$2000 Challenge: Cosworth Vega-powered MG that helped start it all

• Entrant: Mike Guido
• Event year: 1999
• Budget spent: <$1500

Here’s the car that got everyone talking all those years ago. The masses just couldn’t believe Mike Guido’s MG Midget: a build involving an engine swap and a repaint for less than $1500 tota…

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“No way,” they said, “you can’t paint a car for less than $1500.”

I always like running older values through an inflation calculator.

$1500 in 2025 money? About $2900.

David S. Wallens said:

“No way,” they said, “you can’t paint a car for less than $1500.”

Patrick and I will be showing up with a freshly painted Challenge car. I can find paint for $10-12 a gallon.

David S. Wallens said:

“No way,” they said, “you can’t paint a car for less than $1500.”

IIRC, that was one of very many claims made against Mike's project.

(and looking back, I wish I knew where one could find a cheap CRX SI powertrain, but that's just wishing.)

In reply to alfadriver :

It was, as I recall, the biggest complaint. People didn’t seem to mention the runs, drips and errors, however. 

Is there any more information available on that car?  It seems like a good read.

Noddaz said:

Is there any more information available on that car?  It seems like a good read.

IIRC, there was a feature article about this car back in 2000.  

But it would be entertaining if someone could fire up the way back machine to read the board discussions of this car from way back.  

 "No way a clown could build a car like that, no matter if he's the World's Fastest!"

btw, what's a 'Verga'?

In reply to alfadriver :

Different board then.  Might be able to find it on an archive site.

In reply to racerfink :

I was going to ask if this was the clown, though I don't remember exactly how that was connected to him.  And did he go by Swarf or Swarfie or something like that on the forum?  Doesn't seem that long ago, but a quarter century has passed since then.

Let me see what we can find....

Apis Mellifera said:

In reply to racerfink :

I was going to ask if this was the clown, though I don't remember exactly how that was connected to him.  And did he go by Swarf or Swarfie or something like that on the forum?  Doesn't seem that long ago, but a quarter century has passed since then.

I'm drawing a blank on Swarfalot's real name right now. He was an engineering madman, I do know that much. Unfortunately, he passed away several years ago. I believe the Best Engineered award was named after him for a while.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Garrett, perhaps? 

Some talk about friends we’ve lost here in this thread: Berkley cancer. M030 content.

I found this old thread from November of '09, talking about Guido's time in Rennie Bryant's IMSA GTU BMW.  Guido's name here is FastClown.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/the-clowns-e30/16252/page1/

In reply to racerfink :

do you mean Vega? the Vega was a sub compact car from GM, most notably a competitor to the Honda civic. the Vega used the iron duke 4 cylinder, the same great engine (not) that powered the first Fiero's (mid engined sports car of sorts). 

Cosworth came involved when Mr. Delorean was ahead of Pontiac and wantaed a sports subcompact, hence the Cosworth Vega, which on paper had a super nice engine - very light, 16 valve twincam with cosworth's narrow head design. the block was diecast, and featured linerless cylinders - its downfall. Reynolds Aluminum  had convinced GM at making a linerless engine block which had a very high silicon content making it ''easy" to etch the cylinder to take away the aluminum but leave the silicon (very hard surface) it worked in the laboratory but at the time with labor unrest and GM's penny pitching, never achieved the results they wanted. Back in the day my uncle ran a shop fixing theses engines, either by resurfaceing the bores or machining in cast iron liners. the resurfacing needed the block removed cleaned and degreased. heated to 75 degree C and applied a corrosive chemical (same chemicals used in oven cleaners) at a set time before being removed from the oven and thoughly cleaned again. also the break-in period was very long in general because you had to use chrome plated rings which took forever to embed themselves. it was just easier to machine out space for liners and much easier to rehone when rebuilding. these engines were at the time used in F2000 both in Europe and north America for a few yrs. 

I was referring to the spelling error that someone has since corrected.

😂

And speaking of the Challenge...

Guido's Midget was the inspiration for us to do our BMW in 2002. We had quite a few conversations with him where he let us know we'd be questioned/criticized by other competitors about our build if it looked too good (he was right). In fact, I will always remember the first comment from another competitor when we first rolled up with the car at Suddard's. "There's no effing way".  

At the time, everyone was just throwing together junk and making it fast. We spent HOURS making our junk look good, which is what helped us win (the car failed in several other ways from lack of testing, brought about by a last minute engine failure a few days before departure). Days of wet sanding and buffing to make my crappy backyard spray job look decent, and all those pretty decals cut out of sheet vinyl scraps by hand.  A fluke in the scoring that we exploited netted us a win, but I doubt we'd have won with the same car today.  Anyway, Guido and our team raised the bar and showed you don't need to show up with something that looks like a refugee from a dumpster. But it takes WORK and TIME. 

I used to follow Guido on FB but he had some rabid political leanings I grew weary of, so haven't seen/heard from his for years.

Was Guido not the original motivator for Marjorie to go into the "Concrete Patio" business?

In reply to ddavidv :

I would not call it a fluke, as the scoring you took advantage of was done on purpose.  And it was with good intentions, I think- when you put that kind of dollar rule out there, you can expect some POS's that are really quick.

We tried to make our car look good, but didn't realize how much more effort it was to keep an interior to make look nice.  And then didn't spend a lot of time hiding wires which would have made the underhood look closer to your eat off the surface clean.

And the rules evolved again after drag racers got so quick since the points favored the 1/4 time over the autocross time back then.  

(I don't really count the budget rule changes you guys later sparked off as evolution so much as tightening it up, but that's just my opinion)

It was interesting to see the evolution of the challenge back then- it was intentioned to go from a display of how anyone can get into racing for not a huge amount of money, and it quickly evolved into who could make the most interesting car that would fit into EM.  And while I still like to see cars made for specific classes, the creativity of builds is super fun to read about.

Let alone the crazy builds lead to Lemons. 

Vegas did not use the Iron Duke in its original form.  Its motor had a 2.3 liter Aluminum Block and a cast iron head, carb, etc.  The Cosworth Vega used that Aluminum block but with a Cosworth Aluminum 4v head and a destroked crank, all with FI.

In reply to joeg1982 :

I also recall that the Vega engine had the lifespan of a Cold beer at a frat party.

The first engine I tried to rebuild was a Vega engine and it did not go well. The block/head material mismatch was so blatant I had to wonder if GM actually hired engineers. It might have been a factor in influencing me to never buy a GM vehicle.