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View Full Version : THIS is what rallying is supposed to be about!


x88x
03-25-2010, 05:20 PM
Dude buys a $500 1991 BMW 318i, throws an old M3 engine in it, welds his own FIA-approved rollcage, and competes with it in Rally Mexico against drivers with multi-hundred-thousand dollar cars, full pit teams, and sponsors (none of which he has). And he finished 3rd in class!

http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers
artoodeeto
03-25-2010, 06:04 PM
this is the sort of thing that happens when we fail to educate someone about the joys of modding computers, not cars. :D

pretty awesome accomplishment though, I think we all wish we could pull something like that!
x88x
03-25-2010, 06:19 PM
Co-driver's account:
http://jalopnik.com/5500013/i-co+drove-the-500-craigslist-rally-car
d_stilgar
03-25-2010, 09:37 PM
That was great. I would love to do that if I knew anything about cars.
msmrx57
03-26-2010, 06:53 AM
Saw this yesterday and wished I could do it to. :D Have the mechanical knowledge, not so sure about the driving ability though..... :think: But definitely don't have the money or ability to take the time off to do so.:(
x88x
03-26-2010, 12:51 PM
I was just thinking about this again this morning, and I really wonder what this guy could have done with a better car. I mean, with a 19 year old car that he had to keep stopping to repair, he made 23rd overall.. That's including the 25 WRC racers! Meaning, he beat at least two of them. Seriously, that guy has some skills.
chaksq
03-26-2010, 02:32 PM
Hmm, I have a cheap project car and two months completely off this summer...
Luke122
03-26-2010, 05:36 PM
Awesome read! Hackaday picked this up too!
x88x
03-26-2010, 05:49 PM
Haha, that's actually where I saw it. :D
dr.walrus
03-26-2010, 06:09 PM
this made my day a little bit
simon275
03-27-2010, 01:24 AM
I saw that must have be hard fixing the car in the heat.
billygoat333
03-28-2010, 01:48 AM
heh. what an awesome story! I love the part where the mexicans tell him he is part mexican.
DaveW
03-28-2010, 10:45 AM
Here's the thing; LOOK at all the sponsors he has. He must have made a bundle in that single race by buying a cheap car and getting all those sponsors.

-Dave
x88x
03-28-2010, 02:42 PM
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he didn't actually have any sponsors. All those stickers are either from previous races or just because. From reading about it, it sounds like everything came out of his own pocket.
msmrx57
03-28-2010, 10:21 PM
Most of those sponsor stickers are probably series sponsors and must be on the car to compete.
x88x
03-28-2010, 11:58 PM
Most of those sponsor stickers are probably series sponsors and must be on the car to compete.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense.

/me has zero knowledge of rallying
msmrx57
03-29-2010, 05:10 AM
I don't have much rally knowledge, but in the '90's I crewed on an IMSA race team and the cars were required to have like 20+ series sponsor decals. I also used to work in a sign shop and we lettered 7 - 12 stock cars a year which also had a bunch of series/track sponsor stickers. So I'm making an educated quess that that is the case.