Alan Perry's Blog

Sunday January 08, 2006

Rally Costs: A Co-driver's Perspective

I have been asked what does it cost to go rallying. Even though I have owned a rally car and have been constantly reminded about the costs of rallying by some drivers, what I know best is the costs for co-drivers.

Your primary upfront costs will involve personal equipment. While some teams provide some equipment (like a driving suit so that the crew will have a common look), usually you have to purchase your own.

The minimum set of personal equipment that you need are:
- driving suit. You need a driving suit that meet FIA standard 8856-2000 or SFI 3-2a/5. FIA 1986 Standard suits are still accepted by Rally America and seem to be accepted by NASA, though their rulebook states otherwise. Karting suits are not allowed. An inexpensive driving suit will run about $500 and a top-of-the-line suit is a bit over $1000. Used driving suits are also available.

- helmet. You need a helmet that meets one of three standards. With one notable exception, most helmets used in rally are Snell-rated. You need a SA-2000 or newer helmet. You can also run a SA-95 helmet through this year. Helmets can be open face or full face. Open face helmets are more common in rally for a variety of reasons. Get an open face helmet if you get car sick. Helmets can had for around $400.

A company named Peltor makes helmets specifically designed for rally with integrated intercom headsets (Peltor also makes intercom systems). Their helmets cost about $500.

- intercom headset. There are a number of intercom system manufacturers, but most intercoms used in rally are either Peltor or Terraphone. If the intercom system is something else, the team should provide you with a headset to install in your helmet. Terraphone intercoms are not as well built as Peltor, but are less expensive. You should probably carry a spare headset, because they do fail. Headsets run about $100 new and can be found used. Peltor-to-Terraphone adapters run about $50 (most of the cost is the Peltor plug!).

Optional personal equipment includes nomex underwear, racing shoes, head-and-neck restraint devices (such as the HANS device) and arm restraints. Co-drivers generally do not wear driving gloves (it is hard to turn the pages of the route book with gloves on). They often do not wear driving shoes, opting for something like hiking boots instead (better when you get stuck on stage and have to push the car out of a ditch). Also, most rallies are two-day events (and some are three-day events), so you probably want to have an extra pair of nomex socks, for example.

One more upfront cost is licenses and memberships. To compete in Rally America events, you pay $115 for the license plus $25 if you want to be scored in a Regional Championship and $95 if you want to be scored in the National Championship. To compete in NASA events, you pay $40 to join NASA and a competition license for $50. To compete in USAC rallies, you pay another $100 for a USAC license.

Those are the upfront costs. What about the ongoing costs?

There is little agreement on what the co-driver ongoing costs should be. Some drivers view co-drivers as partners, including sharing all expenses. Other drivers view co-drivers as necessary volunteers, like service crew, and pick up all costs and cover the co-driver's expenses. Some drivers view co-drivers as the primary funding source for their rallying effort.

When I first started rallying, I was in a partnership arrangement with a driver, Ross Foster. I would spend a lot of time at his place helping to build the car. When we started running rallies, we would swap who paid for what. This included things like entry fees, accomodations and food. He always covered towing costs and vehicle expenses (however, my road car was the same model as the rally, so parts were sometimes borrowed from my car). His parents and friends did service.

Ross slowly dropped out of rally and I started working with other drivers. Since then I have experienced almost everything from "pay for everything" to "pay for nothing".

Now that I am an experienced co-driver with a proven record, my normal financial terms are that I will pick up my costs, which include transportation to and from the rally, accomodations and stage note costs. Obviously, transportation and accomodations will vary. Stage notes run about $175. If the driver wants to pick up these costs, I don't insist on paying them myself. With certain drivers, I am willing to pay additional sponsorship money in exchange for putting some advertizing on the car.

Next, I will outline the costs involved in running a rally.

( Jan 08 2006, 12:00:00 AM PST ) Permalink Comments [1]