Ive always wanted to try some wheel to wheel racing. While I wont have the time to dedicate myself to a class I thought maybe some occasional racing in Lemons or Chump Car would be an easy/cheap way to get into racing.
A few friends agreed with my idiotic plan to build a $2019 Challenge/Chump Car style race car. They are me, V and J. Ill withhold names until they give me the OK to post some photos of the lunatics.
We set out to find a car for $500 and then build it to compete in crap can racing, autocross, HPDE events and the like. Since most of us have a build already going with other cars, this would be built to be as budget as possible. The budget would follow the Grassroots Motorsports $2019 challenge build.
The search lasted a few months before we found a good candidate. A 1995 Saturn SL with a 5 speed manual and a SOHC engine. Turned out it was in great shape but the motor was on its last leg and had excessive blow by. We didnt want to start with a total engine swap so we passed. A few hours wasted but it was for the better.
A few Sentra SE-R's were candidates, mostly for the 6 speed manual transmission, the optional LSD in the Spec-V models and the fact they were stupid cheap. Checked a few out but most were totally destroyed or the owner wouldnt budge on the price.
About a week ago, a 2002 Elantra popped up on my Craigslist search. Guy wanted $700 for it and said it had 117k miles, working a/c, heat and new exhaust. The photos showed it had some front end damage. Not a biggy as long as it wasnt rusted to buts underneath.
So i contacted the owner, said id offer $350 for it and that i was turning it into a Chump Car. He agreed to the $350 as long as i came and got it ASAP. If anyone knows me and Hyundai's, they know my last 2002 Elantra was a great little autocross/daily driving car with 300ish thousand miles of trouble free operation. So, knowing these Hyundai's, i wanted to jump immediately.
LOOKED CLEAN ENOUGH FOR ME.
Headed down to see it and found that it ran a little rough but was in overall great shape, very little rust and had a bunch of new parts on it. Guy got into a DUI with it and mangled the front end. He wanted it gone.
So, loaded it up on the trailer, exchanged the dough/title/BOS and we headed off back to the shop.
More updates to come!
A few friends agreed with my idiotic plan to build a $2019 Challenge/Chump Car style race car. They are me, V and J. Ill withhold names until they give me the OK to post some photos of the lunatics.
We set out to find a car for $500 and then build it to compete in crap can racing, autocross, HPDE events and the like. Since most of us have a build already going with other cars, this would be built to be as budget as possible. The budget would follow the Grassroots Motorsports $2019 challenge build.
The search lasted a few months before we found a good candidate. A 1995 Saturn SL with a 5 speed manual and a SOHC engine. Turned out it was in great shape but the motor was on its last leg and had excessive blow by. We didnt want to start with a total engine swap so we passed. A few hours wasted but it was for the better.
A few Sentra SE-R's were candidates, mostly for the 6 speed manual transmission, the optional LSD in the Spec-V models and the fact they were stupid cheap. Checked a few out but most were totally destroyed or the owner wouldnt budge on the price.
About a week ago, a 2002 Elantra popped up on my Craigslist search. Guy wanted $700 for it and said it had 117k miles, working a/c, heat and new exhaust. The photos showed it had some front end damage. Not a biggy as long as it wasnt rusted to buts underneath.
So i contacted the owner, said id offer $350 for it and that i was turning it into a Chump Car. He agreed to the $350 as long as i came and got it ASAP. If anyone knows me and Hyundai's, they know my last 2002 Elantra was a great little autocross/daily driving car with 300ish thousand miles of trouble free operation. So, knowing these Hyundai's, i wanted to jump immediately.
LOOKED CLEAN ENOUGH FOR ME.
Headed down to see it and found that it ran a little rough but was in overall great shape, very little rust and had a bunch of new parts on it. Guy got into a DUI with it and mangled the front end. He wanted it gone.
So, loaded it up on the trailer, exchanged the dough/title/BOS and we headed off back to the shop.
More updates to come!