Andy Burtons 306, what a machine.
The days of seeing that on the Sunseeker Rally were amazing, the sound of that engine echoing through the forest was a petrol heads dream.
It is the fact that it has a partial space frame that is the issue, for insurance sake the MSA descided that amateur constructures could not design and make special cars safe enough to endure the rigures of stage rallying. Also banned motorbike engined cars at the same time.
As far as I know no one in the UK has used an MR2 on gravel rallies probably because the suspension travel is a bit too short. However in the US there is a guy called Yoshi who runs Matrix garage and he has collaborated with a couple of suspension companies to make longer travel coil over shocks they are not cheap though. Look up Matrix garage and brows his stuff.
I can't seem to find much in the way of pictures of yoshi's car but when we first came up with the idea I found a guy in Finland who runs an RX one with a Honda K20. Really nice build, looks like a very quick car. He got loads of videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/ukir85
And a gravel stage crew in the states using some sort of turbo set up. Also on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Zodowcom
Suspension-wise, We’re currently thinking we’ll have to scratch build all the bottom arms and use escort stuff with custom ‘ears’ to suit our hubs. Eccentric bearing top-mounts.
I would not consider a turbo engine for a UK Mr2 rally car as this puts you in the same class as the 4 wheel drive WRC cars and the like that are widely used these days. Even on the smallest club event.
Stick with a 1600 engine which is still a hotly contested class or if you want to go 2000 but then you would be up against the Mk2 Escort boys who build some crazy monster machines.
Many years ago before the WRC cars (hence my screen name) I did some single stage events mostly tarmac in a variety of cars Mk1 Escorts a Lotus Sunbeam and a Porsche 911. However when I got to the point of destroying a set of tyres on each event just to stay competetive I gave up.
As far as suspension goes look at Techno Toy Tuning in the links below.
https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/a...-rods-aw11-mr2
https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/a...-1989-aw11-mr2
Also talk to AW11rally as he has a similar setup on his car with adjustable length TCA's etc.
His car was built by a guy I think called Steve Woodcock and the suspension parts were developed by a firm called Trans Sport I think based in Preston.
Unfortunatly they went out of business some time ago.
A further note on the use of fibreglass doors, There are as far as I know only a handfull of cars that can use them, these being the Lotus Elise/Exige the Vauxhall vx220 - fibreglass body shell and classed as production cars and all the variations of the Darrien range. The Darrien is classed as a specialist vehicle and the rules behind this would take up a thread of their own to explain.
Also have you seen this 222d replica build on Facebook www.facebook.com/TTE222D/
again not eligible for a logbook under current MSA rules as it has too much of the bodywork removed and the suspension pickup points have been moved.
Yeah i found the 222D guy. Big project that one! I love it when people do stuff like that but i think you build a car that would be just as competetive without all the surgery.
I also found these guys in Estonia who have built probably the most viable AW11 gravel car I've seen yet. It's a converted Ice racer but it seems to go pretty well and looks awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOtOOjr277c
https://petrolicious.com/articles/to...nian-rally-car
Your dead right on engine choice, that's exactly what we were thinking. Find our feet with the 4age for a year or two and then up the CC's but stay naturally aspirated for exactly the reasons you've stated.
I had a little email exchange with the guy who runs TTT sussing out some parts but I think I've decided we will need to make everything from scratch. it's way cheaper and with the static ride height we're trying achieve anything close to a stock length TCA just pulls the camber really positive.
If you are contemplating building your own suspension arms remember that the pickup points on the body shell cannot be radically changed from standard under the current MSA production car rules.
Adjustable camber plates are OK but the mounting holes for these plates can’t be moved much.
We used to elongate the mounting holes on the MK2 Escorts and weld a strengthening plate over the top when we used the adjustable TCAs just to bring the camber back into line. However this was back in the day and I don’t think it would be allowed now.
Also speak to Paul Woods about the possibility of using a supported shaft with rather than the usual long and short shafts that a MK1 uses. He was trying to make this possible with the 6 speed gearbox he was building. I think the issue was that the shaft length between the drive shaft coupling and the splinned ends was too long on the MK1 shaft and he was looking for other possibilities.
AW11rally used an Exige box and shafts but these needed a lot of modifications to make work.
I only mention this because the standard long and short shafts create torque steer at the rear and a supported shaft would prevent this.
Right, That was basically our plan almost exactly. Weld a plate over the top of the old turret with new holes for eccentric top mounts.
So we have to use the holes for the original top mounts exactly as they are? I don't even think they are on the same PCD as each other!
We don't plan to change the bottom pick-up's at all just brace them up a bit and use longer arms.
I've emailed the local scrutineer 3 times now to see if we can get him round for chat but he never gets back to me. I'm a paid up member of a MSA club. One of the guys who's doing our engine work rallys a BDG engined escort so hopefully he can steer us towards the right people to talk to.
I think we'll have to live with a little bit for torque steer for a while. I don't think the puny little 4age will be too bad for it anyway and there's no rubber in our suspension whatsoever which will certainly help. Something to consider when we do the engine swap for sure though