Perhaps a definition of the classes somewhere in the article would be helpful?
Photography Credit: Dave Green
Where can you find an automotive festival that's dedicated to celebrating autocross, drag racing and–most importantly–low-buck ingenuity? That's right, the Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge presented by Tire Rack.
So, who had the fastest low-buck machine? That honor goes to Michael Hoffstetter and his BMW-powered 1999 Mazda Miata in first overall, followed by Robbie Cutcliffe and his Formula 440-powered 1965 Datsun 1500 Roadster in second and Steve Stafford and his wild-bodied 1985 Chevrolet Corvette in third.
For their efforts, each one wins a big trophy and a gift card from Tire Rack: $1000 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place.
The $2000 Challenge is our annual motorsports competition that pits cars built for less than $2000 against those built–or even bought–for more.
Unlike other budget-oriented racing events, the $2000 Challenge offers very little in the way of budget exemptions, and encourages speed and hard work more than showmanship or flair. Full details about rules, classing and more can be found at 2000challenge.com/rules, but here’s a quick rundown:
Each car is placed into one of three classes. Each class is split into two sub-classes, one for over-budget cars and one for under-budget cars. The classes are as follows:
Great Tire Narrow (GTN): For cars equipped with 200tw rated or higher tires with a labeled tire width less than or equal to 225mm.
Great Tire Wide (GTW): For cars equipped with 200tw rated or higher tires with a labeled tire width less than or equal to 285mm.
Great Tire Unlimited (GTU): For cars equipped with all other tires (including slicks, etc.)
Cars competing with budget limitations add suffix “$” to their class abbreviation. (For example, a Great Tire Narrow entry built for under $2000 would display “GTN$”.)
The event is divided up into three sessions over two days. First is the autocross session, which requires entrants to skillfully navigate a narrow course of cones as quickly as possible. Any cones hit during the run add a 2-second penalty to the run time.
Entries are allowed a maximum of six autocross runs. Pro drivers are also available to teams and using a pro driver counts towards the six-run limit.
Following the autocross is the drag racing session. Just as the name suggests, entrants must launch their car from a stop and complete a ¼ mile in a straight line as quickly as possible, per standard drag racing practices. Pro drivers are not available for this portion of the event.
The next day, entrants must display their cars in a concours-style event. Each car is then judged on innovation, execution and presentation out of a possible 25 total points. Only $2000 budget-restricted cars can compete in the concours portion of the event.
The full field of $2000 Challenge winners are as follows:
Catch up on all the action at the $2000 Challenge Live Thread and Look for full coverage of the $2000 Challenge in an upcoming issue of Grassroots Motorsports. Visit 2000challenge.com for future updates.
The Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge is presented by Tire Rack in association with CRC Industries and Miller Electric, with trophies from ACI Automotive & Performance and Trakkrats.
Perhaps a definition of the classes somewhere in the article would be helpful?
In reply to newrider3 :
Basically six classes. You have narrow (GTN) tires, wide tires (GTW) and unlimited tires (GTU). GTN and GTW are 200TW tires and GTU is anything else. Then the car is either under $2000 or it's not. The under cars have a $ sign added to their class designation.
Congrats everyone!
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:In reply to newrider3 :
Basically six classes. You have narrow (GTN) tires, wide tires (GTW) and unlimited tires (GTU). GTN and GTW are 200TW tires and GTU is anything else. Then the car is either under $2000 or it's not. The under cars have a $ sign added to their class designation.
Warren Martin,'99 Miata,'03 CooperS,06 Scion Xb ,73 Corolla SR5, 2019 GMC Canyon
Exactly. A breakdown of classes can be found here:
Thanks for joining us, everybody!
Hey Tom, did I get the lowest concours score ever?
In reply to Evan Williams :
I believe you did--congratulations!
In reply to Evan Williams :
I tried to be nice then reconsidered and took some points away.
That build book was hilarious. Just 3 pieces of paper each with 1 line of 12 point font.
Team members: Evan
Build story: I bought a BMW for $2000.
Receipts: $2000 BMW 535
I realized on the way home I didn't include the bill of sale. I can post it with personal info reacted if there any concerns about my purchase price but it's legit. Next up is fixing the transmission and selling, but I am having some dirty thoughts about selling the whole interior to myself and getting an eBay tune and tires to come back next year...
Displaying 1-10 of 30 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
