$2019 Gastropods - come join us.

is there still valve cover racing?

Yes there is. The rules are listed in the challenge web site at 2000challenge.com

In reply to stafford1500 :

sweet. I have a G13B cam cover I've been wanting to do this with and I also have the extras from the Tib's Delta. I need to measure them though. 

$500 NMNA.

Still adding people to the pre-Challenge shirt order for the next 10 days or so. At that point I'll make a shirt order and start assembling everything. Shirts will still be available later, but you'll have to wait until after the Challenge for me to mail them to you. About 30 people on the list right now which has me excited. We're going to have ourselves a good time. 

I should buy a banquet ticket.......

Seth do you have a list or count of who is in the gastropods so far?

In reply to pimpm3 :

It's a fluid situation. I do have some people that have told me they're coming, what car they're going to be in, and how excited they are for tacos. Other people have a car and are still working on schedules. Still others are shopping. I can say that right now "greater than 10" is a reasonable guess. I think we're going to have a good time. 

I know I'm in.... I even have a source for quality parts in case I blow this one up. 

I am in for sure

Is there any kind of consensus as to what are the good 250 tw tires?  Or is the extensive testing happening secretly? ;)

In reply to Lof8 :

It seems like OLOA and GTA enthusiast class tires will be the hot choices perhaps. GTA does utilize 220tw so there is one tire they run (Achilles 123S) which won't work on a gastropod due to 220tw but the other usual suspects seem to be fine.

In no particular order the tires on my short list for gastropod contention are:

GT Radial Champiro SX2

Michelin P4S

Continental Extreme Contact Sport (and pray it rains)

this is an interesting conundrum.  I have literally no use for a 250 tw tire other than Gastropod class at the Challenge.  I'll check the tires the car came with after work and hopefully they're not too junked - and I can just use those. 

Lof8 said:

this is an interesting conundrum.  I have literally no use for a 250 tw tire other than Gastropod class at the Challenge.  I'll check the tires the car came with after work and hopefully they're not too junked - and I can just use those. 

That is much the same boat I am in. I have a set of 17x9's with re71's (not gastropod legal) which are far more fun to drive on. Or I have the stock 16" wheels with 480tw tires. My goal had been to buy a set of gasto legal tires for the 17x9's before the challenge, but my personal budget is disagreeing currently, despite challenge budget saying they're a $0 hit.

We'll have a chat about rules at the Challenge this year. I'm sure tires will be part of that discussion. I want to thank the lot of you for being understanding and just rolling with things the way they are. 

There's some good tires in the 300 TW rating. The Firehawk is a good one. I'm not allowed to buy any so I'm rolling some 500 TW mix-matched all seasons. 

Also, just realized that the host hotel is less than a mile from the wife's aunt's house. 

bobzilla said:

There's some good tires in the 300 TW rating. The Firehawk is a good one. I'm not allowed to buy any so I'm rolling some 500 TW mix-matched all seasons. 

I'm running 500 TW all seasons as well, because Indiana Winters and daily driver.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

We'll have a chat about rules at the Challenge this year. I'm sure tires will be part of that discussion. I want to thank the lot of you for being understanding and just rolling with things the way they are. 

I have lots of bad ideas I can suggest for next year.  Such as:

Gastropod tires have to be at least 600tw (what's the highest tw rating ever? can we get prius eco-tires in normal sizes)

You *must* use drag slicks on the drive wheels - including in the autocross (might be unsafe? if so never mind)

everyone has to race on the same exact set of used mud tires (not sure how we'd get them to fit every car, mind you)

Okay okay, stop pelting me with rotten fruit, I'll shut up 

bobzilla said:

There's some good tires in the 300 TW rating. The Firehawk is a good one.

The Firehawk is what I picked out. Unfortunately, I have not been afforded a chance to test them beyond holding up the car....

In reply to klodkrawler05 :

I haven’t bought them yet, but I found a set of 300AAA tires in 18”s called the Cosmo MM for $287ish with free shipping from Priority Tire.  I don’t know anything about them, but the few reviews I found were positive and it appears they make them in quite a few sizes.  It’s the only new tire I’ve found that is personal budget friendly for me.

Somebody desperately needs to Gastropod this Alfa for only $1k!

our tire choice ended up as sticker fresh:

(4) 275/40-18 HANKOOK VENTUS V12 EVO2 K120 TIRES

They feel fairly soft for 320 tw..

How wide of rim for those ?

stan_d said:

How wide of rim for those ?

I've got em on 9's. I had the wheels, so was looking for a good value at the widest i could stuff on.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

This is the final T-shirt design and color. Yes, it's burgundy...

I love it! Looking forward to another year at the Challenge and good times with the slow folks.