I've loaned out / given quite a few spares at rally events. @ Idaho just this year i helped 3 other teams with spares and borrowed nothing from others. one team needed an end link and a rear track arm. and other team got a spare rotor , brake caliper and rotor, with yet an other team getting some fluids.
At north nevada this year I made some sacrifices to help out other teams, an other team was driving to the event so i met him the weekend before and put his spares into my storage unit. I then packed all of his spares first, and then my stuff. I had a lot of crew back out on me at the last minute (2 were sick, 1 ??) which resulted in not enough cargo room, so I drove out to the rally on my rally tires and made an extra trip to drop off my service vehicle at the service park. i had planned on using that time to swap onto my brand new rally tires. so i ran 1/2 the first day on worn out , 20% tread left tires, all so that J.Burke would have his service rig waiting for him in the service park.
It was J.burke who loaned me a coilover at Gorman this past weekend .. hmm when i first read your post i more took it to heart, but now really thinking my season over, I don't feel that its a 1-way street. I do realize that i haven't ever posted on here about me helping others, i always leave those parts of my stories out, but i can see in the absence of ever mentioning those how i probably appear ... interesting
(good thing you posted that actually) thanks
At Mendocino i bought food and delivered food to other teams because I had no repairs to be made during service
at gorman I gave out some gear oil to a team who had some issue (don't recall exactly)
in years past I've given other teams a ride for recce (even class competitors), actually i got a sportsmanship award for that.
Honestly this is the biggest difference between rally and other motor sports, in rally , the rally community really really helps each other out a LOT more than in other motor sports. Gorman last year the #2 team gave the #1 team a rear track arm, after they bent their on the first stage, and the jackson rally team ended up winning. I know those sorta things happen from time to time at the trace track, but not on a regular basis, probably not every race. but every rally (or almost) one team helps out an other team. and actually that was one of the ideas behind DirtyImpreza.com was the idea of every service person at a rally, helping out every team.
Anyone at a rally can ask anyone whose a member of Dirtyimpreza for help, and help will be given. (that's how we roll)
But, at the same time, Yes i do want to stop needing help from others, and start helping others out more.
Your point (generalized) is dead on. I need to be more self reliant now that I'm no longer a noob.
I'm not willing to sell my STI. that's just not on the table. BUT i could easily , easily afford loan payments on a truck , and find a suitable trailer for $2k ish . I'll be thinking about how much of a season I will be doing in 2012.
happen to have any struts for sale?