Track Cars.. On a Budget.

[rice_classic]

Budget track to me =/= anything with an engine swap.

Reason: Time = money. Making things complicated either takes more time, costs more money or both.

Be careful, our attraction to "the shiny object" is powerful and it can lead one quickly away from being on track to being stuck on jack stands really fast. Stay strong and be diligent to avoid vehicles that are garage-queens, time-vacuums, money pits etc.

And remember this when it comes to the race track: Speed = money^2. Basically, the faster you go, the cost of doing so grows exponentially. Example: My race car is that white CRX posted earlier. An average racing weekend is $1000/weekend (all-in and amortized). So a race season is $8-15k. This year it more because I built a motor, transmission and then rolled the car so there's that.

My friend races a WRX with 3x the horsepower. It does lap times that are ~10 seconds faster. Do you know what he spends to operate the car for 60 minutes on track? $1800 just-to-run-it. That figure accounts for brake/tire/engine/trans wear. Tire budgets, engine and drivetrain builds are ridiculous. So his race weekends all-in and amortized to include over all costs, towing, entry fees, test days etc, are closer to $4500/weekend. Just to go 10 measly seconds faster. So he's not going 4x faster, but he's spending more than 4x as much. So keep that in mind when applying cars to the track. And it's not just going faster, it's also the brand of car. I run faster than many of the PRO3 cars (aka: Spec E30) and they're spending 3x as much as I do on their cars yet I'm passing half of their field. Part of the reason is that every part labeled "BMW" costs whole bunches more than equivalent part labeled "Honda" or "Mazda".

I did a FULL build on my D16. New valve guides, machine work, blue-print/balance, pistons, seals blah blah blah.. The whole damn thing to the limit the rule book.. Spent less $2k and it'll last me 3-4 race season before I need to "freshen" it up. The Transmission was about the same (New FD, New synchros, bearings and Plate LSD) and it will go 3 season as well. A K-motor will cost you 3 times that and will last you half that (YMMV).

So yeah.. Remember the word BUDGET track car and avoid the shiny object.

[WolfpackS2k]

I'm looking to form a ChumpCar team with a few friends in the area and we've concluded that the best car to get for this series is a 92-93 Integra. Lightweight, dead reliable engine with decent power and a very favorable MPV ranking.

Anyone have an opinion on this?


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[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

I'm looking to form a ChumpCar team with a few friends in the area and we've concluded that the best car to get for this series is a 92-93 Integra. Lightweight, dead reliable engine with decent power and a very favorable MPV ranking.

Anyone have an opinion on this?

We are building a Chumpcar right now too. We came to the same conclusion as yourself about the Integra but we already had a half caged CRX sitting around along with lots-o-spares since a couple of us already race them. But the Teg "should" be a damn strong candidate.

[n8dog11914]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

We are building a Chumpcar right now too. We came to the same conclusion as yourself about the Integra but we already had a half caged CRX sitting around along with lots-o-spares since a couple of us already race them. But the Teg "should" be a damn strong candidate.

The LeMons team I run with has an 89 Civic they have been running with a B20 the last couple years. Dead reliable cars with good power to have fun. You really can't beat em'. LeMons all up costs me in the realm of $300-450 per race for arrive and drive and that's assuming we need new tires.

Chump is a bit more competitive