The Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge has hosted college-supported teams many times in the past, with the likes of Georgia Tech and Texas A&M being major players. In fact, we give out a trophy every year to the top-finishing college.
Now an all-female team from Smith College is joining in the fray. Their plans center around a Mazda Miata, a popular, …
I would have killed for an opportunity like this when I was in school. So, who else is going to chip in a few bucks?
David S. Wallens wrote: I would have killed for an opportunity like this when I was in school. So, who else is going to chip in a few bucks?
I keep hoping some students at our local school would want to make one...
Oh, and its interesting to see a target well over the spending target. Maybe it's for a long term, multi year program to get going.
When I was a leader of Georgia Tech's team, we had an annual budget of at least that much to account for things like tools, safety equipment, travel, consumables, etc. in addition to the cost of the actual car. That little stuff adds up with a team of a few dozen students and multiple cars in various stages of completion, especially when adhering to the college's rules regarding safety.
Large corporate donations helped offset the big-ticket items like truck/trailer, welders, lift, but much of the annual budget was financed by student government.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm in for $250. Let's get the Smith engineers off to a good start!
Read their GoFundMe page. They are making sure they have budget for tools and travel.
Girls can't build and race cars! 
Er wait, my wife helped build and Win many races with her car.... 
I'll forward this to her and I bet she will wanna donate.
Good Luck Ladies!
I love this community. Good luck Smith College team!
DeanCase wrote: Read their GoFundMe page. They are making sure they have budget for tools and travel.
Ok, saw that. The hard one is the pulling vehicle and the trailer. That's where my highest cost parts were- the rest was on a tight budget, including the cost of the classes I took at a community college.
I did send them a possibility near here- but also suggested that they post here, as I know someone will be willing to help on a more realistic car than I found here in SE MI. Which is one cool thing about this forum.
Welcome to Smith!
I can't be the only one who had to look up Smith College of Massachusetts on wiki.
I highly recommend a build thread from the Team of Smith College while simultaneously spending time on the board learning how The Challenge works.
My other advice to Smith is to get a sit down meeting with these other Massachusetts based Kings of GRM Challenge history.
congrats to these very cool young ladies, can not wait to get my butt kicked by a bunch of girls in oct.
Good luck!
They really should be building a Yugo.
YuGo, Girl!
Welcome.
In reply to SVreX:
Ha.
Or, since they are going Miata, they could go with a Barbie Car, pink theme. I say this not because I think girls should be limited to pink cars but more because I would like to see their pink car beat down some other competitors.
Some inspirations:
In reply to John Welsh :
Maybe a tad sexist?
I fully support this effort and suggest that the event be henceforth moved to the campus of Smith College.
There was a Lemons team that did the full Barbie car thing.
They even made very large full size person boxes and had a Barbie doll and a Ken doll (real people dressed up and standing in the boxes).
It was awesome!
I'm in!
Even if you can't make a contribution, share on your Facebook page to get the word out....good publicity for challenge.
Just click on go fund link above scroll down and hit facebook/twtiter symbol
Thanks for the generosity, everyone. Looks like they're north of $3300 so far.
Have them contact me. Can't do cash, but The Mumpkin needs a new home.
In reply to SVreX:
Email them at SMITHCOLLEGERACING AT G MAIL dot COM
I did and got a quick nice response. Expect to see a build thread shortly!
Too bad they are in Mass and the transportation would be crazy because I have a Mazda 3 with a ton of good parts I'd donate to the cause. If there are any college teams here in Texas that want it reach out to me before I put it out on CL as a parts car for a grand.
TeamEvil wrote: Smith College loans money to God ! They don't need donations from anyone here. Seriously . . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Smith_College_people This isn't a college as much as a staging ground for world leaders. Look at the schools and the alumni of the schools in the North Hampton area—STAGGERING ! ! ! ! Just type "North Hampton, MA" in Google for a real education in privilege. The list of donating alumni is staggering. A handful of fifty dollar donations from a bunch of chimps won't even keep them in bottled water during their exhausting and strenuous build. I honestly suspect that the Go-Fund-Me Page is more for publicity, an attempt to appear human than an actual plea for donations. Those women live in rarified air, coming down to this level is all for show . . . this isn't real ! ! ! ! I know real racers who are women, I've helped work on their cars, what's going on here is nothing but a bid for good press for them and the college. Take your "donation" AND TREAT YOUR wife to dinner, you'll be better for it !
Did you get dumped by a Smith student at some point in your life?
Seriously, not cool. This community has always been very welcoming so let's try to keep it that way. Some colleges may have more money than others but it is no easy task funneling it into brand new clubs and organizations, especially in a niche likely crowded with FSAE, robotics, and other more established teams.
Wow, a group of students makes an attempt to join our event, and you crap all over them? Yeah, not cool. Publicity or not, they're making an attempt to join us at our event. Why would you not welcome them with open arms?
I went to a school with fairly deep pockets. We still had to raise money for our own stuff. The school helped, but not all the way. In the end we learned the fine arts of marketing, fund raising and teamwork.
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