fhturner

Hey Guys & Gals--

Some friends and I are working on campaigning an '85 Vette in the Chump Car series, which is similar to the "24 Hours of Lemons" you might have heard about. We're having trouble finding wheels, so I'm asking you good folks for help! Here's what we need:

- 17" x 9.5"
- 36mm offset (for an '84-'87 car)
- 5-spoke ZR-1 (style) wheels would be nice
- need to clear C5 front calipers

If you have any of these available or know of some, please give me a shout or email me:

fhturner@earthlink.net
(205) 913-4797

Thanks!
Fred

John B

I have some ARE wheels somewhere I'll look & call you.
How the heck are you going to get away with running a C4. We looked into it & $500 car purchase. Your diff is worth $500. You willing to lose the car for $1500 claim after sorting it out?

shakedown067

That dude must be beat to hell and back. But

fhturner

Thanks so much!

I'll leave the details to my buddy Jeff, who's spearheading the project, but I just know that he got the car dirt cheap, as it had just been sitting, and wasn't running at the time. Being a C4/5/6 mechanic, he was able to get it running in short order.

Thanks for any info on those wheels!

FT

fhturner

Hey John, any luck on those wheels?

Thx,
Fred

shakedown067

Did you find the wheels you where looking for? You could also run C5Z front wheels as those are 17x9.5.

Race Parts 4 Sale Section

...$250 for the Z06 front wheels
$150 for the ZR1 rear wheels
$500 for 10 tires @ $50 each...

fhturner

Thanks for the info...I passed this along to Jeff. Regarding the Z06 wheels, unfortunately, this is an '85 model, and the '84-'87s had a different hub and suspension geometry, so the C5 offsets won't work.

Thanks,
Fred

shakedown067

Whoops, I missed the date of the C4. Good luck.

RusherRacing

Well you are running a corvette with c5 brakes. Hopefully John decides to start assigning penalty laps and maybe actually claim a car. I know brakes are basically free but come on… ok if it is in the spirit of the event than go for it. Just don’t bring a complete cheater or drive like an ***. It just pisses people off.
There was a bmw running what appeared to be tckline suspension at BIR and no penalty laps. He was running almost 5 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the crowd and didn’t get clammed
What event are you running? We have an old Nissan that we are taking to Hallett in August.
Bare Metal Racing - #28

OCCOMSRAZOR

WTF! A $500 Corvette...

We are building another 3rd gen Camaro and have a POS C4 in the shop that has been parked for 10 years, a non-runner with every body panel a different color.

The owner bought it for the frame and suspension only and still paid $2500 for it!

Good luck!!

There is a C4 Corvette entered in the Spokane race in July. Is that you?

fhturner

Hmmm...not very nice. We're not trying to pull a fast one by any stretch. We just want to run an old, beat-up Vette and have fun w/ it.

We are going into the Spokane race expecting some penalty laps. It is funny though-- people knew we were entered and we openly posted about the car months ago, but only now are they getting their panties in a wad. The car was a pile. You would not restore it, as it would be completely upside down. It was a non-runner that was fixed with roughly $100 in new fuel parts. It has a busted floor pan in two spots where somebody thought they could jack. The glass top was busted and leaked, so the inside was covered in mold and mildew. Body has damage, paint is garbage. It was purchased for $1k, sold off some parts to get it down to the $500 range. It will be sporting a new rattle-can paint job. Keep in mind Lemons had a Vette entered this past winter, and it did not fare well.

Todd, you can tell Russ that he paid too much for the C4. For $2500, you can buy a running 84/85 that is in somewhat decent shape. And yes, that is our Vette entered in Spokane.

OCCOMSRAZOR

Glad to have you in the race! It should be a blast. Fortunately, Russ didn't pay for it, one of his customers did. We do get the engine.

Yeah, those damn Japanese and German cars with their dependable motors are a bitch. So far for us, two races and two busted motors, but at least it is RWD, American Iron, and it sounds good on the track (until it blows)!

Oh well, we have a great time regardless!

BQuicksilver

Good luck, but I agree with the others that people will be pissed off if you show up in any vette. Ask the Miata guys how much they're hated, and you'll get an idea what you're in for. We wanted to run a vette as well, but a little research showed that the hazing wasn't worth it.

I'm sure you can make the number work out to $500, but nobody will believe you.

One other issue is that I think Chump Car will fold soon (small fields/cutting events short) and then you're stuck with Lemons, where your car will be likely to get crushed, particularly if the car is fast or anyone on the team drives poorly.

