What ever happened to that motorcycle V4 powered nissan Challenge thing?

I enjoyed checking it out at the challenge a few years ago, 2008 i believe, and had hoped it would end up running that year which apparently wasn't in the cards, but i never heard anything about it again. whose car was that? did he get it running?

Oh yeah, the red Celica?

i thought it was a nissan 200sx or something but i really dont recall, youre probably right. what i do recall is that the throttlebodies were sticking through the hood, it had no glass, had big problems getting megasquirt working on it, and was flat towed to the challenge behind a yellow jeep wrangler.

i think you're right, an almost brown/red version of this body celica?

This little guy? 'Twas a Corolla if I remember correctly. I'd be interested to know where it ended up, I was interested in picking it up as a daily when it was still in NH.

If I remember correctly they appeared to be building it in the parking lot... Maybe that could be a new award "Best Car assembled in parking lot of event"

Here's the thread I remember, it took a google image search for "grm corolla v-4 megasquirt" to find it.

That was me.

I had decided to just shoot for the moon and it was too much. Another year of working on it would have gotten it somewhere but that pesky thing called "life" caught up with me a week after that challenge when I got laid off and had to move and lose my space to work on the car.

We were living in Naples, FL and there was just absolutely no economy for my education/experience. My amazing girlfriend Rebecca, the one in the picture who owns (and still dd's) the yellow jeep had 9 months left on her house lease. I moved in with her for most of that time while we decided where to move to. I basically spent that entire time working as many hours as I could at the bike shop job I was lucky to get. Then spending the rest of my time job searching and applying for jobs in the few cities we were looking to move to. So I had no time and had to save everything to pay for the move, especially because I knew that I would most likely not be able find something before actually being up where we are now, in DC.

We moved up here in early Fall of 09 and I started my current job that december. so life is pretty good now but I had to leave the car at my friends when we moved up with no place to store it here and no easy way to get it here. i still don't have a place to store another car and the costs to transport the car up here are way more than what i can pick up a cleaner shell of a car for here. the body is well on it's way to being gone, one of the reasons it was offered free to a GRM'er when i picked it up.

I ended up gifting it to my friend who's been storing it all this time this past january. he's an engineer by trade and builds boats/swamp buggys in his spare time (yeah, those swamp buggies that race) so he'll put it to good use.

looking back, i'm actually really embarrassed about showing up with that car in the shape it was. i never know when to quit and wish I had just say "ok, that's it for this year" and just enjoyed everyone there more. we met so many incredible people and I can't even begin to express my gratitude to everyone who pitched in or kept me/us company while at that challenge.

when we moved up here and I finally found a great job with good pay, I got the itch again of course. It just didn't make sense to try again yet so I got a solid promise that if I put it off for a year, that she would help me build the next one. we're looking at picking up just the start of a car and just doing enough for it to run (no crazy engine swaps, etc..) to bring down for this year, then really build it for next. even if we have to put it off for another year, I really want to come to experience everyone else's cars this year.

No need to feel embarrassed. Several cars have had worse showings!

Wreck Racing's Miata which won the overall this year was beaten on the dragstrip last year by two old farts on a single speed tandem bicycle!

Your effort was more appreciated than you realize. Lots of people TALK about building a motorcycle powered car (including me). Only 1 person has brought one to the Challenge.

Come back and join the party (with or without a car)! Besides, your girlfriend drives a cool Jeep.

You made it a lot further than the folks who haven't progressed beyond posting snarky comments on message boards about how the Challenge is bullcrap. That is something to be proud of. We hope to see you back real soon.

jg

Thanks guys, we will be

Embarrassed? Heck, your thrashing away in the parking lot trying to get that crazy Frankenstein machine together was a huge highlight for all! It's guys like you with crazy ideas that make the Challenge so much fun. The fact that your team was friendly to all, and seemed to have a good time regardless of the frustration really sums up the spirit of the Challenge.

Sorry the car didn't work out, but there will be others. Thanks for at least giving it a go last year. Hopefully we'll see you there again soon. Don't think for a minute that you weren't a big part of last year's event though!

definitely dont need to be embarrassed. i'm just glad i got so see something as weirdly cool as that thing, i was just hoping it might someday make a fully functioning appearance, but life sure can change plans.

and you shirley need to take her up on her offer. hope to see you guys at another future one!

JG Pasterjak wrote: You made it a lot further than the folks who haven't progressed beyond posting snarky comments on message boards about how the Challenge is bullcrap. That is something to be proud of. We hope to see you back real soon. jg

Lawlz. And I REALLY hate that I never got to hear/see that thing run.

poopshovel wrote: Lawlz. And I REALLY hate that I never got to hear/see that thing run.

you and me both!

thanks for the kind words, guys.

as for a BEC challenger, all the ingredients were there with room to spare in the budget. recipe just didn't come together this time. I am sure that it can be done

only on Planet GRM would people still be talking with admiration about a POS they saw not running2.5 years ago. i'm pretty sure that car won the evilalliancetrophy...

which reminds me: jhaas, gimme back my trophy!

AngryCorvair wrote: only on Planet GRM would people still be talking with admiration about a POS they saw not running2.5 years ago. i'm pretty sure that car won the evilalliancetrophy...

ahahaha so right i suppose

AngryCorvair wrote: only on Planet GRM would people still be talking with admiration about a POS they saw not running2.5 years ago. i'm pretty sure that car won the evilalliancetrophy... which reminds me: jhaas, gimme back my trophy!

Yeah, whaddupwidat trophy? I still have my hat, but I'm really hoping that I'll get that trophy on the second try. ;)

Bryce