Hi
I was given a rally driving 'red letter day' for Christmas, and was just wondering if any group members had experience of the venues which are nearest to me. These are 'Vision Motorsport' in Chipping Norton, and 'Drive it all' at the Rally & Off Road Driving Centre in Church Enstone, both in Oxfordshire (I'm in Reading).
The latter is current favorite, as the rally car is a rear wheel drive 'rally spec' 16v twin cam Toyota Corolla, compared with the other's 'rally prepared' (but still presumably front wheel drive?) Mk3 Astra.
Cheers
John
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A good friend of mine had to make the same choice, and went for the former because it was a front wheel drive Astra. His reasoning was that as well as having fun (he did, by the bucket load), he was most likely to translate what he learned to driving his Megane in the snow, and so on.
On the other hand, ten years ago I went to a rally school in Wales, which I chose because it was with a rear wheel drive car. I had already learned how to pedal front wheel drive cars quickly on compacted Kuwaiti desert tracks (with nothing more than getting bogged down as the consequence of getting it wrong and going off piste), both with and without a limited slip diff, and fanced a go at rear wheel drive on top of my kart racing experience.
Whichever you go for is personal choice, but either way you'll doubtless have a great day, and hopefully come away with somehting learned.
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I've been on the one in Church Enstone, and had a great time. Not having driven a RWD car previously it was great fun, and i was glad i'd done it in a RWD car as opposed to FWD as i'd always wanted to slide cars round bends! I found it really well organised at Church Enstone, with a fair bit of track time, although i haven't been to any others so i can't really compare. Purely personal choice i'd have thought, but for me it would be RWD every time!
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Thanks for the comments chaps. I can see the merits in choosing FWD given that my car is also FWD, but I think it's going to have to be RWD - I've always wanted to do a power slide.
John
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Having only ever owned rear wheel drive cars and done my fair share of rather irresponsible power sliding (I plead reckless youth) I have to applaud you on your choice, but I have to wonder about the car provided listed as a Rear-wheel drive Toyota Corolla. Last time I remember those being available for sale was about 20 years ago. If I was paying for a rally course and presented with a car of that vintage I wouldn't be as enthusiastic.
Yes, I know it was a gift, but I would want to investigate the car's condition more before making a decision.
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Trancer - yes, the cars are old, and not what i had hoped i'd be driving (was hoping for an Escort Cosworth, or soemthing similarly daft!) but the Corollas were easily up to the job. They were far too fast for my hamfisted attempts at powersliding, and all four lasted the day without incident.
I would have thought that older RWD cars would be the only way to run one of these rally courses cost effectively. If they had put me in the Cosworth of my dreams, i'm sure i would have landed them with some pretty hefty bills!
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