I recently posted a question regarding Neons and their suitability as a ChumpCar. There hasn't been an opportunity as of yet to go see the Neons we were considering and in the meantime a new alternative much closer to home as surfaced. This weekend we'll be taking a look at a Civic EX that has been used as a 3/8 mile oval racer.
From the sound of it the modifications made to make it an oval racer have been limited to a cut upper control arm (to add camber) and the removal of 4th and 5th gear from the transmission (ok, this one baffles me somewhat...anyone know why this would be done?). In addition to replacing the upper control arm and either replacing the gears or swapping in a new transmission there are a handful of other fairly minor modifications to do to it.
My question is this...what else should we be looking for that could have been done to make this car more suitable for oval racing car that will need to be changed in order to make it a road racer for ChumpCar? Any insight on what to be checking would be really appreciated. Thanks!
The cage is may or may not be chump legal depending on the track it was built to run at.
In circle track racing, every fraction of a horsepower counts, hence removing unused gears.
There is an AMC Spirit sitting about a mile from my house that has me thinking the same thing...
Except this car was originally built for SCCA Showroom-Stock, then later converted to run the 1/2-mile Toledo Speedway.
I've been toying with the idea of it for Chump or LeMons...
grafmiata wrote:
There is an AMC Spirit sitting about a mile from my house that has me thinking the same thing...
Except this car was originally built for SCCA Showroom-Stock, then later converted to run the 1/2-mile Toledo Speedway.
I've been toying with the idea of it for Chump or LeMons...
Do in! A Jeep 4.0L will swap in and get you more power.
I have used the car in my signature for both roundy round and road racing. I just set the suspension up appropriately and go racing.
But make sure the cage is up to par because a lot of the circle track cars are not built very well. Sad truth. Tech can be limited to ensuring you have the cage, not how well it is built.
Third gear is probably as high as you need on a 3/8 mile oval. There is no point in wasting energy spinning forth and fifth. On our late model we'd run a three speed with first gear removed.
Also check the springs. Many oval track racers do all sorts of weird things with the suspension.
Thanks for the feedback.
I figured that was the reason for removing 4th and 5th but didn't realize the gains would be worth the effort.
I believe the springs are cut so I'll be sure to confirm they're actually cut evenly side to side.
The cage looks good in the pictures but will require a couple minor changes. We'll be sure to have the ChumpCar roll cage requirements in hand when looking at it.
Anything else to consider?
Take a buddy who doesn't give a E36 M3 about any of this. They will give an honest opinion of the car.
(Says an enabler in a room full of enablers)