I've noticed that most of the ringers at least stick with Chump Car since they never use their claim rule.

I guess this is my nice way of saying don't run a vette unless you want a miserable experience.

rfn026

I just don't see anyone getting upset about a Corvette. The problem is the numbers just won't work. Any number of us were told that if we brought a Corvette out it would breeze through tech. That would work for me.

As hard as we tried we couldn't find one priced low enough. Keep in mind that by the time you're all dont a LeMons car is going to cost you around $5,000. There are a bunch of exemptions from the $500 limit. He*l, you can run 6-piston Brembos and they won't count against the $500.

Richard Newton
Intervention Motorsports
Intervention on Speed TV

ChumpVette

Yes, the hate mail has already started and it's ridiculous. People are stuck in the mind of what something USED to cost. And have no idea what things really do cost. I found a couple of Vettes that were sub 1,000 in California, but the cost of transporting just made it unreasonable. Plus a lot of people have the hang up on what you can get for a car if it is parted out. Which is not what the 500 dollar rule is about.

Yea, it's really currently one douchebag who is having an issue with it. A few people are willing to see what is brought to the track. But this one guy has his head stuck in the sand.

gtpvette

I'd love to go Chumpcar racing in a C4,, I'd just hate to loose the car right after I built it. Wish you guys the best of luck,,,, I'll be watching!


5.1.3. ChumpCar’s Acid Test for $500 Value:

Finish building your ChumpCar and, when it's 100% complete, wheel the car out
in front of your home. Jack the car up and set the car on cinder-blocks, or a stack
of 2x4's, just so the car is off the ground. Take the wheels off of the car (they’re
exempt from the value); take off the brakes (also exempt); remove the seat &
harness (exempt); and, remove the roll cage (exempt). Put a "Make Offer" sign
on the car.
What would happen?

Option:
A) Someone would offer you $500 or less for the car.
B) The City would slap a ticket on the car as an abandoned vehicle.
C) Your neighbors would file a lawsuit against you for breaching the CC&R's of
the housing community in which you reside.
D) A meth dealer takes up residence in your car and starts manufacturing the
stuff using the exhaust manifold to heat up his brew.

For ChumpCar, if any one (or all four) of the above were to happen, your car
passes the $500 sniff.
If, for some unknown reason, someone were to drive by and offer you $1,200 for
the car... or $600 for just the transmission... you're probably toast.




So the question is a running C4 with no brakes and wheels worth $500?

BrianCunningham

seeing people sell non-running Corvette engines on eBay
(yes, just because it was in a Corvette)
for more than that, yes.

from what I've seen of that race, if you do it, put a good cage in it.
Lots of banging around.
Better off with something that can take a few hits.
Think 70's Impala.

RusherRacing

Sorry about that after re reading my post it sounded a little agressive and it wasn't directed completely at you.

Running a pos c4 I think does qualify. especially if it is still using that old crossfire setup...

John has came out and stated a stock beat to **** c4 will run without penalty laps, if anything has been upgraded/improved then expect some penalty laps and thats probably more than fair.

The #33 bmw that ran at bir and Iowa was more than a $500 dollar car and was assigned penalty laps it second go around and even then it still came in second, if it wasn't for the 3 hour weather delay they would have came in first making up twenty laps... That I do have an issue with. They didn't assign penalty laps to anyone at BIR...

I wish there was a way to put everyone on a level playing field but that won't happen and never will in racing.

We brought a car that would run with miata's and E30's.. With our best driver in the car we were right in the pack with those-actually just E30's as there wasn't any miatas running at BIR.

ChumpVette

This is what has me worried. Somebody intentionally taking their pile and ruining 5 other guys plus crew trying to have some fun in one car.

Why start with something that has no chance of lasting. Hell, I'd go import before an impala.


My reply wasn't directed at you. The guy who has his panties in a knot with sand up the vagina is over on the chump forum. I have seen cars at the chump races that were not 500 bucks. How about a turbo spec miata? Porsche 944? A few of the 3 series BMw's.

fhturner

I imagine the merits of all this could be debated ad infinitum, but for me, it's only about having fun. I think it's cool to try to go run a 24-hr race in an old, beat-up Vette. If somebody really wants to get upset and **** about it, I wouldn't even care if they didn't officially score the car. I just want to participate and have fun w/ it. Do I care if we finish first? Or last? Hell no! I just would like to finish if possible, and have a fun, memorable experience doing it. Wanna give us a penalty...fine! How about 20 laps? 40? 80? I don't care! I just wanna participate and have fun!

FT