@ Amir Sb, appologies for once again straying from the subject of the thread
@ male dude,
I agree whole heartedly that "Its Always the MAN behind the Machine", but on account of technology, its take some time and effort to become that much "MAN". On stock cars, at any rally track, IJC will be almost at par with PMRC, only difference would be that PMRC members get the chance to practice at high speeds whereas IJC's style of off roading, although equally difficult, is completely different.
For rallies one must learn the art of drifting i.e. to take turns on sand, rocks/gravel or mud at highest possible speeds. Once you learn this art, which i started to learn after 2/3 rallies, you continue to improve on speed. In this process, you continue to improve the vehicle as well. Within a year or so, one feels confident to take turns at competitive speeds. Key is practice, before every rally, PMRC arranges practice sessions in the Ravi bed. We make a imaginary track and practice high speed turns, top speeds and rally vehicles .
Need not to mention, this process of practice is sometimes very painful. For example, almost all members of PMRC have overturned their vehicles atleast once, some during rallies and some during practice. The navy blue Surf that i used on 5/10/08 in Islamabad had overturned in 8/3/08 in Cholistan Rally 2008. Name any prominent PMRC member, eveyone has overturned at least once. This means a lot of expense too but practice and guidence from senior members pay in getting you the confidence again.
One very important thing, in the process of rallying, one must consider the vehicle as a piece of metal only i.e. if you are in love with your 4x4, you cannot beat it hard, meaning thereby that you cannot reach competitive speeds because you never tried to test which speed you could achieve.
Procuring the right kind of equipment is important too. For example, you need rally shocks which cost atleast 100,000/-. To be on the safer side, two shocks are installed for each wheel, so double the expense. All other suspention joints/rods ect are to be re-enforced and list goes on and on. In short, for my Jimny, i have spent around 350,000 and the process is still not complete. For Vigo kind of vehicles, you can double this ammount.
Next step, after every rally, almost the whole vehicle has to be ripped apart and put together with new rubbers/ nuts/bolts filters/oils. Rally shocks require refurbishing after every 600 kms i.e. after maximum of 3 rallies. Since these shocks are imported from Ist world, someone has to get them refurbished from abroad, which is extra cost. I purchased my shocks from Thiland because those were the cheapest available and whenever required, are serviced from there.
Lastly, taking part in a rally is also expensive, like you go to areas like Cholistan, Jhal, Gawadar etc, stay there for 4 days atlest, you have your parts, tools, camping gear, mechanics, recovery vehicle ect. In short, to suport a Driver and a nevigator, you need atleast two more persons, one mechanic and one driver of the recovery vehicle.
After all of this, with practice, persistance and some luck, one can become a podium finisher of a rally.