RWD Chump ChumpCar Lemons Candidate

Jaynen wrote: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/06/trackday-diaries-i-can-tell-you-how-to-win-a-lemons-race-but-you-wont-listen/ I know that to some extent what he is talking about is "not in the spirit of lemons" but it just reinforces the find something you can make rock solid reliable because the crazy stuff will just end up broke and you will learn a lot more by simply being on the track

edit: Oh my, here comes a tangent.

Being competitive and building a good team is not against the spirit.

Having an ego is against the spirit. You have to remember that there are a lot of people in it just to have fun on a track. If you can't have enough of a sense of humor about yourself to be seen in a death metal-themed Volvo with animatronic skulls or to dress up like characters from The Simpsons, you're taking it too seriously. If you're hating on people because Miatas and E30s are always the right answer, you're taking it too seriously. Likewise, if you're hating on the guys who are there with Miatas and E30s, you're taking it too seriously.

Crazy concoctions are crazy concoctions because they're fun to make, it gets people's attention, and it makes you stand out. That doesn't mean you don't build a reliable car, or you ignore good advice. You can build a sportbike-powered Geo Metro with cobbled together suspension and win. You can also put a pop-up trailer over a Suzuki X-90 and have a damn good time looking hilarious and being slow. The goal is to make racing fun, cheap, and accessible, and to look different than an Improved Touring race. LeMons has been very successful at that.

I don't expect to ever see a Spec Miata driver dancing on a stripper pole atop a Crown Vic at an SCCA enduro. But the fact that Randy Pobst did it at a LeMons race (Chicago 2010) makes him a very cool guy who "gets it," even if he's a pro driver and his team had a cheaty Crown Vic.

Just don't show up afraid to make a fool of yourself, because you're doing that just by showing up. You're racing in a $500 car. The whole world already thinks you're an idiot.

Alan Cesar wrote:

MadScientistMatt wrote: Chump Car is more focused on racing, while Lemons has something of a bias towards the oddball. An E30 BMW would probably be a pretty good choice for Chump Car, but as they've noted, you'd need to do something pretty crazy with an E30 to get it Lemons approved. (IIRC, somebody had swapped the M20 in one of them for a Mopar slant six...)

There's actually a number of ill-advised engine swaps that are granted some kind of bonus and/or budgetary immunity in LeMons. The slant-six in an E30 was one of them. Put an iron duke in a Nissan Sentra and get no penalties for adding turbos. I'm sure the judges looked the other way (or stared in awe) at Balto, the two-stroke Miata. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151447265590022.828325.117951315021&type=1

Our E30 302 swap was ill advised by Judge Phil, but we didn't get any special budgetary allowances or immunity. I have a binder full of receipts to back it up. Car isn't fast, and has some issues, but it sure is fun.

ahhhhhhhhh what about a Corolla. Every Corolla - pre 1984 - is rwd..........

in that era - Toyota - used similar parts on different models... so for example... to gain camber... you can put a Corona, or other model lower control arm on and gain 8-12mm of camber.

The team I ran with in ChumpCar, the Dirty Drifters, ran a pair of Corollas. One RWD, the other FWD. Seemed like they had a lot of fun, though the 4AGE isn't the most powerful motor, the cars can be pretty light.

How about an old Subaru?

One of the Spokane Chump racers was putting a FWD Audi 5-cylinder drivetrain in the bed of a Rabbit Pickup. Talk about a crazy idea that just might work :)