Vs. Greatest Spec Series

There you go, what is the greatest spec series.

Criteria: Participation, competitiveness, costs.

Example. (Just an example, not based in reality) Legends Cars are the best because the cars are uber competitive, it costs, at minimum, $100k to cheat at that will only give you a 0.01 second lead and it has a 1000 cars at each event. Where Spec Miata, cheating is the only way to win, the cars aren't competitive unless you do a LS swap and it costs $1 Billion just to get in. The fields are never more than 3 cars, even at the most popular event on the series.

Have at it.

Isn't nascar a spec series?

Bro lite off road racing.

Or Baja 1000 class 11.

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

at this point where all the chassis are basically the same with similar engines, I would agree with that statement.

125 shifters. Motors cost way more then they should, but the fact that you can fit all the supplies into a van without a trailer to haul and transport. Even the narrowest tracks can have passing opportunities and lines that aren't possible for full bodies cars.

Brigss Lo206 kart racing, they are sealed and require little maintenance. Low cost at $700-$800. Margay has a spec chassis for them.

Trigun, what's that price for? It's certainly not for a complete kart.

I vote for F1 as the greatest spec series.

If you like real racing cars, simplicity, huge participation and also require fenders to keep you from freaking out in close proximity to others... can't go wrong with SRF.

Jeepspeed 1700 Class

Mostly stock Cherokees, any '84+ Jeep with stock wheel base is eligible but Cherokee is the most common, allows for select off the shelf aftermarket parts, i.e. lift kits with a max of 10" front and 12" rear suspension travel. Otherwise stock drivetrains and body panels (exception of fiberglass front fenders).

Basically desert race and/or rally any '84+ Jeep.

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

+1

Hard to beat mostly stock XJ's blowing through the desert!

bigdaddylee82 wrote: Jeepspeed 1700 Class Mostly stock Cherokees, any '84+ Jeep with stock wheel base is eligible but Cherokee is the most common, allows for select off the shelf aftermarket parts, i.e. lift kits with a max of 10" front and 12" rear suspension travel. Otherwise stock drivetrains and body panels (exception of fiberglass front fenders). Basically desert race and/or rally any '84+ Jeep.

Im still salty they dont allow MJ's in the 1700 class.

MrChaos wrote:

bigdaddylee82 wrote: Jeepspeed 1700 Class Mostly stock Cherokees, any '84+ Jeep with stock wheel base is eligible but Cherokee is the most common, allows for select off the shelf aftermarket parts, i.e. lift kits with a max of 10" front and 12" rear suspension travel. Otherwise stock drivetrains and body panels (exception of fiberglass front fenders). Basically desert race and/or rally any '84+ Jeep.

Im still salty they dont allow MJ's in the 1700 class.

I hadn't thought about it before, they're not expressly excluded in the rules, but I'm guessing if they are excluded it's due to this: "stock wheel base +/- 2" not to exceed 110.5"" So they do make it impossible by 1/2" for even a short wheel base MJ to compete.

I like spec E30 and spec Z, I do however feel they have the same issues as spec Miata. both have low initial entry prices and used spec Z cars are costing all of 20,000. pack that with the Nissan backing it can be fairly interesting.

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

iirc they are expressly excluded, they have to run in the open class

no the swb MJ's are the same wheel base as a 4 door XJ. IMO the issue is weight, iirc the swb MJ weighs 700ish lbs less than the XJ.

I'm a little baffled that about half of the responses involved off-road racing. I thought we were more of an autocross/road race group?

In reply to jstein77:

the cheapest spec race series tend to be off road races.

In reply to MrChaos:

XJ is ~101", SWB MJ is ~113", and LWB MJ is ~119"
Here's the 1700 rules: http://jeepspeed.com/1700Rules.pdf

I couldn't find MJ/Comanche mentioned anywhere. Hence my reference to the wheel base length. That would put the MJ into 3700 or 3750.

Indy car no doubt. You can run a front of the grid 2 car team for $15-20m and race at one of the greatest events in Motorsport the Indy 500. You can't run a back of the grid F1 team for three times that without imploding in debt. Spec cars, different engines and from this year the addition of limited aero kits from the engine manufacturers. Super speedways, short ovals, road courses and street courses. Some of the greatest drivers out there, about half have been associated with F1 in the past and a deep deep history.

Hard to argue with all that.

Keith Tanner wrote: Trigun, what's that price for? It's certainly not for a complete kart. I vote for F1 as the greatest spec series.

It is $7-800 for the engine and the chassis can be all the way from $500-$4000, but on consumables and entry fees it is cheap.

OK, so Briggs Kart, Shifter Kart, Cherokee Spec all seem very high on the priorities list.

The interesting thing is no one has mentioned Spec "The Answer"

Spec STC Civic

Flight Service wrote: The interesting thing is no one has mentioned Spec "The Answer"

We did, near the top. It's not the answer.

Flight Service wrote: OK, so Briggs Kart, Shifter Kart, Cherokee Spec all seem very high on the priorities list. The interesting thing is no one has mentioned Spec "The Answer"

You kinda used it as an example of expensive in your introductory post, so everyone stayed away I think it's a good option if you're more interested in large fields of competitive drives than winning. A friend races Spec and loves battling with a big bunch of cars for 10th place. He thinks it's just as thrilling as racing for first. The prize money is the same, too. No need for high dollar built engines or cheater shocks. Now, to win at Nationals, you'll be spending 10x as much.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Yeah but it was fictitious example. I guess I didn't make it obnoxious enough to not be believable. I will correct.

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

Nascar a spec series? Humm. Not quite sure on that one. They have different aero packages, engines, transmissions, and rear ends. I get it on the tube frames (even though there are multiple builders) but I think even if the frames are the same, other than that there are differences.

I can see it with Indy as the only choices you get with them is two engine manufactures

This.

trigun7469 wrote:

Brigss Lo206 kart racing, they are sealed and require little maintenance. Low cost at $700-$800. Margay has a spec chassis for them.