$2019 Gastropods - come join us.

My current build would be registerable in Michigan, but darned near anything is. See Tom Bailey's 6 second Camaro.

DeadSkunk said:

So, just so I've got this straight. This is a tire class (250 +) with no recouping, but anything else that fits the Challenge rules is still good?

Seth has been keeping the first entry on this thread updated with the specifics of the formula. Consult that post for definative directions.

Otherwise, yes.

DeadSkunk said:

So, just so I've got this straight. This is a tire class (250 +) with no recouping, but anything else that fits the Challenge rules is still good?

250tw+, only those four tires, road stuff, interiors, no recouping. All other Challenge rules apply. 

There are a million reasons to bring any Challenge legal car to the Challenge and compete and hang out even if you're not competing for the snail. 

Robbie said:

I'm in for gastroprep home reno team. Meaning both that I will help and my house needs work, of course.

Can I pay the gastroprep team in B15 Sentra SpecV rallyx cars?

I need a fence.

I propose we award a mollusk trophy, that is a shell-less snail (otherwise known as a.slug),  for the last place gastropod. Sort of like finishing at the bottom of your class at West Point. I'll volunteer to make the trophy if we do.

From calvin and hobbes:

The grossest thing is a slug. What could be grosser than an inch-long living booger?

In reply to Robbie :

Get someone on the west coast to send in a banana slug, they're more like a 5" long booger.

I love it.  I hope i own the car that fits best long enough to do it.  I don't know if I can survive dailying an automatic for that long though.

RedGT said:

I love it.  I hope i own the car that fits best long enough to do it.  I don't know if I can survive dailying an automatic for that long though.

 

Just convert to paddle shifters and pretend it's a Ferrari or Porsche pdk

Finish kitchens? I happen to know a guy that does hardware store things. Pretty good at screens. Would trade labor for a 2007ish hyundai accent hatchback. Manual. 

Just a heads up, if you look at the $2000 Challenge stuff you can win page there are categories for 200TW and 300TW. I still want to leave things at 250 for this year to see how things shake out (sorry AnthonyGS) but keep that in mind when you do tire choice. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

The rules refer to a “daily driver” class with 300tw. Is that different than the Gpod class?

We should talk with Tom about aligning the daily driver class with the gastropods. Easier in the long run...

Long time forum browser, new to the forum... I’ve been stalking all the build threads leading up to the $2018 challenge. Have been fighting the craving for a project car for quite a while. This thread put the final nail in the coffin. Been searching local Craig’s list adds and facebook market place. This seems like a very achievable goal for less than a year with my current schedule. I’ll be doing my best to make this happen, awesome goal to work towards! 

pimpm3 said:

We should talk with Tom about aligning the daily driver class with the gastropods. Easier in the long run...

I agree. 

In reply to Jpbrienp :

This makes me happy. Glad to have you on board. 

Verdestein offers a 300TW in a large range of sizes (the sportrac5) and is a forum advertiser, that makes my tire selection at 300tw easy. 

captdownshift said:

Verdestein offers a 300TW in a large range of sizes (the sportrac5) and is a forum advertiser, that makes my tire selection at 300tw easy. 

I find it funny that I never even noticed this.

Ovid_and_Flem said:

Synopsis of rules discussion:

1.  No recoup

2.  All fluids exempt.

3.  300+ TW tires...$400 of which is exempt?

4.  Street legal/registerable

5.  Finished interior

6.  Comply with challenge/NHRA safety rules

7.  Routine maintenace exemptions

8.  Concours bonus points if driven to event?

I started to go back through this but did not see an answer, rule 8 above routine maintenance exemptions, there was some talk of a specific list of items that would be considered. Timing belt, alternator, starter, plugs, wires, coolant hoses, etc, nothing internal. I am one of those crazy people that thought getting a group of high school students together and enter a car is a good idea. One of the skills to teach in this process is putting together a budget and then showing how things change as you go along. Some of this items are going to need to be replaced on our car, and when you are sticking to a $2000 budget with no recoup even a couple hundred dollars of maintenance makes a big hit. I am all for restricting the maintenance exemptions, I just want to follow the rules (another good lesson for teenagers to learn).

