Chump Car Calgary

Obviously with most of my fellow GRM'ers being from south of the border, you guys may not have heard of this, but Chump Car is coming to Calgary, Alberta!

I am sooooo stoked for this. Currently, we have three people including myself to compete in my 1982 Volvo 242 GT (need one more). We can get a DOM cage professionally installed (by an actual cage builder) for $1200 (everything included besides interior removal and reassembly). From there, we'll run Starspecs (205/50R15) as Azeni's don't seem to like heavier cars. After that, some seats and belts and voila, race car (no, its not that simple, but still). Like I said, we are pretty excited. We really wanted it to be a 24 hour event, but two 7 hour races for us road racing newbs will probably be ok.

Any hints/suggestions/tips? We might actually be able to get some testing in before the event! Testing a race car? Shocking, I know! But it seems like if we want to approach this half-assed or better, the car better be sorted before the event as reliability will be key. I also wouldn't mind some Volvo handling/power ideas that can be done for minimal dollars. I'm thinking cut coils, HD bilsteins in the front with rancho truck shocks in the rear (supposedly a good cheap combo). After that (since the cars $250 purchase price) we won't really have any room to bullE36 M3 about any further modifications so that'll basically take care of everything besides a tuneup.

HiTempguy wrote: Obviously with most of my fellow GRM'ers being from south of the border, you guys may not have heard of this, but Chump Car is coming to Calgary, Alberta! I am sooooo stoked for this. Currently, we have three people including myself to compete in my 1982 Volvo 242 GT (need one more). We can get a DOM cage professionally installed (by an actual cage builder) for $1200 (everything included besides interior removal and reassembly). From there, we'll run Starspecs (205/50R15) as Azeni's don't seem to like heavier cars. After that, some seats and belts and voila, race car (no, its not that simple, but still). Like I said, we are pretty excited. We really wanted it to be a 24 hour event, but two 7 hour races for us road racing newbs will probably be ok. Any hints/suggestions/tips? We might actually be able to get some testing in before the event! Testing a race car? Shocking, I know! But it seems like if we want to approach this half-assed or better, the car better be sorted before the event as reliability will be key. I also wouldn't mind some Volvo handling/power ideas that can be done for minimal dollars. I'm thinking cut coils, HD bilsteins in the front with rancho truck shocks in the rear (supposedly a good cheap combo). After that (since the cars $250 purchase price) we won't really have any room to bullE36 M3 about any further modifications so that'll basically take care of everything besides a tuneup.

The tidbits I pickup up from Lemons are as follows:

Spares!

Bring extra brakes. Upgrade them, if possible. Buy lots of spares and great pads and lots of inspections if you cannot.

Don't modify things. This sounds weird, but really think mods through. They may not be worth the tradeoff in reliability or whatever. "Oh no, the fabricated bracket we made for that weirdo radiator we wanted to swap in place of the stocker broke and we hand made it on a bridgeport out of titanium!" In that case, for instance, the original copper radiator would have been far superior. Just an extreme example, but you get the idea.

bring a welder, or two.

Build the rear cage thing plenty strong, but with easy access so the rider guy can throw the stove in it real fast, then jump in and go.

If you can't find Bilstein HD's for a reasonable amount haunt Turbobricks looking for a set of orange DeCarbon's that came on Volvo 240 GT's (and Turbo's I think). They are very similar and you can find then for $25 or $30 each if you are patient.

Awesome! When is this? I can at least come and watch.

May 21-22. Figuring between Integra or Neon- got two insurance flood cars sitting here.

So here is a question for you guys: is it worth it to run a welded diff in a rwd car with low hp? Apparently it is a free mod that you will NOT be penalized for.

I've tried to get the rear end to break loose and haven't had a problem so far (on the street) but thats a bit different then a decreasing radius slightly banked corner that you're riding the curbing on!

No.

You could end up breaking stuff.

Leave it stock.

When in doubt, and even when not in doubt, heed this good advice.

tuna55 said: Don't modify things. This sounds weird, but really think mods through. They may not be worth the tradeoff in reliability or whatever.

To win, you've got to cross the finish line.