Rally Car Conversion

[katter]

Just curious... Has anyone ever done a rally car conversion on a B7? I just had my Avant fixed, but considering it now has an accident on the title, is 12 years old and has 118K miles on it, I thought this could be a fun project. I love to AWD system in it, so figure it could actually make a good candidate.

Any thoughts?

[james12lucy]

It’s a great thought. I have converted an B7 A4 to a dedicated endurance race car and have found a lot of engineering holes.

Ultimately, it’ll never be a light car. It’ll always be underpowered. It’ll always be front heavy. It’ll always be über pricey to fix.

I say do it, but expect what I mentioned.


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[billie]

In a nutshell, it is not a good candidate. james12lucy is correct in saying it's heavy (and in the front), under powered, and relatively pricey to fix. However, if you talk to any rally driver that's probably what they'll say about their car as well, and depending on what class you run in, that may not matter in terms of competitiveness. I would also say that there are better AWD options, but if you just want to have fun then that kind of thing doesn't really matter too much either.

The biggest wearables on a rally car besides brakes and tires are body parts and control arms bushings as well as the control arms themselves. Gravel beats down on the aluminum and wear them out after a season or two, depending on how often you run and how many gravel guards you install. Expect to get comfortable pressing in new bushings and replacing arms. If you run non-pump gas, expect to spend a lot on fuel system components for replacement. Beyond that it really depends on how you build your car, because depending on what class you run in you could be completely stock, or very much open (customized), so what you have to fix/repair/replace depends on what you have on your car.

That all being said, I don't want to kill your fun, but personally I wouldn't run this platform for rally, even though you already have a car. There really are platforms that are better suited and cheaper to run, and honestly, that makes it more fun in the long run. Also, I haven't seen any Audi's past the mid-90's in my 10 years of running TSD's and stage rallies.

Your location says NJ, so if you are in New Jersey, there are some great TSD rallies in the Pine Barrens, and next door near the Finger Lakes in NY. You basically need no equipment to run those, so it's probably worth it to run a few of those to get a feel for how your Audi handles some off-roading. You will need a co driver who likes math!

[Charles.waite]

Personally, I'd look at a 1.8t B6 platform over the b7. For something like rally where there is a really high load on the engine, the FSI just isn't built for that sort of sustained load. That being said there are likely things you can do to keep it fairly reliable (EA888 roller cam conversion for one). Or fuck it, 2.7t swap and that would be awesome.

The 1.8t will take far more abuse and will hold the necessary power for rallying much more reliably, tbh. That being said, if you don't mind things breaking occasionally, I say why not.

[GOODBYNAAIR]

I ran my B5 on some rallyx days and it did well and was a blast! One of the best parts is when you show up in an Audi and there are 20 Scobie dudes, like what is he doing here. And by the end of the day they all love how well the Audi did.

ST coils jacked up
road sign for a skid plate
snow tires
street tuned GT2860 made for a sweet rallx car!
Plus lots of other mods at the time.

In short I think is a great idea, but I think the 1.8t in a B5 or B6 would deal with the harsh rally world better. cheaper up front too.
You could take a stock car to rallyx and see if you like it or not? Before jumping to a full on build.

A clip from one of the events I went to, very wet day. Note the audio is trash just FYI.. They change the track half way through the day.

[katter]

Thanks all. I like the idea of taking the stock car to one of two races and seeing how it goes. We'll see!