How can i get started in rally racing? im 21 and never raced before if i buy and evo or sti could i start?

dude, real racers race their whole lives. Starting at 5 or 6 years old on go carts. You want to start at 21? Get real lol.

Low budget = no career in racing, plus rallying in the USA sucks. Start out in SCCA rallycross. You do not need an STI or EVO and those cars would be overkill for that type of racing at the beginner level anyway. I have seen people show up in rental cars with the damage insurance added (of course you don't tell the agent that you've wrecked the car racing) and have raced so you can race anything and have fun. You just need a helmet. A trailer helps if you wreck your car somehow. You should start out with the cheapest car you can find then work your way up because you will break it and a DNF will hurt your standing. Get something easily serviceable. Getting an STI to only blow it up and watch it sit makes no sense and I have seen it happen. Usually the guys with beaters do far better than the guys who have powerful AWD cars who don't have experience. After that, look about getting a NASA license - you won't get one until you have enough 2WD experience anyway so you may not even get to drive the car you want at the competition level. At that stage, you need a cage, harnesses and racing seats plus other safety equipment. At this stage, you can easily buy a ready built rally car and it is far cheaper to do so. It won't be pretty but I have seen millionaires with pretty looking cars that DNF because they didn't bother to have spares or because they had complicated expensive cars they couldn't fix in time for the next stage. I have a focus where the modified nose comes off in 4 bolts and the engine with the tranny is out of the car within 15 minutes. I am a Subaru Technician for 10 years and I would never race an STI without a sponsor for parts - they're just too expensive to rally race on. To DNF simply by having a complicated car to work on would totally suck, especially if you've traveled hundreds of miles to an event like Sandblast - and I have seen it happen over a blown turbo. Evo's break too much on rally. Most pro local guys build/race an EVO 6 as it is the most popular and easiest/cheapest to fix. Guys with money will build and drive anything they like but if you have that kind of money, go for it. If you want, you can attend a rally school like Tim O'Neill's up north or European Rally School in the south. Both are good and the instructors are pro drivers from Europe & South America. Good luck. Superstar rally drivers from America are non-existent so drive because you like it. Your international competition consists of people who've done nothing but drive since childhood.

I am currently very active in the rally community. I started when I was 20 years old and do rather well when I race these days. I'm currently 31. There are two sanctioning bodies in the United States. Rally America/Car and Nasa Rally Sport. Both have their own rules and events. www.rally-america.com and www.nasarallysport.com Read the rule books. It's probably best to start out in Rallycross with the SCCA but not totally necessary. You might not want to start with an evo or sti for two reasons. First, Rally America requires you to drive a group 2 car (read the rules) for your first 11 or so coefficient points. Second, there is a huge learning curve with rally. Be sure you can afford to crash your car your first couple of years. An evo or sti is not a cheap car to crash. Think about learning to ski or ride a bike or something. You crash until you get it right. Well rally can be the same way. There is a ton of used rally cars and info at the following sites. www.specialstage.com www.rallyanarchy.com Look at the first two pages and volunteer for a race. You learn a **** ton there working times controls. 30% Going fast, 30% survival, 30% Navigation. 10% luck.

Just like everything else you have to get a license to do it. Check out these guys, go to them first before you even think about buying a car because this will give you the real experience and hey its a lot different than what you see on tv or what you think it is. So check this out first.. http://team-oneil.com/

Go for the Evo or STI they are the best, if you are into racing, you should check a car performance simulator to learn about traction, torque curves and that stuff. Try it at http://www.nxgtrsim.com