and talk to them and learn their experience and mistakes. Make a note of them (I did meet Nanjappas at their home town when I started rallying and I was 11th grade in school. I still have the letter sent by them to me...jaggi you are listning)

2. Loads of enthu to learn.....and never give up attitude

3. never ever worry about some down who is trying to put you down. That is worst thing in rallying now a days.

4. be a sportive person and do things in a right manner

5. learn the rules and regulations and make sure you either have a good driver or a co-driver

6. make sure you are serious and also be aware that you are not spending loads of money to just sit around and chat

7. if you are a driver then PLEASE listen to your co-driver and make sure you work as a team....not like few drivers who wont listen to their co-drivers...hope few are listening...

8. respect the officials and be nice to people.

9. get the right gear and please invest in the gear as it will help you to save your life

10. make sure you do your PR work properly. its very important to get noticed by potential sponsors.

hope the above points help..

cheers

in addition to all that is mentioned above, try doing a few home town events, such as an auto x or even the tsd events.. stay in touch with the sport will help u go a long way..

@ShivuShivappa Well said.. I still remember what you told me in 1996.. I take this oppourtunity to Thank You.



I now one person who did so.. Vikram Mathias

First thing make sure you have a empty head and a heavy foot.
Loads of money of your own or a Dad / Uncle who loves you.
This is because you are not going to get a sponsor till you prove yourself.
Take bits of all the advice given by others in this post.
Stop pondering and get into a car and go for it.

Ho Ho Ho... it looks like all the old crocks with their walking sticks have come out to Play.

Jagat you should be ashamed of your self... I Guess you had loads of money when you started???
What is the one thing we guys have forgotten in this whole Advice thing????


WOMEN

If you choose your women wrong..... well listen to me guys your rally career wont last very long... Women and motorcars dont mix (bikes in Jagats case)... women need a lot of your time... and i guess most of you are at the stage when girls come into your lives... money can be found sponsors can be got, cars can be bought sold wrecked..... but if you have a lovely lady in your life she is most important... so choose well.. and ... if you happen to meet someone like this lovely lady



Then consider yourself a very lucky man..... So who can tell me who this Lovely lady is , and who was the lucky man that she believed in, stuffed hay into tyres to get to finish lines ( Jagat im not asking you so Shoosh)