$2015, it's our event, we all need to bring a friend

WillrunifChased wrote: In reply to Spinout007: I can make it my job at the event to bring a parking lot build every year. It was quite enjoyable and entertaining. Maybe we will start with a running car next year. It makes anyone willing to help feel included. Maybe we should plan for two parking lot builds, to have a competition between teams.

Actually, this could be a class in itself. If there were 3 or 4 cars available for a "Team" to arrive at and wrench for a few days before the event, it would bring a new element to the game.

Teams could be formed on the net and planning could be done way in advance, with the actual crazy thrash all happening at the last minute with spectators and last minute volunteers. I can just see the parts rolling out of the luggage conveyor.

Assuming that the you start with cars that don't need rust repairs and are running at a DD level, this could be a lot of fun to plan and execute.

Buy an MX6. I can bring a turbo kit.

In reply to WillrunifChased:

That is on you man, personally I'm not sure where I will be next year come challenge time as SWMBO has put applications in from Alaska, to the SW pacific to Orlando with her upcoming masters graduation. I'll be here for the challenge. But with tools and vehicle could be another story. Though I'm game for the road trip from Alaska to Florida at least once in my life.

NOHOME wrote: Pretty much given up finding a local Canadian who wants to team up. I prefer the fabrication and misbehaviourification opportunities of the event rather than the actual driving bits.

NOHOME, we need to talk.

Spinout007 wrote:

Mazdax605 wrote: I have a growing desire to come down for the challenge. My issues are the distance, time away from the family, and most importantly no talent when it comes to building a car. I have a tow rig and could borrow a trailer if I had to, but I am still stuck with the no talent part. I can fix almost anything on my cars, but when it comes to building a race car I get vapor lock. Whatever I could build wouldn't be able to hang with the likes of you guys, so I kind of don't see the point. I appreciate the invite though Steve. I can live vicariously through guys like you. Chris

Can you unbolt seats? pull carpet? spray/roll on paint? Time, patience and practice will get you fabbing sheet metal. Polish the turd to the best of your ability! Then bring it! SilverFleet spent hours with a DA buffer in his hands Thursday and amazingly was able to pull some shine out of that spirit's paint. A lot of cars that show up are not making that much more power than stock. They just benefit greatly from reduced mass/weight and a competition string alignment!

This right here. Chris, I can discuss the details of what it takes to actually get a car down there if you want sometime. Swing over the house in your JDM awesomeness of the day and we can chat.

It is tough to take the time to build a car and make it down there with it to race. Honestly, my own Challenge project, the CSX in my profile, has laid dormant for months at a time. I brought it home as a rusty mess back in July of 2010, and as of right now, about 80% of the rust has been repaired and I have a pile of parts to install from various wheeling and dealing I've done in the past 4 years. If you look at my build thread, there have been times where I just wanted to give up on it, but there it sits. I was actually inspired from this year's Challenge enough for me to wrench on the car the day after I got home. I was able to install the fuel tank and paint the P/S floor pans in a couple hours of my time. That's more than I've done in the past YEAR. Will I make it there next year with the car? Probably not, but I'm going to try as hard as I can to make it back to the event.

I want to see the Challenge thrive and survive. It means a lot to me as a reader and as a competitor. before my first trip to the Challenge in 2009, I was a lot more closed-minded with cars, maintaining that it was a waste of time to mess with off-brand cars and foolish to try and race them. Then, I get exposed to not only the fast turbo Miata we fielded, but a bevy of other cars over the years, such as a turbo Mazda-swapped Festiva, an AWD 4G63-powered Mitsubishi Mirage (or was it a Colt?) that was just insane, and a '32 Ford made out of a VW Beetle that ran 10's in the 1/4. 10's. For right around $2k.

When I tell people about the Challenge, they usually look at me like I have two heads. They think I'm telling a tall tale, like the guy at the parts store that supposedly used to run 9's in his '77 Camaro with a 305 and pull the wheels on the street on Radial T/A's. You all know that guy.

