Ownership Verified: Multi-Motorsport / Daily Driver B13 SE-R (and B14 SE-R DD / Ice Racer)

[public]

excellent!

 

[Bubs360]

excellent!

Thank you, it's been one great year so far!

Eventual winter car / DD project car acquired. Taking Raven (the black SE-R) off the road in the winters now to preserve it from rust. Wasn't going to start shopping for another month or two, but I was expecting to spend more than I did on this on a regular base model B13. For $900, I have a 200SX SE-R, the next generation of my SE-R. So for $900, I have the same engine and drivetrain in a newer body style, same limited-slip diff and high-revving SR20DE engine. I have narrowed its check engine light issue to it having the wrong ECU installed. It has an ECU out of a '98+ car which is incompatible. It still runs great, but it throws tons of codes for no good reason, many of which did not exist on the '96 car as such. First step is to buy the correct ECU ($75-125) and that should solve the problem. After that, I'll just chip away at refreshing the car over the next few months in my spare time! Otherwise, the car runs and drives awesome. The limited-slip differential is still nice and strong and this will make a nice sold winter car / daily driver that I can also be pretty competitive with Ice Racing next winter!

 

[Bubs360]

Got to use a shop lift today to fix some odds and ends. Nice to have a sway bar that is attached at BOTH ends again! Also fixed my parking brake linkage and tightened up a loose strut top.

I will be at New England Forest Rally running a display for SCCA RallyCross, maybe I'll see you there!

 

[Bubs360]

The NEFR 2013 display went awesome on Friday, and on Saturday I went out on the stages as a Spectator Marshal!
Here is a video of some of the top drivers' flybys! Ken Block, David Higgins, 2WD winner Brendan Reeves and fellow Australian and all-round badass Will Orders with his Toyota GT86 (Subaru BRZ) !

I'll be out there someday!

 

[thevictor390]

I love what you are doing with these cars, it looks like a lot of fun. How terrible an idea is it for me to encourage my friend with a beater truck to give rally cross a try? Do people race trucks/is it allowed? It's a 95 Ford Ranger, RWD, 5 speed. Competitiveness doesn't matter. As much as I admire you for doing it to your daily driver, I wouldn't want to be in that position myself.

 

[Bubs360]

I love what you are doing with these cars, it looks like a lot of fun. How terrible an idea is it for me to encourage my friend with a beater truck to give rally cross a try? Do people race trucks/is it allowed? It's a 95 Ford Ranger, RWD, 5 speed. Competitiveness doesn't matter. As much as I admire you for doing it to your daily driver, I wouldn't want to be in that position myself.

While the SCCA prefers that I don't promote the use of trucks to prevent the "Vermonster" guys and other lifted-truck enthusiasts from wanting to race their rollover-hazards, we can allow plenty of light trucks and SUVs if they don't pose a major rollover hazard. We do have Rangers and Tacomas run with us regularly! I'd highly recommend it, it's very low-impact and the RWD guys have even more fun than the rest! Send your friend my way if he has any questions! Next event in in Belmont NH on Sunday, August 11th!

 

[LeVeL]

Are XJ Cherokees allowed?

 

[thevictor390]

While the SCCA prefers that I don't promote the use of trucks to prevent the "Vermonster" guys and other lifted-truck enthusiasts from wanting to race their rollover-hazards, we can allow plenty of light trucks and SUVs if they don't pose a major rollover hazard. We do have Rangers and Tacomas run with us regularly! I'd highly recommend it, it's very low-impact and the RWD guys have even more fun than the rest! Send your friend my way if he has any questions! Next event in in Belmont NH on Sunday, August 11th!

That first green one is almost exactly what he has! Thanks for the information, I'll try to make this happen but of course it is not my car or my decision

 

[Bubs360]

Are XJ Cherokees allowed?

They can be, in stock form. They can also be run in a 2WD or AWD class depending on your mood! The key with them, like trucks, is that you do need to be a bit more careful. We can allow small SUVs so long as the driver isn't pushing it too hard and risking a rollover!

 

[Bubs360]

What an amazing Racing Against Leukemia weekend. Enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie of my fellow racers and helped to raise money for leukemia research. Committed to the RallyCross National Championship, did surprisingly well at Autocross, worked checkpoints for the TSD Rally, won an impromptu Razor Scooter time trial on the Autocross course (most important), came in a surprising 3rd place in the Unlimited-class "DoubleCross", and took the win at RallyCross Against Leukemia!

