I did the Santa Rosa one this year. It is a one day rally cross event that coincides with 3 day rally school. The rally school is put on by primitive racing and was around $350 or so. It paid for your entry for a rallycross race Sunday. If you want to get into rally start with rally cross.

I learned more about driving in the two days of the school than I have in years of driving in the dirt with no instruction.

You can enter the Santa Rosa rally cross with out doing the school, lots of people did.

 

I've done the Santa Rosa rally a couple times and Prarie City one multiple times. Santa Rosa has been more slippery and PC is a good fun challenge, plenty of elevation changes and tight turns. Really fun.

 

Not trying to burst anyone's bubble I just want to bring reality into the discussion Like everyone said, keep an eye out for the rallyx events around the bay and start there. The other thing that you should do is volunteer at rallies. The Mendocino Rally is a good place to start because it's close. You'll get more rally information and whatnot volunteering at an event than you will doing almost anything else aside from driving a rally car. There's also Gorman Ridge Rally down in SoCal if you're looking for more opportunities to volunteer at a well run rally.

-Brian

 

Are those pics at PC? Is the PC course open year round or is it on an event basis?

 

Prairie City is an Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) State Vehicular Recreation Area (SRVA). It is accessible year-round though the rallyx course is only setup for the individual events.

Prairie City SVRA

-Brian

 

There is no reason we could not bring some cones and practice decreasing radius turns or something. I have never been to prairie city.

 

It gets dusty with no water truck and sometimes the "course" is a little rough. If you've never been out there before its worth bringing someone who has to show you around. Other than that, go drive out there, pay the $5 park entry fee, and you can bounce around in the dirt all day long. Beware the mud pit, it is meant for larger vehicles.

 

I'm hoping this thread started prior to my PM to the OP, but one more little reality check is in order, the last set of 16" rally tires I bought were $200 each, I refused to replace them when I leaned that the price was going to $240 as I simply did not have a grand to pay for a set of tires that I can't expect to get more than about 1000 miles out of.

I just went to look and you can't even get the 16's anymore- 15" rally tires have gone up even more; BF Goodrich Rally 195/70-R15 GZS2R Tires at Sube Sports - The Racing Equipment Source

 

I think Lassa rally tires are < $200 but again only come in 15"

 

OP, check out dirtyimpreza.com forums. A lot of rallyx'ers over there. And the Norcal section is where Brent (Pomspeed) posts. He organizes most of the rallyx here in norcal.

Oh.. and Prairie City is very rough. For rallyx, a tractor is usually brought in to smooth it. And sometimes the rallyx are timed after other events where they've smoothed it for us.

There are a few tiny sections (small parking lot size) that you'd be able to practice turns in. Stay away from the mud pits... you'll get stuck. Huge lifted trucks get stuck.

 

I think I'll be up in sac the 20th, i might head over there then or that weekend if they're still open. Will 15" wheels fit over stock wrx calipers? I see some threads say yes if you have spacers, and others no

 

There are a few specialized rally wheels which will, but there are plenty more that won't, and I'd stay away from spacers as they mess up the geometry more than you should be doing for high performance purposes.

 

hey just found these in the classifieds and i know the rs wheels will clear the stock wrx brakes should make a pretty good tire to do rally cross on
https://www.i-club.com/forums/norcal...-tires-247150/