But it's REAL.

And then there's the whole laid-back atmosphere of the rest of the event. There's the relaxed atmosphere of Thursday night in the hotel parking lot, where people are getting their cars ready, making new friends, and having a good time. I spoke with an older couple from RI that spends winters in Gainesville, and they were strolling around the parking lot unfazed by the insanity that was going on around them. I was happy to answer all the questions they had, and they really dug what was going on.

Pro Tip: Our AMC is street legal right now, and we kept all the stickers from the event on the car. Strangely, it has generated more "WTF is that???" looks than the XJ-R has from passers-by. Just yesterday, one of our team members swiped the car to cruise around in, and a guy stopped him to ask questions about the car and what all the stickers are for. If any of the other guys that have streetable cars do that, you will also get the same response! That is one way to spread the word. Even if you just drag race the thing or run local autocross, keep the stickers on where applicable. People WILL ask what they are there for.

Happy to report at least a little progress this week:

One long time challenger is planning something wicked for a return next year

One original entrant is pretty excited about coming back after years away

One challenger with a history of success misses us all and will try to make it

One former creative past challenger is keeping close to the situation

Those are just the ones I know personally, and I have sent out more feelers to others; hoping for some more responses. I will probably bug them monthly to keep the idea of a return fresh in their minds.

Also, I have sent out quick contact emails with event info to about a dozen or so "celebrity personalities" in the automotive community. There are obvious reasons that media crossover opportunities would be helpful... Mostly, though, we need more hardcore car people to put this on their calendars and to add their particular brand of crazy into the collective.

Last thought for now: I have contacted a few female (gasp!) gearheads and will look to make more connections soon. I have never seen more than 3-4 women in any given year and I feel like we are missing out on half of the population for no real reason. Any thoughts on how to change that? I do not really care for "Ladies" classes at events as I see it as sexist and divisive, but if it works...

Ladies classes make no sense in national championships. If anything, they have an advantage.

However, ladies classes are an excellent way to introduce people to the sport in a less intimidating way.

For example, Habitat for Humanity has women's builds. Men are welcome, but only to do the cooking, etc. As a long time worker with Habitat, I always thought they were a bit sexist. However, it works. Women show up (and they don't to regular builds).

How about coming to the west coast sometime, or at least closer. My friend and I are planning on being there in Gainesville this year, or the next if we don't make it in time. It's a huge investment to get to Florida from CA, but we're jazzed about this event anyway.

DLD

The west coast event bombed. No one showed... Well one or two teams. That's where the hybrid fiero came from.

So they throw one event and give up? This sort of thing wasn't big back then. Now we have chump, lemons,and 2015$. Try again grassroots. Try again.

Swank Force One wrote: I'm in come hell or high water. Spoolpigeon will be rolling with if he knows what's good for him.

No conflicting race that weekend, so I'm in the clear to go. Now we just need a running car

Do you still have those decals we were going to run?

Spoolpigeon wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: I'm in come hell or high water. Spoolpigeon will be rolling with if he knows what's good for him.

No conflicting race that weekend, so I'm in the clear to go. Now we just need a running car Do you still have those decals we were going to run?

Yep i still have everything. And a broken car. You up for some wiring? Mechanicals are worked out in theory. If i've done my calculations right, this thing should make me pee myself.

WillrunifChased wrote: I really wish I could find an affordable two car trailer to tow with the suburban. Finding friends to come that have 2k to spend on a car isn't hard, finding friends that have 2k to spend on a car that have a trailer and time to take a week off is hard coming from PA.

QFT

The scary thing is, I have access to a truck, and a trailer, and up until a week ago, was under budget on a car....but, its always been and probably always will be either a lack of vacation time or a lack of funds(figure $1k minimum round trip towing)Friggin Florida.

Just drive it, you pansy.

