GRM West Coast Challenge mk 2.0

I'm in with the $50 Saab...who else is with me?

I know it was a failure last time, but if you can get several teems committed for a retry are you willing to give it another shot? I want to compete, I just can't get the funds together to ship my car to the east coast.

Make it in Portland and I will be the first to sign up.

I honestly don't see how you can go wrong with PIR.

I would obviously be in. I already know what I would build.

Wouldn't even bother putting together an entry... would spectate the hell out of it though.

WhatwhatWHAT?

In.

I will build something for this.

Was this actually mentioned by grm, or is this thread more of a wishful thinking thing?

Jumper K. Balls wrote: Was this actually mentioned by grm, or is this thread more of a wishful thinking thing?

Some years ago, GRM actually hosted a Challenge West event. A lot of people built cars, and a lot more made noise that they would, and then the event was held in San Diego. IIRC, only Nashco went down from up here, in the twin-engine hybrid Fiero. It was a huge letdown for all sides. Some words were said, then a bunch of us put some money where our mouths were and crowd-funded Nashco to the "real" Challenge in Florida, where he did pretty well.

It's just wishful thinking, Trent. I would be beside myself if anything ever came to fruition, but it doesn't hurt to throw your name in the proverbial hat.

I wonder how many competitors it would take for the powers that be to take another shot at a West Coast Challenge. I'm guessing that it is a lot more than the 5 of us in this thread. 25? 30?

i wonder if there'd be a way to tie it in with Lemons? (which, along with NASA is a Northern California creation) Have three classes: Tradiotional 200X challenge, Lemons, and scratch-built.

Although I live in Philly, I've got peeps in the PNW. I could realistically have a better chance at participating in a $20XX challenge in Portland than one in FL. Even more so if its not during the school year.

On the that note, when there were rumors of the challenge coming to Summit Point, I was more exited that the date was during summer vacation than I was for it being only one tank of gas away.I wonder how many other potential participants are held back because of the date being in the school year?

My x1/9 is well within budget at this point. If this got some momentum, I'd see if I could swing it.

Javelin wrote:

Jumper K. Balls wrote: Was this actually mentioned by grm, or is this thread more of a wishful thinking thing?

Some years ago, GRM actually hosted a Challenge West event. A lot of people built cars, and a lot more made noise that they would, and then the event was held in San Diego. IIRC, only Nashco went down from up here, in the twin-engine hybrid Fiero. It was a huge letdown for all sides. Some words were said, then a bunch of us put some money where our mouths were and crowd-funded Nashco to the "real" Challenge in Florida, where he did pretty well.

I seem to remember that after this, um, not so successful event that the GRM powers that be have stated they would not let anyone else run their events and that it would only be run by their crew.

I seem to remember that Nashco showed up with the Fiero and no one had any clue about the GRM Challenge. Coupling the poor management of the event, the poor turn out along with the economic downturn at the time, it isn't really surprising how things went down.

So, if we really want this to happen, we need to get organized enough to get their attention to send some folks out to put an event on. I think the first step is talking with the GRM event folks to get an idea on what they need from us on the West side of the continent (since the Canadian and Mexican folks are always welcome) and then work from there.

What about staging your own $20xx event? I don't think GRM has a patent on budget "buy-build-race" events. Instead of looking for the magazine to take the lead, do the reverse. You guys take the lead, start looking at dates, assembling competitors, securing a location, etc. That's how Lemons and Chump started. Some guys got together and put on a race. It was fun, so they did it again. Others took notice and decided to join in. Next thing you know, they seem to have a kick ass business as a result.

Make it happen and maybe the magazine will eventually ask you if they can participate.

You can't do the challenge in California. It is specifically prohibited by smog laws.