Rally-inspired Builds

[grigr]

Howdy y'all! This is a bit of a hybrid thread, because I'm looking for ideas for a rally-inspired build (mostly cosmetic). My car is entirely stock and I'd love some ideas for where to go next.

At any rate, just drop your pictures below and comment what you'd like. I get inspiration and you get to post your build!

 

[Zeille]

well - you can start with mud flaps. always a good place to start, and they can be decently affordable compared to some other mods. and honestly - keep your stock suspension.

 

[M-Sport fan]

There are a few on here, (or who used to be on this forum) who have built actual ARA, (or to compete in their own country's rally series in the case of the now long gone member from Estonia) rally cars.

Yes, large mud flaps, 10-17 spoke wheels, and not slamming the car to the ground are the least co$tly 'rally look' things you could do to get those aesthetics.

A 2.5"-3.0" diameter, not chrome or polished stainless steel, single exhaust outlet is another, if the system on your car allows that to be done.

The thing is, without a full cage, racing steering wheel, harnesses, extinguisher system, and composite race shell seats with a gutted interior, it is never going to look like an actual rally prepped car.

 

[fiestar]

What about a light bar? Might look cool on the front.

 

[WannabeST]

If you want the full blown top tier rally car look, you should look into the R5 body kits made by m sport. It won't be cheap, but it will be the best way to get the rally car look. If you want the appearance of a lower class rally car, like r2 class, just slap on some rally wheel and tires with mud flaps and you have basically matched the build, minus all of the interior safety and electronics

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Yes, the R5/Rally 2 body kits are the ultimate outward aesthetic expression of 'WRC-ness' that could be put onto our rides, but it does seem a bit out of place on a FWD car, requires a good amount of body working skillz/or very competent shop, and will require either huge spacers, or low to no (numerical) offset wheels in order to get anywhere even near 'flush' with that kit.

That would then totally throw off the suspension geometry/scrub radius without reworking the whole front suspension.

Yes, the outward appearance of a WRC R2 (now called Rally 4) FWD rally Fiesta can be copied with wheels, tires, mud flaps and not lowering the car at all (or no more than a half inch), as even the tarmac rally cars are never 'slammed', but yes ride lower than any gravel spec setups.

 

[Dialcaliper]

Since noone else is posting pics, I will.

I wouldn't say my car is visually impressive, but I do consider my build to be somewhat "rally inspired". Outwardly, its what you might call "first steps" towards the "rally look", and since your car is pretty much stock, it could be a direction to start.

As others have mentioned, you can do a lot with a few simple things: Mudflaps, some wheels inspired by rally cars - either the 10-17 spokes used on contemporary R1-R5 Fiesta rally cars, or something a bit more old-school (6 spokes or even classic 90's OZ rally racing wheels). A mild choice of spoiler and a tasteful exhaust to round out the package

I'd say also important is to keep the car at or near stock ride height, and not lower it. This is harder than it sounds if you also want to modify the suspension, but to be honest there's nothing really wrong with the stock springs. Add some Bilstein B6 struts if your shocks are going. If you don't mind assembling parts instead of just buying an aftermarket spring set, I've got a neat stiffer option using 3.0" and 2.5'' coilover springs on the stock struts.

Custom Rally Springs: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threa...-rally-springs-for-stock-b6-suspension.30829/
My build thread if you're curious about the rabbit hole: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/feisty-the-family-car.30825/

The other accessory that adds some rally feel...dirt! Half kidding.

"Tarmac" trim:



With gravel/snow tires with judicious sprinkle of dirt-road:


Favorite profile pic my wife took:

 

[M-Sport fan]

One other comment on wheel color; in the past, ALL of the top tier class, as well as the lesser class WRC cars used white wheels exclusively.

Nowadays, it seems that only M-Sport Ford have retained that 'traditional requirement' for both their gravel and tarmac wheelsets on their Rally 1 Pumas, and all of the other manufacturers' top class rally cars use either a dark anthracite color, or black for their wheelsets.

Just another consideration when looking for 'rally aesthetics' in a street car, but as anyone on this forum who uses white wheels on the street will tell you, they are a total bit*h to keep clean, and not stain, especially with dusty, high temp compound brake pads, and in winter salt soup slop locales.

 

[grigr]

Since noone else is posting pics, I will.

I wouldn't say my car is visually impressive, but I do consider my build to be somewhat "rally inspired". Outwardly, its what you might call "first steps" towards the "rally look", and since your car is pretty much stock, it could be a direction to start.

As others have mentioned, you can do a lot with a few simple things: Mudflaps, some wheels inspired by rally cars - either the 10-17 spokes used on contemporary R1-R5 Fiesta rally cars, or something a bit more old-school (6 spokes or even classic 90's OZ rally racing wheels). A mild choice of spoiler and a tasteful exhaust to round out the package

I'd say also important is to keep the car at or near stock ride height, and not lower it. This is harder than it sounds if you also want to modify the suspension, but to be honest there's nothing really wrong with the stock springs. Add some Bilstein B6 struts if your shocks are going. If you don't mind assembling parts instead of just buying an aftermarket spring set, I've got a neat stiffer option using 3.0" and 2.5'' coilover springs on the stock struts.

Custom Rally Springs: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threa...-rally-springs-for-stock-b6-suspension.30829/
My build thread if you're curious about the rabbit hole: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/feisty-the-family-car.30825/

The other accessory that adds some rally feel...dirt! Half kidding.

"Tarmac" trim:

View attachment 64144

With gravel/snow tires with judicious sprinkle of dirt-road:
View attachment 64142

Favorite profile pic my wife took:

View attachment 64143

Dude, clean. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Stubborn Approach]

Anyone know what tire diameter we can get away with on Stock/B6 dampers? I am seeing gravel tires with diameters from 25.5”-27.5”…

I guess using a spacer would be an option too.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Some of the gravel tires in the narrower widths (175/70-15 @ 24.6" diameter, 185/65-15 @ 24.4" diameter) are shorter than that.

The top tier, Rally 1/2 spec, 205/65-15s tend to be in the ~25.6" diameter range.

For reference; on full factory suspension, and even with mud flap hardware poking into the wheel well, my 24.2" diameter General Arctic 12s in 195/60-15 on 47ET 15x7 Method gravel wheels never ever rubbed anywhere, under any conditions (braking, turning, driveways, speed bumps, etc.) not even on that intrusive Rally Armor front mounting hardware.

This was over large compressions, and rough 'baby's head' rock embedded stage roads while working on the east coast rallies (when they still existed ).

 

[M-Sport fan]

Here's mine in 'gravel mode'.

Visiting a historic site on the way home after working on The Empire State Performance Rally in October of 2019.

My passenger side rear mud flap got torn off while working the event, so I took the driver's side one off before this pic.
They are SMS (Susquehanna Motorsports) huge, real rally flaps using the Rally Armor mounting hardware.

 

[morv]

Here's my daily. The front tires do rub when braking hard in corners so I might not recommend going so big but it does accomplish the 'rally' look I was going for. I've got Bilstein B6 struts and B6 shocks with factory springs all around so I'm still at stock height even though the tires look stuffed.

Wheels: 16x7 Sparco All-Terrain Terra (grey)
Tires:
225/50r16 Vredestein Hypertrac all-season (1st picture)
225/50r16 Continental ExtremeContact Sport

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Those have to rub on the front Rally Armor hardware, even with the lesser offset, and width, as compared to my ET40, 16x8 Dekagrams with shorter (and narrower) 205/50-16s on them (which did rub on said hardware under hard braking, and turns over bumps).