Classing the Zoomboni

As many of you know I bought the Zoomboni last fall and with autocross season only 50 days away it's time to start getting serious about prepping the beast.

Right now my issue seems to be classing.  Due to a "zealous" local member my plans to run it in EMod are being challenged.  It's about as "car" as any of the ridiculous purpose built racers in EM but they hide behind the fig leaf of a grill and claim it's a "Jeep" or some such.   Even though there is exactly zero actual Jeep content in them.  But the Zoomboni has a nose that was on a vehicle that was never street legal so Mr. busybody is claiming I'm not EM legal.  That would (I guess) leave me with AM/BM as my only option.

Do I take a sharpie and draw a Miata grill on it?  Do I ignore Mr. Busybody?  What says the classing experts?

Give us the approximate dimensions of the nose and I'm sure we can find you a vehicle to "regrill" it as.

Oh, also what does rulesy mcrulesface drive?  We can probably find a way to make it illegal for whatever class it's in as a nuclear option 

just show up. who turns that away...  then raw time the chump and rub it in his face..  

Does Mr. Rules have a real jeep gril attached to his car?  I've owned jeeps they are heavy stamped metal...   I'll bet its not really a jeep grill.  

By the letter, Mr. Scrooge is correct. If he runs Emod and doesn't want you to run with him you are stuck.

If he doesn't run Emod, tell him to mind his own class. Solo classing is self-policed, and if others in the class are ok with Zoomboni, that's all that matters.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Oh, it's not that he's in the class.  He's just making noise about something entirely unrelated to his class.  He runs in HS and usually wins PAX but is seconds off the actual fast times.

What kinda nose do you want?  I think i have an s10 grill you can ziptie to it.  Get a model t grill shell and screw it on?  

Put a Tesla emblem on it and call it Model X.

D/EM are silhouette classes that require a certain amount of bodywork and just tossing a grille on is not likely to satisfy Mr. HS Scrooge.

I would talk to any other Emod competitors in the region, and get their take on it. If they accept Zoomboni you are good to go until you out-PAX some SRS BZNS guy. At that point, accept the protest papers with a smile knowing you kicked his ass.

If you bring Zoomboni up to CSCC or Indy, I will gladly welcome you to run Emod with me.

For those following along, this is The Zamboni

God, people suck.

Since the drivetrain is '88 Mustang.  It would be humorous to graft in the '88 Mustang GT grill delete cover into the blue space between the Zamboni headlights.  This would keep the front smooth.  

'88 GT:

VS '88 Non-GT:

PS: I am not a classing expert

In reply to John Welsh :

That looks like a heavily modified Lotus/Chaterham 7 to me.

I literally quit auto crossing because somebody threatened to protest me if I drove a car that I recently bought in a certain class.  The guy was in a completely different class and there was no way that I'd have out paxed him.  The previous owner ran my car in a certain class for a while with no issues but this other guy objected to me doing the same thing.  I sold the car and took up horseback riding, mountain biking, kayaking and hiking instead. I met far less shiny happy people doing those activities. 

In reply to gumby :

Locally EM is our catch all class for things that are heavily modded and run Hoosiers.  (a mazdaspeed Miata with a 5 speed swap and the Malibeast are the two main ones) but they know they aren't actual EM cars and don't care if I join them.  The more the merrier in their opinion.

Good deal, berkeleying send it!

Leave the petty bullE36 M3 for the petty people

Show up, race it, if he protests it, file a counter-protest under the "don't be a dick" rule. When somebody points out that "don't be a dick" isn't actually a rule, suggest they enact it as the "Mr. Busybody Rule" 

I wouldn't run with a group of asshats like that. 

I would get a wrap for the nose that made it look like a production car. Maybe ape the car that your challenger drives?

Also, just because this person is challenging the classification, does that guarantee that he will win?

In reply to _ :

I think it's only one asshat.  The group's decision in listening to him would affect my decision to stay or leave though.

I'd beat his shiny in raw and then explain to him that PAX is the participation award of autocross. 

Nah, let him protest, and let it go all the way to the SCCA board.

Happened to me way back in the late 90's- when I was racing my Alfa GTV, which was curiously left off of the stock line that includes the 1750 GTV and all 1750-2000 Spiders from '69-94.  He protested, it ended up with the SCCA (as we used their classing rules, but not the prep rules) and they fixed the mistake.

What was really funny, to me, at least- we were in the same class, him in an MR2, me in an Alfa that was 15 years older, and I beat him.  I don't recall ever seeing him ever again.

Still, your issue is with ONE person.  Not the entire group.  Don't let one person rule over your life so much when the rest of them are probably pretty cool.

The other suggestion is to cut a hole in the nose so it more resembles a 7.  Or perhaps put a sticker there that just looks like a hole.... 

get pix of ruley mcruleface's car

scale them to match zoomboni's wheelbase

print on vinyl wrap for zoomboni​​​​​​

-- OR --

make little "kill" stickers that are images of little bags of dicks

apply said kill stickers to ruley mcruleyface's car 

I'd say take it up with your region's officials and see where it goes from there. Local regions are still allowed to modify the rules however they please. If region leadership is on board, they're able to have their own supplemental rules that allow EM to be whatever they want it to be, and then there's no more basis for a protest. Attempting to out-dbag the guy isn't going to make the situation better for anyone involved.

But since you asked for classing info...FWIW it's also not DM/EM legal because it's lacking fenders that cover at least half the width of the tires. I realize that this is all a little dumb, but "recognizable as the car it's claiming to be" is a core part of those classes.

Ooh how about a q45 grill?  I can bring you one.  

In reply to Patrick :

You should really bring that Q45 down to me.