RumbleSoft Racing

Products and services ready to rally.

Here’s what’s going on at RumbleSoft right now!

Rally Strut Design. Right now we’re working on a new design to accommodate Bilstein 36mm inserts. Our goal is to build a cost competitive set of housings that will be completely user rebuildable and universal. It will have to withstand the punishment of several rallies and won’t break the bank when replacements are needed.

If you have any questions about rally car suspension, please feel free to contact us.

Project Rally Neon. A southern California based team: (Way Too Fast Racing) Kevin and Jake came to us for advice and then agreed to let RumbleSoft Racing help them build their first rally car. The Neon will be prepared as a stock / production class rally car. We’re refreshing the 2.0L SOHC engine and starting them out with everything they need to finish their first rally. Already on an accelerated time table the Neon has been gutted and roll cage preparation has begun. You can follow the entire Rally Neon build here. Lots of pictures will be up in the RumbleSoft Gallery. Watch for updates!

If you have any questions about rally car preparation or running a rally car, please feel free to contact us.

RumbleSoft Racing Video System. We are currently leasing a rally rugged video system that will take the hassle out of capturing your in-car video. It’s a self contained unit that offers a high resolution bullet cam, one touch camera control, and days of battery life. DVD encoding and video editing packages are available. More information can be found here. Still in development is a low cost video telemetry system designed specifically for rally. No lap timers here - we’re talking about a 3 axis G meter. Ever wanted to see how long you were in freefall after a jump?

If you have any questions about leasing a video system for your next rally, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kristopher Marciniak

RALLYCROSS 1/8″ 5051
This plate is designed to take a beating and protect your oil pan and engine from rallycross or road debris. Made from 5051 1/8″ aluminum, the plate mounts easily to the Neon subframe with steel skis. Hardware is included. Take a look at the RumbleSoft Racing skid plate installed on a 1996 ACR.

This is the same design used on our championship winning Dodge Rally Neon. Measuring a massive 33″ X 48″. It protects the radiator support all the way back to the firewall!
$285 with shipping*

RALLY 3/16″ 6061
Ready to rally? Go with our full rally plate. Thicker skis and stronger aluminum means you’ll drive away after ‘the big hit’. We’ve had the same plate on our Rally Neon for 8 rallies and it’s ready for more. Made from 6061 3/16″ aluminum, the plate mounts easily to the Neon subframe with steel skis. Hardware is included. Take a look at the RumbleSoft Racing skid plate installed on our 1996 Dodge Rally Neon.

$405 with shipping*

Keep in mind that these are custom formed and welded skidplates, not mass produced. Your plate may vary slightly from the picture shown above, but has been designed to fit the first generation 1995-1999 Dodge Neon perfectly. Please allow 3 weeks for delivery.

*Shipping only available free to the contiguous 48 Unites States. Please contact us if you would like to make other payment or shipping arrangements.

Michael Taylor had been wanting to get some in-car from his Ford Ranger rally truck for a while and over the weekend we set him up with our video system for the Seed 9 Rally in Nevada. On Friday night we installed the unit and worked with him to get the angle he was looking for. You can still see down the road, but you get enough of the wheel to really see the driving style and learn from it. It’s a little bit of a compromise when the sun is pouring down on the front of the car, but it certainly gives you the sense of speed that all rally videos should have. Here’s him catching someone on SS4!

The basic service includes: Equipment rental, video tapes, representative setup, DVD encoding, and one stage WMV encoding for your website. After the rally you receive a DVD with all the stages indexed for you to share with your team, sponsors, and friends!

Check out the RumbleSoft Racing Video System here.
Click here to watch Seed 9 - SS4 Michael Taylor - 54MB WMV

Last week we finished up the roll cage fabrication and installed the rebuilt engine. Today, Kevin took the car back to the ‘Way Too Fast Racing’ garage to get started on the daunting task of putting the interior back in. This is one of the items the team has chosen to do themselves to save the budget. Since the car is going to begin it’s life in the Production class - it needs to retain as much of the interior as possible: plastic, moldings, dash, door panels, etc. All these items need to be placed back in the car.

