MG ZR Rally Car Build

Well i've had it on the road for a week now - getting some miles on the fresh engine. Really do love it, perfect for what i wanted.



Perspex fronts




At work.



The Speedlines were nice, but they were the wrong offset, heavy and they were a little gay. Got some Pro 1.2's - almost half the weight of the Speedlines!

How I`m not very surprised about the comment of ZR Stevo. You young kids think that you are immortal. World Class befind the wheel. Specially when there are not many races done so far.

Why I`m so concerned about the safety, and those bloody std door bars. Inside of those raped doors there are nothing which will absorb impact energy. All forces will hit directly against door bars of the cages ( which are in the worst possible case bolted with small 8,8 grade bolts to the main tube). The result is ; Driver or codriver will die like a cockroach. Human body can`t stand side impacts. Remember what happened to Michael Park in Wales 2005. That WRC Pug had cages made from very best possible steel, some HSS bars inside the door + 25 mm thick special honeycomp support, but still the worst did happen.

The rule about roll cages, seats and belts are about the same in UK and Finland. It is true that minimum roll bar material is CDS (cold drawn seamles carbon steel ) with minimum yield strenght of 35 kg / square mm. Minimum way to attach cages to the car body is three 8mm 8,8 garde bolts connecting main tube feet to those 3 mm thick reinforcement steel plates welded to the chassis.
Maybe there are some doupts also in MSA because there is a sentence in the rule book ( section K, competitors safety page 162 ); " The mounting feet may be alternatively be welded direct to the reinforcement plate".
How big forces can three 8 mm bolts take......

I have learned hard way how much there is difference in strenght between minimum CDS cages, and those which are made from T45 tubing. Rolling among trees and rocks from the speed of 100 mph (both times ) made it clear how important it is to buy the best safety staff at first.

As an instructor of rally scrutineers I have been present during rally accident investication in cases there was a bad injury. After my own experience and what I have seen during those investications I`m sure there is a justified reason why MSA demand that rollcage in the door aperture must to day be like FIA drawing 253-17D in the page 193 in your rule book (chapter K, competitors safety).

There are not many cases I can show in public, but in my gallery there are some pictures about blue Sierra / a spure. Minimum CDS steel, all welded + a tube inside the dash. Still he couln`t walk l after 6 months. I include some pictures about welding. Two first are from a case of grp N Civic-R. Clubman welding, " Pigeon Crap" we call it. This case ended to the court of law. Third is how roll cage welding must be done.

Drive hard but safety first, someone might miss badly you at home........

My attitude to all kind of fiber body panels in a rallycar is the same as in the Finnish rallysport rule book.

Absolutely forbidden.
The same for plastic windows.

The bodyshell, all doors including rear doors, bonnet, rear and front wings and tail gate should ( must in here ) be steel.:hammerhea

Only expection is if the manufacture has homologated fiber parts like in Citroen BX.
The reason for that is ofcourse the idea of safety.

That is why my beautifull Belgium made fibreclass bonnet is hanging on a nail.
From our point of view it is a rational decision. All rallies in here, including special stages are driven on public roads. In real forest, on gravel only.With huge average speeds. Because of the use of public roads we can`t stop spectators coming to watch the rally. Usually several thousands people/race. Anything can happen when the car is going off the road.
We don`t have those Mickey Mouse go around tyre poles rallies, which you call single venues.

UK is very old nation. We have been independent just about 100 years so also our road trafic laws are different and don`t allow us to use "self build kit cars" like I saw in Carfax rally; 18 years old Fiesta with 400 hp Sierra turbo engine and home made rwd axles. We do have in here a lot of "red-green" people who are against every kind of motorsport so we are trying to make rallysport as safe as possible. That is why no fiberclass body panels. It is only good for bumbers and rear spoilers.

Rallycross events are different story. You are driving in closed area, inside of concrete and steel barriers. Possibilities for huge, serious accidents is smaller than in a rally. We demand for a rallycross car to use std steel door on drivers side, and inside of it must be orginal HSS steel tubing.

Well, this is forum life, if someone want`s to play with fire it is Ok for me. I don`t cry much.

From this we get into weight saving. It is common game in motorsport. Big Boys started it during seventies, and now it is almost ridiculous game among clubmen, also in here.:err:
As a member of tecnical comittee in my area we have just made a principle decission that minimum weights of the rally car in all national classes must go up in the region of 30 to 50 kg. It should be in rule book 1.1.2012.

That will make possible to use more strengtening/supporting tubes to make CDS roll cages much stronger, specially in older cars like Corolla GT etc. which we do have alot in F-cup serie. New rules will stop builders to cut orginal strengtening pieces out of the car. Yield strenght of fiberclass is around max 200 N/square mm. ZR door skin steel about 340N, minimum CDS roll cage tube is 350N and most common T45 CrMo roll cage tube twice as much as CDS.

How important it is for a average rallymen to make his car a bit lighter. As we did read some weeks ago, ZR fiber tail gate with plastic window did save 10 kg. JiHaa.... worth of 1,3 hp.
Is that money and hassle really worth of it. Specially when in 99 cases of one hundread, the slowest "tuning part" in that car is sitting behind the wheel.itsok

If I could be young enthusiast rally man once again I would now do it another way. I would use all that money for driving, developing driving skills. It is a fact that the more you have competition speed miles done , the faster you will be, talented or not.
As I told I have invested for safety, I do like to be in one piece now. I even use Hans Device . My ZR is 60 kg overweight, but I don`t cut steel out of it to have better success. I just keep my right foot longer down and try to brake a bit later than my rivals.

If you have a family, think about them too...