So the team I’m on raced at Pittsburg last weekend in a double 7 event. Here is my short write up that I put on the chumpcar forums,
Aaron, from #149 integra (spork sports racing) here.
First of all thanks to the organizers, racers, and track, it was a great event and can’t wait to come back to this track/event next year. (or maybe even sooner in my M50 E30 to get a taste of RWD)
This was our team’s 3rd race but only my first time getting to drive in a race. Our car crashed at the glen before my first stint and I had wrist surgery that took me out of the Nelson race so I was so excited to get some real seat time. It almost didn’t happen this time as our car was hit early into practice on friday by that blue GTI with the fender flares. Luckily we had all the suspension bits needed and banged out some fenders and got back on track.
I got to lead off the Saturday race to ensure I actually got to say that I’ve really did pop my wheel to wheel cherry and I was excited because I love a wet track. I pushed hard but safe for the almost 2 hour stint and was told I took us from 24th to something like 10th. I couldn’t be happier. The rest of our drivers including one new to chump also did great but unfortunately our transmission died and we spent 3 hours replacing it managing to get back on track for like 15 minutes at the end of the day. At this point we had never finished a day without losing and engine, transmission or whole chassis.
Sunday the plan was make the car last! We put our rookie driver out first and he did great. I was up second and felt I did pretty well and really got the race line down but started to feel problems under braking. Our third driver went out and unfortunately found out that it was the axle letting go and it snapped. Not knowing this we all thought the day might be over. Upon getting towed back we quickly found out it was the axle and after I jumped that chain link fence above the pits for probably my 100th time we got the car running spending under ten minutes total in the pits. We survived the rest of the day and got all the way back up the 13th place which is our first good finish and most importantly our first race without something really bad happening.
It’s really amazing how much about endurance racing we continue to learn and I know we will come back even stronger and most importantly with more clean finishes next year.
and here is the video of the stupid accident in practice where some novice driver got lost (he claimed his brakes failed, who know if it’s half true). Our car is ahead to the left when the video starts. Don’t take that one guy as an indicator of most chump drivers, we have a bit of everything really from a guy on a grand am team who was in the pits next to us all the way down to nothing, but most people have a ton of track time or tend to just stay out of the way during the race.
I can’t be enough of an evangelist for chumpcar. you basically spend $1000/person a weekend for every possible expense inc. lodging, and transit (based on a double 7 event with 4 drivers) and get 4 hours of wheel to wheel racing each plus a practice day on Friday normally… why doesn’t everybody on here start a team?
$300 entry fee
$300 fuel (incl towing to and from event etc) maybe 7 gal/hour for our teg.
$100 brakes and tires
$100 hotel
$100 food/misc
and that’s not incl. buying/building or renting the car.
so $1000 is a reasonable average across many events. Racing is not a cheap hobby, but if you look at the $/hour compared to any other club racing this is cheap. ($200/hour)
Have you ever raced with LeMons, or are you making that comment based on perception?
It is far easier to make a competitive car for less money in LeMons. Chump is too serious in my opinion, it’s ONLY about the racing. LeMons is about racing, unique cars, the atmosphere, great conduct on and off the track. LeMons is give and take, Chump is take, take, take.
Compared to my last Watkins Glen event with NASA:
$675 entry fee + practice on Friday (~4.5 hours on track)
$250 fuel
$250 brakes (cheap for SpecE30)
$0 really old tires (:()
$75 food
$0 sleeping in my own bed and driving each morning
I’m not trying to turn this into a Chump vs. LeMons debate, but I do want to offer up some cost comparative so $1000 per weekend isn’t as intimidating, and encourage others to take on the challenge. Here is what I can come up with for someone that wants to get into real driving:
The first thing is you can have up to 6 drivers per team, this brings theblue’s closer to $666.67 per weekend. You can camp at the track (for LeMons this is THE place to be), this would change to $600 per weekend. Food, well, you gotta eat anyways, even though it is part of the weekend it is part of any weekend away from home $533. (probably entry fee total would go up $200 for 2 extra drivers so $566). Yes, the cost per hour is the same, the cost per “experience” is $433 less. You will never win a 7+7 race with 6 drivers all getting equal seat time each day, this is for fun.
$400 total for brakes and tires per weekend is right on after you have a good inventory built up. However, if a team was going for a LeMons “C” class car then used tires would be appropriate. Still should spend $200 on brake pads though.
Now here is the part that makes LeMons much more cost attractive. To do well in an average Chump race you have to have good equipment at the beginning of each 7 hour race. You have to have good tires to last 7 hours (especially on a FWD) and good pads. LeMons on the other hand has a 10 hour Saturday, 4.5 hours Sunday format. Which means you put good stuff on Saturday. But on Sunday you can really play around with your used inventory. The other thing about LeMons, if you are out of the race on Sunday morning, this is the really fun part, put on stuff you would only use for practice and use up the 1/8" brake pads, and cord the bald tires. You can save the good stuff for the next race.
How much do people around here spend on a turbo kit to do a couple pulls on zee highway? The cost per mile actually raced is far cheaper in LeMons & Chump.
How much did you spend on your s2k?, and how many miles have you driven at readline, around corners, at full lateral grip, with another car at your side?
^
a fair argument and good points. I will warn you guys that if you go racing with 6 drivers somebody’s going to get the competitive bug and realize how much this hurts and two people will mysteriously die Saturday night.
I like to say $1000 to people because if this really scares you off then you probably shouldn’t go. If it doesn’t scare you off then often you’ll come home with some of that cash.
Nobody leaves these events not wanting to come back.
It’s not just the $1000 that should/could scare people off. It’s the writing off the hours and dollars invested in building a car that might not make the trip back for one reason or another.
Find me an E36 BMW or a v6 swapped MR2 for $500. The teams that win in chump spend a good amount of money more to get around some “rules”. I enjoy the skill of the people on the track more in chump, but the whole fucking point is to race cheap. It’d be nice to have a chance to win if everything plays out really well during the race. Not dumbed down spec miatas that magically make it through tech with 0 penalty laps. The main goal is really getting seat time and having fun and obviously winning is something that most try to achieve. But if you’re really taking it that seriously to win, go race spec miata or spec E30 or something. I’ll still vote Lemons, a way better overall experience.The word grassroots needs a new definition.