Planning on contesting this year's RallyCross National Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma in October, and doing my first Hill Climb in September!

 

[tigger]

I'll be out there someday!

And probably winning too :lol:.

Now that's just awesome. A couple friends of mine were real into rallycross and solo for a few years. Running '90s Proteges and Neons, fairly successfully. They and some guys at events bugged me to run my V8 S10 just for fun, never did it and I always regretted it.

Anyway, how much driving do you normally have to do to get to an event? That's what killed rallycross for my friends, we normally had to drive 3-4 hours (one way) to events.

 

[Bubs360]

And probably winning too :lol:.


Now that's just awesome. A couple friends of mine were real into rallycross and solo for a few years. Running '90s Proteges and Neons, fairly successfully. They and some guys at events bugged me to run my V8 S10 just for fun, never did it and I always regretted it.

Anyway, how much driving do you normally have to do to get to an event? That's what killed rallycross for my friends, we normally had to drive 3-4 hours (one way) to events.

We actually have a V8-powered S10 running with us now and they have a blast!

Amongst the different types of motorsport that I participate in, RallyCross is the nearest typically. In Central NH, the furthest drive I have for a NER RallyCross event is three hours to Stafford, Connecticut for the two-day event we have in January. Otherwise, it's ~2.5 hours in Vermont or Massachusetts, and in some cases less than thirty minutes for events here in New Hampshire! I've driven up to 350 miles to get to the Northeast Divisional RallyCross National Challenge in Central New York this past May, around 300 miles to get to A.M.E.C Ice Racing events in Upstate New York. Hill Climb events will range ~2 hours when I start running them with New England Hillclimb Association in Vermont. I'll be traveling 1400 miles to take part in the RallyCross National Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma in October! That will be the first time I'll have to take time off work for a racing event, everything else has fit neatly and compactly into a single weekend.

 

[Bubs360]

Figured it's finally time for an update!

The RallyCross National Championship finally happened last weekend after a couple months of anticipation and prep! Headed out last Wednesday morning from my hometown in NH to Massachusetts to meet up with a fellow racer, load up on his two-car trailer and head out to Tulsa, Oklahoma to duke it out with the National crowd!

On the way out to Tulsa, I developed a nasty illness of some sort but decided to press on regardless. Otherwise, the trip out was excellent. Set off at 10AM Eastern on that Wednesday and arrived in Tulsa at 5PM Central on Thursday. Despite feeling awful, I helped set up the Test N' Tune course and helped with Tech Inspection all day Friday.

The National Championship was an amazing experience as I was able to see that the National RallyCross crowd is just as laid back, friendly and full of good sportsmanship as my regional races.

Despite my illness, I am extremely happy to come out to Nationals first time out and take a trophy spot! The three ahead of me have serious racing pedigrees (Pike's Peak, Stage Rally and of course years of RX Nationals), so I am really happy to be right behind them off the bat! New 2013 Champion and 2009 Champion Tim Hardy said that I did much better than he did at his first National, so I will take that! Very happy with this event after all of the prep and the trip out here.

This year, they decided to let Champions / trophy winners take their hardware directly home and then mail out a plate with name and position. In previous years, they just have hardware at the event for photos and then they engrave and mail the trophies out afterward.

The New England Region SCCA crew. I am standing a bit further away from everyone due to my aforementioned illness. It took the photographer two or three times to get a shot where I wasn't holding back a cough or sneeze!

Lots of hardware for NER! Chang Ho Kim took the Prepared FWD National Championship, Warren Elliot took Modified AWD for his third consecutive National Championship win, I took fourth in Stock FWD and Scott Carlson took fifth in Modified FWD!

 

[Bubs360]

Another regional RX win in Cummington, Massachusetts this past weekend! Also did my first proper SCCA Solo event at an airfield which was incredible (and often three-wheeled) fun, trying to see if anyone took action photos at the event!

I've had to update the Rally Shelf as well!

 

[Bubs360]

Covered Bridge Rally and RallyCross were held this past weekend out of Mt. Snow Ski Resort in West Dover, Vermont. An excellent time was had by all over the weekend, and my ass was personally handed to me by a Team O'Neil Rally School instructor who I was 2nd place behind by about eight seconds at day's end! A well-earned victory for him and a solid 2nd place for me rounded out a great day of racing.

