Grocery Getter 24 Hour

Just because they say 500 cars max, does not mean there will be 500 entries. I think they just dreamed up the 500 so they could post a larger potential purse size.

ProDarwin said:

Those rules read like typical oval track rules.  Clear as mud.

Seems like a safety nightmare.  And it will only get worse as the event goes on.  A few big pileups and some mechanical failures are going to knock out 1/2 the participants early on, leaving room to build up speed for some more spectacular crashes with zero safety protection.

Thankfully the fast majority have property safety rules and cages etc sadly there are a the odd ones that allow lack of safety like this. But in all forms of racing there are organizations etc that are guilty of this.

and 3/8 mile is a pretty good size for a short track. Short track ovals are typically messaged in the middle so most 3/8 miles are a 1/2 mile at the top so you can get some pretty good speeds out of it. But injuries etc can happen easily even on say a little 1/4 mile oval without safety.

Safety nightmare, I'd hate to be their insurance company. No waiver can release them from this sheer insanity.

That being said, I agree, manual transmission, low revs, durable, big gas tank

Ideas:

Manual V6 Cavalier or Beretta

TDI VW (too slow/fragile?)

1.9L Escort

Early/Mid 90's Accord Manual

Manual Camry if you can find one?

I've seen 100 cars on a 3/8 mile track for an enduro.  A simple roll bar should be mandatory. Cars get upside down and catch fire more easily than you think.  Stock fuel tanks get holes in them easily enough when you spend the race running over other people's dispatched car parts.

NickD said:

Patrick said:

This is tailor made for a w body gm.  

I was thinking the same thing. I'd go with a late-'90s Grand Prix GT with the N/A 3800. Nothing kills a 3800.

Everything around it dies with rapidity, though.

My vote is a 5SFE powered anything.  As a bonus, if you wreck it, you don't give a crap because it's a vehiclular Mr. Coffee.

They ran a similar class at the local oval for 20 years and didn't kill anyone. They called it Thunder and Lightning. Basically if you could see lightning and hear thunder you could drive in it. Street cars only, they even required license and registration. They usually had 20-30 car fields and seldom had contact between cars, though some goof ball would usually put one in the wall. You just can't get that much speed using crappy street tires on a oval track. 

Modern cars with reasonably modern crash standards are probably much safer than my 37 year old Spitfire with a roll bar.  I think some of you worry too much. 

Toyman01 said:

You just can't get that much speed using crappy street tires on a oval track. 

Not pictured:  Me blowing sideways on a dirt oval in 3rd gear in a Miata on crappy street tires.

Literally crappy.  I corded them.  (Thanks Evan)

I thought more about the logistics and thought of a way it would work with 100-200 cars.

They set a cap on the cars on track at one time - say 100. They draw numbers. The first 100 numbers get to start on the track, the remaining cars line up in order in the pits, when a car comes off the track, either crash/mechanical/pit stop the first car in line goes onto the track, when a car that pitted wants to return to the track, it goes to the back of the line. The line is abolished once there are only 100 cars left in the race.

I think that over 24 hours, any advantage gained by drawing a number in the first 100 would even out.

drdisque said:

I thought more about the logistics and thought of a way it would work with 100-200 cars.

They set a cap on the cars on track at one time - say 100. They draw numbers. The first 100 numbers get to start on the track, the remaining cars line up in order in the pits, when a car comes off the track, either crash/mechanical/pit stop the first car in line goes onto the track, when a car that pitted wants to return to the track, it goes to the back of the line. The line is abolished once there are only 100 cars left in the race.

I think that over 24 hours, any advantage gained by drawing a number in the first 100 would even out.

Creative solution, makes sense!

I have done similar enduros at Evergreen in Monroe Washington. They use loader tires to create chicanes and tie the half mile and three eights into a bit of a road course. Great fun. They do have minimal safety rules (hornet or bone stock stuff) but no one gets up enough speed to have serious impacts.