SCCA RallyCross Divisional Challenge 2026 - San Diego

There was no way I was missing this event. My last Rallycross event with the Arizona Rally Association was in April, and with no events in sight until September, I had to scratch that rally itch somehow. That's where the San Diego Region RallyCross came in with perfect timing here in August. This wasn't an ordinary event either, it was a divisional challenge, which means winners will have early access to enter the SCCA RallyCross National Championship in October. This is a must attend event for be because it's hosted by my local Rallycross group here in AZ. Securing a position in Nationals would be an amazing opportunity to experience competing at a national level.

Leading up to the event I made a few updates to the car:

Shifter Riser

This is a part that I have been working on over at Bear Prototyping in my free time after the April rallycross. I've tested out several versions of it over the summer so far, and I am super happy with how it turned out!

My main complaint with the factory Fiesta shifter is how far away it is. I have to fully extend my arm to reach the shifter. When racing, I keep my elbows at a 90 degree angle, which means I need to do a bicep curl in order to shift, and that costs a lot of time!

The installation is super simple. All you have to do is remove the 4 nuts holding the shifter assembly on and mount the raiser in its place. Then use the 4 included screws to attach the factory shift assembly onto the raiser. There is a sensor bracket in front of the shifter that needs to be temporarily unbolted and pushed to the side to give the shifter cables room when installing.

Ford Fiesta Shifter Riser - Lightweight Carbon-Nylon

$280.00 Free Shipping The OEM shifter in the Ford Fiesta is known to be in an inconvenient location. Too low to the floor and too hard to reach for most drivers. This shift riser solves this problem by moving the shifter higher up and offset left, closer to the

Racing RebelSergei Grishin

3" exhaust

I made my own custom 3" exhaust for performance and to increase the volume while racing. I wear a helmet with noise reducing muffs, they are great for hearing protection, and removing all of the gravel noise, but it's hard to get a feel of how the engine sounds and when to shift. An LED tachometer bar is a solution, but I was already used to using the exhaust tone with previous cars.

You can read more here:

2 piece rear mud flaps

At my last rallycross event, I had an issue with the rear mud flaps "jacking" the car up and knocking off the rear bumper while under full suspension compression. I am using a hard plastic material for my mud flaps. I find most of the domestic car mud flaps to be too thin and prone to tearing. The front mud flaps are doing great and flex when bottoming out because it's mounted to the unibody and fender, but the rears are only supported by the bumper cover.

I cut the mud flaps in the rear and replaced the material I cut off with neoprene rubber. I attached them together with aluminum rivets and hardware. Now the rear mudflaps flex when bottoming out. If I ever need to replace the neoprene strip, I can drill out the rivets and put a new one on!

Sparco rear tow strap

I will need tow points on the car for when I compete with it in stage rallies. I figured that while I was fixing the rear bumper cover mounts, I can add a tow point to the rear crash beam. I chose the Sparco Tow Strap mostly for aesthetics. Personally, I find large clunky aluminum rings out of place for a rally car. My preference would be factory integrated tow points, but it seems most newer cars designed for the US market do not have them or are omitted unfortunately.

I welded an M12 weld nut inside of the crash bar and used a class 10.9 bolt to attach the tow strap. I also cut a small incision along the lines of the trim to thread the strap though.

Rear bumper mounting

After my last rallycross, my bumper cover came off on one corner because most of the tabs on the bumper cover mount were broken off. I used a fender washer and self tapper to keep it on during the event. I replaced the bumper cover mount and fixed some of the tabs on the bumper trim with a plastic welder.

I still kept the fender washer and self tapper as a back up for holding the bumper up.

The Event

This was my first time at the San Diego Region Rallycross. This would be my sixth unique rallycross course that I've competed on, but only the second course with the Fiesta. I've gotten used to the terrain in Arizona, and I've never been to San Diego, so I was unsure what the expect.

The terrain was very flat, it had moderate to heavy gravel size, was a bit rough, and not at all slippy. Even after the water truck, the surface still had a lot of grip because of the chunky rocks embedded into the ground.

The divisional challenge is a two day event that adds up all of your runs (12) from both days. This means winning day 1 doesn't actually mean anything and everything gets settled at the end of day two.

Surprisingly, there was only one other competitor in my class. We both had Fiesta STs, and we barely belong in the MF class. The only thing making our cars classified as MF instead of PF was my exhaust catalyst location and his large intercooler.

Day 1

It was a tight battle. My typical strategy is to stay in the lead but to not blow it and over do it. That wasn't a good idea for this event, because I still had to worry about day 2. I should have tried to push a little harder to create a bigger lead.

On run 2, my rear bumper cover came off again like last time, but on the other side. I don't think the mudflaps were at fault here though. I reattached the bumper cover and used a fender washer and self tapper to reinforce it like last event. I should have done this before the event, but now I know it's needed on both sides for sure!

The shifter riser that I made was amazing! There were a couple of sections where I needed to down shift into 1st, and the placement of the shifter was ideal. Popping in and out of gears in a pinch is going to be a whole lot easier.

After run 5, my engine temps started to climb, but didn't become an issue. Andrew's car shut off in the middle of the last run, but they let him run again and take a mechanical. I was happy about that because I still wanted to keep the battle going into day 2!

There was a social night afterwards. I got to meet some cool new people and park a loaded Uhaul truck and trailer at a busy outdoor mall on a Saturday night. Sounds like a typical rally to me!

Day 2

Coming into day 2, I knew I already had a lead, so I maintained my strategy of going just hard enough to maintain my lead. On the first run, Andrew got 2.5 seconds on me, and that fired me up. I took my first run cautiously because the ground looked really slippery, but I barely slid out at all. I decided to not pay any attention to how the surface looked and imagined perfect grip around the corners, only the slalom has some notable slip. That decision was exactly what I needed, and I started leading again run after run.

The exhaust was holding up great, but it wasn't as loud as I need it to be while wearing my helmet. I will definitly need to make a mufflerless version for competition days.

Andrew and I were in the back of the line for run 12, and we saw everyone putting up some crazy fast times now that the course has been smoothed out. I was also going to try and push to see how fast I can go.

I showed some people my shifter riser, and they loved the idea and were impressed with the quality and design. It gave me a chance to talk about what fun projects I work on at Bear Prototyping.

Something interesting happened though after I started that twelfth run. After taking the first turn, I felt that something was off, it felt like low tire pressure or a debead. On the second turn, I felt major understeer. I decided to persevere on my suspected flat tire since it felt manageable. Going straight felt perfectly normal. When I finished my run, I checked the car and to my surprise, the axle was broken!

The axle grease was cooking on the brake rotor and emitting lite smoke from the wheel well. We were shocked that the car can drive this well with one axle – only 1.5 seconds slower than my previous run. This wouldn't have been possible without my Cusco mechanical LSD. Without it, I would have been stuck on the course.

The axle will be an easy fix, and I'll be back out there in no time!

Conclusion

I took the class win at the divisional challenge and secured my position for the SCCA National Championship. I am glad I was able to test out my latest modifications on the car. There's no better feeling than creating something and seeing it work out in the field!