This will probably be the car's last RallyCross event for the year as I'm officially putting her away for the winters to save her from salt. I am currently putting money away with the intention of caging the car next year at some point. My ultimate goal with this car is to get further involved with Hillclimb and eventually Stage Rally!

We have one more New England Region RallyCross for the year, but I am going to try and find a RWD car to drive for the event as I'm already locked into the 2013 Stock FWD Champion points position!

Jade is up and running, and looks really slick with the NX wheels! Should make an excellent winter car (and hopefully AMEC SL-Class Ice Racer!) A couple of bugs to work out here and there (has what I believe to be the wrong ECU, needs a new clutch cable, etc) but nothing that's rocket science. Drives great! I'm already very comfortable with the car since it's the same engine and drivetrain as my B13 SE-R in a different body.

I decided to put Jade through her paces on a mini-trip through the backroads of surrounding towns. Handles excellently on pavement and passed a rigorous test of her limited-slip differential on the dirt roads with flying colors. Some excellent roads and views remind me of why I love my home region so much!

 

[Bretton Woods]

I recognise those wheels.

 

[WDWBen]

Looks great man! You're making me homesick for New England now

Cannot wait to see how your racing career progresses! You're doing great, and I'm glad to see you're running with it.

 

[Bubs360]

It's been a good first year for Raven! She's been put away for the winter as of today. I'm moving into a new apartment on December 1st which is a what I call a "giant studio" (around 1000 sq/ft) above a three-stall garage. I don't get the whole garage but there's space for Raven and my tools! Awesome for a lot of reasons, including not having to pay to store her somewhere else this winter! Plus I can work on the car all winter if I want to get started stripping the interior and whatnot.

We have one more Regional RallyCross to go, but I'm already locked into season points as 2013 Stock FWD Champion, so I'm going to compete in a non-competition "Exhibition" class at the upcoming Season Finale in a truck I use at work, a 2006 Dodge Dakota with limited-slip rear end. I'm really looking forward to having some serious RWD fun!

Same truck I towed Raven home with, in fact!

It's been an amazing year with different types of racing plus 14,000 miles of daily-driver duties all year! Storing Raven for the winters ensures that she'll continue to hold up as I move along in my racing ambitions. I intend to install a roll cage sometime next year, and may even compete in Modified-class SCCA RallyCross with a stripped interior just for fun and to get used to Gravel tires.

My ultimate plans with this car include Hill Climb (I have New England Hill Climb Club, plus the Mt. Washington Climb To The Clouds if I eventually can qualify!), wheel-to-wheel Rallycross and Stage Rally.

Stay tuned!

In the meantime I'll be daily-driving my 200SX SE-R, Jade, this winter as well as taking part in A.M.E.C Ice Racing. I'll be helping organize my region's RallyCross program in lieu of racing that discipline as Jade's too low to RX.

Good Hustle, Raven. Reliable Daily Driver, excellent Weekend-Racer.

 

[Bubs360]

Raven is officially up on jack stands. This is awesome because it just reoccurred to me that I now have the freedom to work on this car whenever I want, regardless of outside weather without even needing to travel to where it's stored. First order of business is the solid polyurethane motor mounts I've been waiting all year to install. After that, possibilities are endless. New suspension? Upgraded NX2000 brakes? Stripped interior? All of the things. Maybe Raven will return to RallyCross next spring with gravel tires. Either way, I'm sure she'll help me chase my dreams.

Meanwhile, Jade is proving to be an extremely competent and reliable car in the snowy conditions. Looking forward to many skiing trips, helping work RallyCross and TSD Rally events, running the Vermont Winter Challenge Rally and hopefully a couple A.M.E.C Ice Racing events!

 

[Bubs360]

Raven and I are on /DRIVE! This is the first episode of a series by Ryan Symancek about his journey into RallyCross, Rally Culture and motorsports in general! It's also going to be awesome exposure for SCCA RallyCross programs nationwide!

Here's the first episode:
Step 1: Find Me a Rallycrosser - /MY LIFE as a RALLYIST
[video=youtube;M2ZnQymK-6I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ZnQymK-6I&hd=1[/video]