greg1647545532 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Thought I'd share some pictures that Downforce Media captured from the NASA event a couple weekends ago. I entered my ChumpCar in the inaugural TREC 4-hour endurance race and co-drove with one of my neighbors. It rained most of the day and we took about a half-hour break in the middle of the race due to lightning, so all of these pictures are from the qualifying session which was only about half rain. Bonus picture of my KMiata going through T1, after years of running baby slicks I bought some 15x9s and asked my tire guy for the fattest tire I could fit under an NB without modifying the fenders. This is more mechanical grip than I've ever had before and I need to re-calibrate my brain, I figure I'm leaving 2 seconds a lap on the table because I kept anticipating understeer that never came. Something to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeROC Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Hell yeah man, looks fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Love this. I ragret not buying your Integra...baby stuff, ya know. Glad to see the E36 on the track! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 :masturboy: Dat plate on the miata doe.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Love this. I ragret not buying your Integra...baby stuff, ya know. Glad to see the E36 on the track! I ended up giving the teg to my nephew, he needed some direction so his dad is going to finish it with him. Getting the E36 back together was a bit of a mad dash but then it did what it does, run all day without issue. Of course with the rain we barely got anything warm all day... tires still look brand new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10phone2 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 good stuff. whats the setup on the e36 ( I currently have one)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstmg8 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Awesome. What tire size did you end up getting under the Miata? Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 good stuff. whats the setup on the e36 ( I currently have one)? We've focused almost everything on safety, maintenance, and reliability. We've got an M3 diff ready to go in, and M3 springs on it now, but that's it for go-fast parts. Awesome. What tire size did you end up getting under the Miata? Whopping 245s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Sounds like a great weekend, thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suprafiedd Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Looks like it was a blast.. Can't wait to get back to Mid-Ohio in September and hopefully sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 That license plate is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstmg8 Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 Greg, how much would you say you have invested in a dependable chump car? Not including racing equipment. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted June 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 The #1 problem with cheap endurance racing is time -- everyone wants to show up to the party, nobody wants to stay and clean up. My cousin lives in DC, he bought this car in 2016 and we only worked on it when I was out that way for work and actually had some free time. So, hardly ever. We ended up paying for a bunch of labor, so keep that in mind, but also I think that's a realistic option. Car - $3000 (130k miles) Safety Equipment by Piper Motorsports in Sterling, VA (Seats, Cage, Harnesses, Fire system, window nets, kill switch) - $7500 Suspension refresh and reinforcement by RRT in NoVA - $4500 Miscellaneous go fast upgrades - $2000 So we're about $17k in right now and we're not competitive. Fortunately we're dividing everything 3 ways. Obviously you can do it for less but the days of true $500 cars racing are long gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted June 12, 2020 Report Share Posted June 12, 2020 appreciate you posting in here, so little racing content anymore on columbusracing. was half interested in chumpcar with my e36 once upon a time, cost and labor turned me off for now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted June 12, 2020 Report Share Posted June 12, 2020 Rymer complains about racing but does none himself. :gabe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10phone2 Posted June 12, 2020 Report Share Posted June 12, 2020 The #1 problem with cheap endurance racing is time -- everyone wants to show up to the party, nobody wants to stay and clean up. My cousin lives in DC, he bought this car in 2016 and we only worked on it when I was out that way for work and actually had some free time. So, hardly ever. We ended up paying for a bunch of labor, so keep that in mind, but also I think that's a realistic option. Car - $3000 (130k miles) Safety Equipment by Piper Motorsports in Sterling, VA (Seats, Cage, Harnesses, Fire system, window nets, kill switch) - $7500 Suspension refresh and reinforcement by RRT in NoVA - $4500 Miscellaneous go fast upgrades - $2000 So we're about $17k in right now and we're not competitive. Fortunately we're dividing everything 3 ways. Obviously you can do it for less but the days of true $500 cars racing are long gone. man holy fuck thats pricey. I'm curious, what you do think you would have to do to get competitive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted June 12, 2020 Report Share Posted June 12, 2020 Cheap car racing is expensive. Try to get some quotes on what it takes to field a competitive spec Miata. Then think about how that applies to faster classes and series like IMSA or top level SCCA, NASA, etc. it gets crazy pretty quickly. That’ll continue to keep me out of car racing unfortunately. Kart racing at a club level is about as rich as my blood will get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted June 15, 2020 Report Share Posted June 15, 2020 Rymer complains about racing but does none himself. :gabe: How'd you do in that last 944 race? I'll get my track fix one $200 hpde at a time. Until then, I'll be 3-honkin it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morabu Posted June 15, 2020 Report Share Posted June 15, 2020 How'd you do in that last 944 race? I'll get my track fix one $200 hpde at a time. Until then, I'll be 3-honkin it where are you seeing $200? I'm trying to do one. $300 is all i see at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10phone2 Posted June 15, 2020 Report Share Posted June 15, 2020 Nelson has some for low $200 and there are driver boot camps the same price. havent been to one myself, but took a quick peek. $195 at nelson: http://autointerests.com/omo-hpde-nelson-ledges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted June 15, 2020 Report Share Posted June 15, 2020 How'd you do in that last 944 race? I'll get my track fix one $200 hpde at a time. Until then, I'll be 3-honkin it Gotcha. :gabe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1647545532 Posted June 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2020 man holy fuck thats pricey. I'm curious, what you do think you would have to do to get competitive? Maybe 2-4 grand, we really need to cut weight and while I do have some more free weight savings to do there are a lot of "open" (no points assessed) items that nevertheless cost money. Wheels are open but the wheels pictured are 25 lb OEM M3 wheels because I can't afford forged race wheels, we're only running 235s because of the narrow wheels, entire braking system is open but lightweight AP calipers cost money, exhaust is open but we're running stock (with cats) because a race exhaust is $800. I'd really like to have oil, trans, diff coolers with proper temperature monitoring, but you know... money. Etc. I do want to emphasize again that we paid retail labor rates for things like new ball joins and tie rods, and we paid retail labor rates for ALL of the safety equipment. You can also find a deal on racing junk and do this for cheaper. But even discounting the price of the car, dollar for dollar a minute of track time at a ChumpCar race has ended up being more expensive than a minute of track time at a HPDE weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted June 15, 2020 Report Share Posted June 15, 2020 where are you seeing $200? I'm trying to do one. $300 is all i see at the moment Gotta have that hookup! Sometimes you get a discount if you only do 1-day of a 2-day event Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coltboostin Posted June 17, 2020 Report Share Posted June 17, 2020 The #1 problem with cheap endurance racing is time -- everyone wants to show up to the party, nobody wants to stay and clean up. So we're about $17k in right now and we're not competitive. Fortunately we're dividing everything 3 ways. Obviously you can do it for less but the days of true $500 cars racing are long gone. I agree 100% on commitment. But, I will say GrassRoots Shootout is still fun on a true budget. I feel like GrassRoots, or Lemons. After that, you may as well do a B spec or Spec Miata and actually race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted June 17, 2020 Report Share Posted June 17, 2020 I'm tearing up a bit at the honesty around what's spent on the E36, and you're still not competitive. It's a tough hobby but I do love seeing guys that throw themselves into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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