Look up Vermont Sports cars. Pay them to do a professional job.

/end thread

 

Watch a few rallies and see how involved a sport it is to get started in. You'll need a competitors license before even registering in an event.

The timeline would go something like this..

Rally Schools 1 year
Competitors license year 2
rent-a-car event year 2 or 3
Buy a GTI and race that for a year
Go broke year 3, quit the sport
Reinvigorate for year 4 and build a car, spend 30-40k on a beater
Buy a trailer, find a friend who wants to risk their life and marriage with you to co-drive
Do 1-2 events a year at a cost of about 5k an event for a complete DYI effort.

Racing the Evo is a pipe dream since you won't be able to be competitive, or drive it well for a few years. Year 1 in that car you need some dime-sized restrictor as Rally America is trying to deter open class 1st year racers. You'll be in the hole about 30k before doing an event after

School
cage
fuel cell
computer
seats
harness
chassis prep
multiple sets of tires
tow vehicle
trailer
fuel containers
race fuel
bribed pit crew
fire system
suspension
skid plates/chassis armor
spare axles, transmission, brakes, body panels
light pod

et cetera..