We have been focused on safety items and things that make a car functional, clearly any performance enhancing items fo on the budget. My question is what about things like ball joints and tie rod ends? Stock replacements of course, not hiem jointed performance pieces. To be clear, I am not asking for scope creep, I just want to be clear what the rules are and will follow them.

My guys have come up with $4000 worth of ideas, and are having to learn the lesson of what gives the most bang for the buck, and how to make choices. These are all good things but there is a part of me that would rather see them use $200 for some custom part they build rather than spent on maintenance items. 

Again we will abide by whatever the rules are, and if this was covered and I missed it, sorry I just didn't want to read all 12 pages.

The replacement parts discussion is within the regular challenge rules and to be honest I'm not sure what they decided on that. I'll try to find that thread and link to it when I get home. 

I look forward to seeing a group of HS students that figure this stuff out. I just had a conversation with my 16 year old about how much effort/money it takes to make that $1000 craigslist car work the way you think it should work. 

Edit: This is the rule as proposed by Tom in this thread.

Maintenance is a reality of vehicle ownership, especially when that vehicle is used for competition. We understand that many $2000 Challenge cars can be unreliable, as a winning entry only needs to run for one autocross run and one drag race. With this in mind, competitors may replace parts that break during other competitions, daily driving, trips to or from the $2000 Challenge and competition during the $2000 Challenge, with identical or as-close-to-identical-as-possible parts without adding to or subtracting from their budgets. Any parts replaced under this exemption must be listed on the budget sheet as exempt, with an explanation of why this failure was not expected and budgeted for in advance. Parts may not be replaced at no budget impact under this rule if they were broken or heavily degraded when the car was purchased, or if the competitor knew failure was likely due to modifications. In the case of a protest that deals with a part or parts replaced under this rule, a group of nine event attendees will be selected by GRM staff, and they will vote to determine whether the part replaced without budget impact was fairly exempted.

How abouta 600 dollar impreza

In reply to Jaynen :

I'd rock that.

I'm calling my  gastropod e46 a fully functioning car at this point as the VCG replacement cured the atrocious burning oil smell in the cabin.  The only remaining issue is the sunroof is inoperable and will stay that way indefinitely.

The real life cost tally is $1487.25 which includes $257 of GRM-exempt tire and oil change stuff.  Am commuting in it right now, 800 miles so far.  I wouldn't be afraid to drive it to florida this weekend.  I'll probably autocross it next weekend.

If I understand correctly, from here I can fix/maintain normal things that break and not blow the 'theoretical' budget, but there is a real life budget in effect so it's probably a race against time as to whether or not something really expensive breaks and I fire-sale the car before next October.  Or totally lose my mind and buy a 'nice' manual-trans version instead.

RedGT said:

I'm calling my  gastropod e46 a fully functioning car at this point as the VCG replacement cured the atrocious burning oil smell in the cabin.  The only remaining issue is the sunroof is inoperable and will stay that way indefinitely.

I'm kind of curious to hear what Gastropods think of "sunroof deletes"... is this considered "too much prep" ?

RedGT says

If I understand correctly, from here I can fix/maintain normal things that break and not blow the 'theoretical' budget, but there is a real life budget in effect so it's probably a race against time as to whether or not something really expensive breaks and I fire-sale the car before next October.  Or totally lose my mind and buy a 'nice' manual-trans version instead.

Yes, you are correct as long as you aren't a dick about it. Replace with like for like, meaning if the radiator pops, you get another stock one in similar condition to the one you have now. Not a free aluminum dual row blah blah blah.

Why wouldn't a sunroof delete be allowed in gastropod?