As with any big project, we had a small setback. Ours was with the racing seats. Corbeau makes great products, but unfortunately they no longer carry any FIA certified seats in the United States. After some frantic rule checking, we confirmed that NASA requires FIA certified seats in its rally regulations and thus the new seats the team had ordered and unwrapped did not carry these requirements. We are looking into a Cobra seat for a suitable replacement. I’m sure we’ll have to fabricate some seat brackets for these as well.

The teams next goal is to get the wiring and basic interior in for the CRS Rally School in two weeks. There is also hope that by that time they will have enough miles on the new engine to rallycross on Sunday - we sure hope so!

Getting new people involved in rally is one of the things I take pride in. The sport is growing and in order for it to be around in 20 years we need as a community to focus on its growth. If I had a list of ideals - one of them would be to make this sport as accessible as possible.

In 2005 my co-driver and I attended the California Rally Series Rally School. I learned everything about rally I needed to know in one weekend. Soon after that, Christine and I finished our first two rallies. A year of national competition followed and in 2006 we were named the USRC Rookies of the year! Along with a lot of hard work and late nights, the CRS Rally School gave us the direction and information needed to be national level competitors. That’s why I feel it’s so important to support this school and the California Rally Series.

RumbleSoft Racing will be at the CRS Rally School in Ridgecrest, CA (March 3rd - 4th 2007). I will be helping in the classroom with the car preparation section and going over what it takes to prepare your first rally car. The hands on session will feature the rallynotes.com Dodge Rally Neon and our recently prepared RumbleSoft Racing Project Neon. Both cars will be on display for you to check out! We’ll have some giveaways and surprises too!

Get out there!
Click here for more information on the CRS Rally School and signup today!.

We made a lot of progress on the roll cage this week. A large number of the cross bars have been sized and the grinding and welding continues. We reinforced a fresh sub-frame and started our seam weld preparation. The seats have arrived from Corbeau and as expected the brackets will need some modification. With the cage above and close proximity door bars, the seat must be as low to the floor as possible to accommodate the driver. As suggested, the team went with an adjustable sliding driver seat. This allows anyone to drive the car in a pinch and is a great selling point for future owners. The co-drivers seat will be in it’s optimal position - all the way back and on the floor.

The team is rebuilding the engine and should have that ready for the car in about two weeks. Our goal is to rallycross the car at the CRS Rally School in Ridgecrest, CA. in March. Cage, seats, engine, fresh struts and springs - all ready for the dirt!

RumbleSoft Racing is going to be at the CRS Rally School with BOTH Dodge Neon rally cars for you to see first hand! Kris will be there to answer any questions you have about building and racing your first rally car. Make sure to mark off March 3rd - 4th and sign up for the school here.

More updates to follow!

The single most important feature of a rally car is it’s roll cage. Safety, reliability, and strength will be gained. Expect to spend at least $2500 in steel and labor for a basic 10 point roll cage. If you get quotes above that, start questioning what extra items will be added, such as sound proofing material removal, seam welding, etc. “10 point” means that the cage is tied to the car in 10 locations. The front strut towers (2), the floor of the A pillar (4), the floor under the main hoop (6), the C pillar or trunk (8), and the rear strut towers (10).

With cost in mind there is no need to remove all of the sound material for your first rally car. Down the road should you deem it necessary you can always clean out more. Seam welding is also very helpful for the cars longevity, but can add thousands to our budget. We will be seam welding some key points on the Neon and the front of the car to the firewall, but not much else.

If our goal was to compete in a spec racing series we would send the car out for an acid dip and seam weld the entire chassis on a rotisserie. In this case our goal is to get Kevin and Jake out there and experience rally for the first time in a safe and reliable car, not shave seconds off their established stage times.

We have started by clearing away sections of paint and material and plating the areas of the chassis that will accept the roll bar tubing. This spreads the force from the cage should a roll occur. The next step is to start with the main hoop and the rear of the car. Once seats arrive we’ll carefully adjust the cage to fit the seats and the occupants.
Be sure to check out the gallery for pictures of the progress.