In reply to Swank Force One:

Too much of a risk in terms of funds and time if something were to go wrong.

Trackmouse wrote: So they throw one event and give up? This sort of thing wasn't big back then. Now we have chump, lemons,and 2015$. Try again grassroots. Try again.

How many events would you like us to run before we pull the plug? Perhaps you'd like to foot the bill for our staff to travel to the West Coast to run another Challenge?

I'm not saying we'll never do another West Coast Challenge, but we are a business after all. If we spend more money than we take in.....it all goes away.

Well just be a little more gun shy this time. Appeal to teams that already exist over here. Get the rsvp going, and if a certain "quota" is met, have a ball. If it is not met, then you can earnestly say there was no interest.

All I can say is that there a lot of people like me that ,lately, have been saying "I wish they did this over here." And I belong to a TON of Internet forums.

When it was tried, the Challenge had more participants than it does now. They don't move the Daytona 500 every year do they? At least for the time being, consider the Challenge to be the Gainesville $20XX.

Trackmouse wrote: Well just be a little more gun shy this time. Appeal to teams that already exist over here. Get the rsvp going, and if a certain "quota" is met, have a ball. If it is not met, then you can earnestly say there was no interest. All I can say is that there a lot of people like me that ,lately, have been saying "I wish they did this over here." And I belong to a TON of Internet forums.

Before demanding much more, do you know the history of the event?

I'm not sure how many posters were here back in 1999, when this first got going- but I was. The $1500 challenge was mostly made via this site- I can't even recall what was in the magazine prior to the event. For the most part, no rules other than less than $1500 and prove it.

IIRC, the event was in the spring of 1999.

Short notice, not a massive population area there in north Florida- and I seem to recall somewhere around 30 showed up.

By the time we finally did it in 2002, 03, and 04, the fields has gotten to close to 100 entries, with probably 70 or so showing up.

AFTER that, LeMons and Chump car got going.

Lots and lots of interenet hubub, to the point of GRM hosting the west coast version. Many seemed to be interested, and claimed they would come from all over California.

And all that showed up was ONE car from Washington.

Based on that, I don't see any point in moving from Florida.

YOU may want to build a car, but you need probably 200 more just like you to get 40 cars. History says the support for this event is on this side of the country.

Isn’t the $2016 Challenge supposed to be in Memphis TN?

Interesting that no one showed up from CA when you did it here. I wasn't aware of the event back then. I would agree that if no one showed up when you tried it, why bother. It seems odd to me that no one showed, there are quite a few low buck racer type guys here, especially in the central valley. We're excited to be a part of it, and if coming to Florida is the way to be involved, then that's what we'll do, at least once anyway. If it turns out to be a great experience, maybe we'll be back for more.

The West Coast event was partially hampered by the ones running it and by the economy taking a dive at the time. I believe someone at GRM mentioned that they weren't interested in ever having another group organize one of their events without their direct involvement.

Biggest issue with the West coast is how much more spread out it is, the East coast has an advantage in that.

While it might make sense to look at holding the event closer to the middle of the country, I can't imagine very many of us on either side of the country are terribly interested in driving over the mountains and through the plains, especially with a Challenge car (though Nashco did it at least three times, but he's a ginger and therefore inexplicable, heh).

In reply to DLD:

I've been involved with various cars for 3 or 4 years of the past 7 years I've been to the event. It's a GREAT time even if you don't bring a car. Heck I think my most frustrating years was the year I brought my own car.

We're all competing, but at the same time, you will see people from a dozen teams working on someones car in the parking lot to try and squeeze out that one last run.

I''ll be there in 2034 when I retire and am no longer constrained by only 5 weeks of vacation. Until then I'll read about it here and in the magazine.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I''ll be there in 2034 when I retire and am no longer constrained by only 5 weeks of vacation. Until then I'll read about it here and in the magazine.

Weak.

I did it 3 years in a row back when I had 2 weeks less of vacation.