Since I haven't been following the Gastropods thread and it's nearly 500 posts long, it would be awesome if we clarified just a bit. Is this class open to any car, purchased at any price, riding on 250+ treadwear tires, that has less than $2000 in mods (from stock)?
My understanding is normal challenge rules for budget and price of car with the following add ons
1. No recoup, parts cars, car cost and mods all in for $2000
2. One set of tires not in budget 250 tw or higher, only one set of tires used for the entire challenge. The article above says tires included, but I thought this was changed early on.
3. Reasonable functioning interiors, ie no stripped out race cars, driven to challenge a plus, not sure if it was decided how much of a plus.
4. Teams are required to have fun, I may have added that rule but seems to fit the group.
I am not the leader of this group, but we are planning on participating so this is at least my understanding. If it is incorrect then follow the leader, not my advice.
Firstly, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA oh my god this is sort of official now. Crap.
Second, rules. Everybody loves rules.
1. This has to exist within all $2000 Challenge rules. Read those rules. I'll wait.
2. This is for fun and community. I'm going to make shirts, and stickers and some sort of trophy for the highest finishing Gastropod in the overall competition. I'm not going to score the Gastropods separately because I'm not good enough at math to trust my results. I'll let Tom do that. Most of us can't build for the overall and that's fine. We don't have the time or skill or resources to score the legitimate great deals that usually need to happen to be at the pointy end. Many of us can't really justify a car that exists purely for two days of fun in the fall. This class is for those builders and those cars. Let's paddock together and hang out by the pool and sit together at the banquet and do a taco run during the middle of the day on Friday. Let's meet each other and make friends and have fun.
3. You are limited to a single set of four tires. Just like in the regular classes, those tires do not count toward your $2000 budget. Those tires have to have a treadwear rating of 250 or greater.
4. Recoup. None. If you find a gold brick under the spare tire you can use the proceeds of the sale to take your husband or wife out to a lovely dinner, but the money doesn't go back in the budget. The exception to this rule is a highly regulated list of maintenance items that are listed below, are capped at $200, and likely to change just a smidge as we get into things. Keep in mind, these must be within the normal Challenge rules. I didn't just give you an extra $200 to spend, you still have to work for it.
EDIT: The point of the limited recoup is twofold. Primarily it's to allow a bit of wiggle to allow people to get their cars reliable enough to drive across the country and come play. Breaking down sucks. Second, it's to give just a little bit of room to work the recoup game. There is no denying that being able to buy and sell and horse trade to keep the budget low is a key part to being at the pointy end. Learn to do that well, and learn to Challenge well.
5. Street cars. Wipers, interiors, lights, windows, that sort of stuff. They don't have to be street registered or driven to the event, but we'll all think you're cooler if they are.
List of recoup maintenence items:
Spark plugs, plug wires, and wearable ignition components.
Belts including timing.
Hoses, coolant, oil, fuel.
Filters, fuel, air.
Please let me know if you think you can justify anything being added to the recoup list. Remember, all of that stuff has to fit within the $200 recoup limit and you need to figure out how to recoup it in the first place, so it's unlikely you're going to be able to get all of that done without knocking a hole in your main budget. Be careful and keep your receipts.
Please drop in here or the main Gastropods thread and introduce yourself and ask questions. If you need to ask me a question that you don't want public or if you haven't joined the board yet but think you want to come in 2019, please feel free to email me at ttwo.elm@gmail.com
I would like to make a case to add "Seals and Gaskets to prevent fluid leaks" to the list of maintenance items that can be covered under the $200 recoup limit. In full disclosure, this would help our team as we need to replace valve cover gaskets and an oil pan gasket that looks like a reasonably substantial oil leak that I would not want to have on a car that is traveling any significant number of miles down the road.
My rationale to the wording was trying to come up with something limiting, but not unfair to individual teams. Some may be replacing a valve cover gasket, others a thermostat housing O ring or a transmission seal. None of these are performance enhancing and all would fall under the idea of maintenance of an old vehicle that is needed to keep it running down the road. My understanding is also that none of this would be considered under the like for like maintenance under challenge rules because it would be happening before the car was running.
I will say I am not a big fan of additional scope creep, but this did seem within the realm of what has been offered up in the original list. I would be against expanding this to cover things like starters, alternators, clutches and other external engine components, even though we have some of those being replaced in our project.
Interested to hear what everyone thinks about this.
I think successful completion of the Friday taco run should be required to place in the Gastro class.
That the sum total of my input and it is worth exactly what you paid for it. It cannot be recouped for the budget.
So how would one value a 1990 integra 4 door that I bought for my nephew for his HS car for $2150. He drove it for a little over 2 years and now is getting a newer car and I've asked to get it back for $500? FMV, $500, or am I over budget already?
Oh and Keith, You can ride with me to the challenge if you want and we can make multiple stops at taco bell along the way.
Do we need a "determine the value of my car, please?" thread?
I'm asking, because I'm going to turn over detrmining the value of one of the cars I'm bringing to the Hive. The value as obtained is $0, but it was an inside deal unavailable to the public.
I like this because it seems to fall in line with original premise of the original Challenge: "What's the best car that you can find for $1500?".
This might encourage me to participate and drive back down to FL again (helped out in 2017). I don't have maddskillz to make a crazy $2k car, but I might be able to find and do something fun with a regular $2kish vehicle. Fun being the emphasis, much like my rallycross and autocross skills. (Hell, I bought the current xB for $2500.)
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