Update Please. How did you do in the autocross?
Did you get it painted?
Update Please. How did you do in the autocross?
Did you get it painted?
I am also excited for your updates as well
Indy-Guy said:Update Please. How did you do in the autocross?
Did you get it painted?
Looks like they got 6th in the concourse, and finished "respectively" in the autocross, ending up 14th... so better than 50%! Which might be even more impressive if they didn't get it painted.
In reply to Indy-Guy :
I watched them run a few times and it looked impressive. When we talked during the autocross they said they were still sorting it out. I show them with an 87.787 dynamic score and a 19.4 Concours.
Great job on the build and I'm very impressed with how well it ran. To many times a great impressive build idea turns into heartache at the Challenge. You guys build something that ran as well as if the factory built it. I enjoyed our Jeep wheel discussion and can't wait to see it next year.
Fun fact, they didn't have a pro driver in the morning autocross, but did in the afternoon. Draw what conclusions you will. It's fairly light at just over 2500lbs and the suspension seemed to be working well. The car has more potential than it showed this year and it will be exciting to see what some development/finish work does.
What a great weekend! I'm very happy with Datsaniti's performance and enjoyed hanging out with dozens of equally car-crazy folks and seeing their creations. It was a little disappointing that the drag races were canceled this year, but I am so glad I went!
Overall: 14th out of 39
AM autocross: 56.950, 28th place (FTD 48.601)
PM autocross: 52.427, 17th place (FTD 47.418)
500' launch: 6.0s, (FTD 5.8)
Concours: 19.4 points, 6th place (highest was 24)
The first autocross run of the day was the furthest it had driven under its own power up to that point. It had some power issues after each corner, bogging down then revving back up. Turns out I hadn't put any gas in the tank since I finished leak-checking it 3 weeks ago, so it was fuel-starved. I poured 3 gallons in and the issue never came back. Then I started getting a disabled throttle issue when going WOT. It was completely unpredictable, but fixed by cutting power to the battery and restarting. It still ruined 3 or 4 autocross runs though and I never got a chance to use a pro driver in the AM autocross. It ended up in the back of the pack for that event. So many fast, cheap Miatas spanking me with half the power. Another thing to remember is I'm on 300tw street tires, and many of the faster autocross cars were on Hoosiers.
The PM autocross was much better, finishing in the top half of the pack while still dealing with random dead pedal issues. We think the issue was related to grinder debris or paint overspray getting inside the pedal's potentiometer, causing a bad reading which the ECM reacts to by killing the e-throttle for safety. I also realized between AM and PM course that the rear sway bar end links were broken. I knew this already, because I bought replacements about 2 months ago, but forgot to put them in. Luckily I brought them with me, so we drove onto the trailer and I replaced them during lunch. I'm not good enough of a driver to say what the effect was, but I figured better to have them then not. We also had a chance to get 2 pro drivers in the car, who beat my best time by over 2 seconds. It was awesome seeing a pro handle that car, but made me disappointed that I didn't get that chance in the AM. I got some great feedback on things to improve and sort out for next year, such as actually having front brakes LOL.
The PM autocross also had a separately timed 400 or 500 ft straight-away at the launch. It didn't count for points, but was fun to compare all-out acceleration in lieu of a drag race. Datsaniti really shined here, which makes me very optimistic for the drag portion next year. The only cars that beat me in a straight line, did so with V8's and only by a small margin.
Concours also gave me hope for next year. Despite having the roughest, rustiest, and most-primered exterior, I got 6th place probably due to the insane engineering and creative fabrication. The only build that was "crazier" was probably the Minivan body-swap or the Justang, a Subaru Justy rolling on a Mustang Cobra drivetrain, which actually won 1st overall. This makes me excited to finish the body and paint it nicely.
Weight is also an area I think I can improve. 2502 lbs is respectable though a lot more than I was hoping. I still have both original thick steel bumpers, all glass, full doors, and all four original seats. Not sure how "gutted" I want to go, but there are some low-hanging fruit there, much of which is reversible for post-Challenge life.
With me in it:
With no driver: 2502 lbs
Great review, and congratulations on making it to and through the event!
Looking forward to seeing how this thing evolves-
damen
I like this car, glad it did pretty well. I'll keep following along
Stolen autocross picture courtesy of GRM:
That car is so rad when it's in motion.
Just here to echo that this thing was every bit as awesome in person as I had hoped it would be. I was really impressed by how well it worked on the autocross course, too- for any car, much less one made out of totally different running gear grafted to an old chassis!
Found a stray cat on the Datsun. Named him Catsun. Later found out he's a girl cat. Still not sure if Catsun is a girl name or boy name.
She keeps coming back because maschinenBride keeps feeding her. c
Cats'll do that.
also proves DATSANITI is BOB COSTAS MAGNET!
EDIT: the filter didn't catch uppercase
berkeley
another edit: that's weird, it caught uppercase berkeley but not uppercase bob costas filter word or uppercase shiny happy person filter word
maschinenbau said:Found a stray cat on the Datsun. Named him Catsun. Later found out he's a girl cat. Still not sure if Catsun is a girl name or boy name.
She keeps coming back because maschinenBride keeps feeding her. c
Yeah it seemed like your wife had cat lady tendencies 
whoa, wait a minute, where's the Bob Costas filter?
lowercase Bob Costas = Bob Costas
the filter doesn't catch uppercase P***Y
In reply to minivan_racer :
Compared to the field mice she used to hold hostage in her art studio, I'll take the stray cats.
cats like to to have multiple homes that feed them. Probably not a stray, just someone elses cat looking for another home to feed them. cats are tricky that way.
Can you please buy Hoosiers and a power adder for next years event! Definitely has top 5 finishing potential.
And fixing the rust might buy you a couple of points in the concourse. ;)
I don't want to over hype, plus I know there were some traditionally very competitive people who were not present this year, but given how well it did this year, plus another year's sorting, cleanup, and possibly slicks, I fell like it is definitely a contender for the win. Good luck, and I hope be there to see it in action next year!
The trick to scoring well in Concours with a rusty car is careful placement of the GRM Challenge number panel 
In reply to maschinenbau :
Stickers hide a multitude of sins? Is that the saying? ;)
I've been back for just over a week and already thinking about next year. I picked up these cheap Jeep beauties $60 for the set (some tire removal required). They are from a Wrangler, 2000 to 2006, 15x8 and 5x114.3 (5x4.5) lug pattern, with a very large hub bore. Most Jeep wheels of the 90's/00's were 15x7 or jump up to 16". This design and one other Jeep wheel are some of the only 15x8's ever put out by OEMs. That's a perfect size for Miata autocross tires and/or drag radials, and a full inch wider and measurably less goofy-looking than my Infiniti 17x7's. They're cheap and plentiful because Jeep guys are always going bigger from OEM sizes.
Full disclosure, I copied this idea from Stampie, who ran a Q45 on these exact wheels wrapped in Hoosiers and killed it in the autocross.
Fit great in the back! Plenty of clearance for control arm and brakes.
Fronts edge past the fender flares. Not really a big deal...
..But this is. That's a tie-rod end hitting the rim, with a good 1/2" to go until the hub is seated. Not gonna work unless I get 3/4 or 1" spacers and longer studs. Not sure that's worth it.
Caliper hits too. Damn. At least I have drag wheels I guess.
Man that's a bummer on the fit. I can't claim credit as I remember someone talking about wide Jeep wheels last winter. It's what got me looking for them in the winter. Sorry unknown someone as I can't find that thread now.
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