plance1 wrote:
You're right, I have not been to a challenge but really now, if the car is worth as much as you say they are (and I believe you that is the reason I posted) then why not get back to basics and keep the total, real investment to $2009? I would even go $5,000.00 but that would be about it.
since you started this discussion, i'll ask you to define a labor rate for your "real investment" scenario. here's a really easy number to consider: at $20 per hour, 100.45 hours is the max labor and that's only workable if the car and every component of it was free.
then consider that it takes about 10 hours to properly wash, clay, clean, polish, and wax a car with decent but oxidized paint, and you'll see how quickly that 100.45 hours of labor is gone before any significant improvements are made to the car.
Then find me a shop that charges $20 per hour for automotive work of any kind. Even $20 is unrealistically low if you're looking for a "real investment".
Or look at it from a different angle: i sold a car for $3600 into which i had put $2000 plus about 400 hours of labor. assume 100% payback on materials, and we can say i made $1600 for 400 hours of labor, or $4/hr. this car placed 16th out of 79 in 2004, so you can see that 400 hours of labor doesn't even get you into the top ten.
Or take my '04 car and consider the labor at a more reasonable rate, say $20 per hour. that would be $8000 in "real" (lol) labor on top of a $2000 material cost, and now it's a $10k car? No, it isn't.
Would your $5k cap be $2k for parts and $3k for labor? Or would it be $5k to use however you want, given a fixed labor rate of xx per hour? Because in my '04 case of $2k material and 400 hours labor, the labor rate would have to be $7.50 per hour for that car to fit your $5k rule.
And of course there's the question of tools. Is hacksaw labor the same as sawzall labor the same as plasma cutter labor?
The answer is, of course, that the current rules are as close to perfect as any rule set can be, and until you build and compete, you won't have a clear understanding of what it takes to build and compete.
here's a link to a GRM archive search for ["challenge" AND "rule" and "claim"]
http://archive.grassrootsmotorsports.com/board/search.php?search_id=1047676882