What about a lowered TracKick for amateur autocross/rally?

[garcia]

Just meant to have fun on a budget, not to break records.

I think this offers a nice platform as it has
Rear wheel drive standard, maybe in the future will upgrade to a full time highspeed AWD with center differential swap.
Sturdy suspension
Body on frame, besides making it stouter make it easier to attach rollcage.

Of course it might be underpowered but for tight rallycross circuits its mostly about cornering and drifting.

I'm thinking of lowering it while preserving suspension travel. Fenders will have to be cut a bit.

Any comments or ideas?

[Shconer]

Lowering the car and keeping effective suspension geometry will be a difficult task. It would probably require custom lower control arms and frame modifications. Also it wont be possible to retain the stock suspension travel without raising the strut mount and/or mounting the bottom of the strut lower than the center of the wheel on the control arm.

[HotTommy]

I suppose I've seen stranger things than a Tracker doing autocross. And I've seen some very unlikely vehicles going far faster than I expected when driven by very skilled and experienced drivers. So I see no reason not to do it if it's solely for the fun of it. BUT, the kinds of mods needed to go competitively fast would likely move the Tracker into the mod classes where really fast cars live. I don't see a Tracker on an autocross course ever being much more than a novelty.

[Rhinoman]

Lowered first gen. models are quite common over here. There are a number of suppliers of spring kits. Calmini usesd to make a kit with replacement arms but you can just use camber bolts to correct the suspension geometry.
The shorter springs tend to be a bit stiffer to prevent the suspension from bottoming out but it may be possible to modify it to regain a little travel.
On the front the strut has 2" of unused travel so there is no need to mess about with the top mount, you might be able to simply shorten the bump stops but you would need to check clearances.
On the rear shorter shocks will be required to prevent the springs from falling out at full extension and those should give you a little extra up travel as they will have shorter bodies, again you would need to check clearances and modify the bump stops.

[Silent Silhouette]

I plan on lowering mine and making it a rally'er.

Everyone says to lift it and go mudding, but for me the fun is sliding through the dirt corners about 40.

I corner crazy as it is and the reinforcement in the roof makes it easier to tip. Lowering it would help that alot. Looking at mine after i did the paint work to it, i think it'll look even better lower, fill up some of the wheel well.

If you're just going cheapo like me, i seen this kit at advance auto i'm gonna get, it's a shackle setup for the spring to compress them and lower it.

Not sure if it'll be good or not, but it's something to look into. I think the kits are $9 at my store.

[fordem]

Is this what you're referring to?

All you're going to do is destroy the springs.

[Cobb]

Agreed, those wont cut it.

Sounds like my idea, however I like fishtailing around corners or drifting as the ricers say. Then when its wet out, shift to 4wd for doin 4 wheel drifts.

Originally Posted by fordem

Is this what you're referring to?

All you're going to do is destroy the springs.

[fordem]

Fishtail & drift are two different things - fishtail would have the back end of the vehicle "wagging" side to side (like a fish's tail when it swims, which is where the term originates) - drift would be the ability to slide the tail out and then hold (or balance) the vehicle and maintain the slide..

Drift has also been around long before the term "ricer", and if you need to put in 4WD to get a four wheel drift, you got quite a way ahead of you to go.



These are all rear wheel drive cars, in a four wheel drift, back in the '60's - two frog eyed Sprites, followed by a TR4

[Bex]

TR4...the predecessor of my all time, dream car. A 1971 TR6. Yum.

[Cobb]

I never said I was an expert. I just like to accelerate harder to make tighter turns. I work for the fed reserve, so seeing someone follow me makes me give a difficult trail to follow.

I currently use the E brake in my insight to make a tight turn to an instant 180.