Need advice for ChumpCar series!

Myself and some buddies are seriously considering trying to get a car together for the August ChumpCar race at Hallett.

I've downloaded and am currently reading the rules, and saw that there is a ChumpCar forum.

However, I wanted to ask our esteemed gearheads here first.

So those who have competed in ChumpCar/Lemons, what advice would you give to a group of guys who haven't done this before?

I'm considering doing that race as well. With the weekend's chump car turnout, I'm wondering if the series will still be around in August...

I've done five LeMons with six cars. I could fill a book with advice. Any specific questions?

Nothing specific, yet.

Really looking to avoid as many hiccups/pitfalls/ec, by getting advice from people that have done it.

Stuff that new guys wouldn't think about.

btp76 wrote: With the weekend's chump car turnout, I'm wondering if the series will still be around in August...

Was it underwhelming? I've been thinking about Chumpcar too, since they have an event at Sebring. That is far closer than any Lemons event.

I think 27 cars. I think it'd be hard to be profitable with so few drivers. Time will tell.

For your first race make the car reliable and make sure it will go through tech.

dyintorace wrote:

btp76 wrote: With the weekend's chump car turnout, I'm wondering if the series will still be around in August...

Was it underwhelming? I've been thinking about Chumpcar too, since they have an event at Sebring. That is far closer than any Lemons event.

I have signed up for sebring event , my guess would be bring spare motors

Karl La Follette wrote: I have signed up for sebring event , my guess would be bring spare motors

I only live about an hour from there. Do any GRMers need/want help? I can't afford to drive, but would make a dandy gopher for a team....

In reply to z31maniac:

I've worked Tech and the penalty box for three LeMons events. I don't know what attitude the Chump car guys will bring, but if you don't understand that LeMons is about FUN then you won't have any. Those that show up thinking they'll win all the marbles, have road rage issues, think they are faultless in any and all situations, and generally have their asses wound tight do not have any fun and leave mad. Typically, those are the guys with prior racing experience, though certainly not all of the guys with prior racing experience. Many of them catch on to the fact that it is a lark and really relax and have a good time.

Also, read the Tech stuff closely and the instructions for installation of your safety equipment. It is a good idea to have someone that builds racecars do the cage, seat, and harness installation at the very least. We see a lot of badly welded and poorly constructed cages that get people sent home or sent back to the welder. I've personally rerouted about 40% of the belts I've seen in Tech (and every harness set comes with instructions [sigh]). I've also seen belts rubbing on sharp surfaces, not bolted in correctly, etc. I've also seen fire extinguishers bolted to the floor with hose clamps around them so it would take a screwdriver to get it out! I could go on and on...

^Yeah, it' me and a group of guys that regularly go karting and such. No prior race experience, but 3 of the 4 have done HPDE's or in my case motorcycle lapping days at Hallett.

We definitely just want to go have fun!

One thing that I've been thinking about is tire selection. Is a 200 treadwear rating tire really going to last 24 hours? Especially in August in OK. Even at night it only gets down to the low 80s/upper 70s and if it's a sunny day it can be 90 by 9am and 100+ in the afternoon.

I'm definitely leaning toward an older Civic/Integra.

One set of decent tires will last on a very nicely driven, well set up, lightweight car. Two sets is smart for a first time team in the heat, with a set of regular all seasons for backups.

For first timers, I HIGHLY recommend you get a car that's easy to build, uses cheap and commonly available parts, and is well documented. I did it backwards, started with an oddball car, then later on started racing with a more common car. It saves a lot of time and money if your car has pre-bent cage kits (think common race car like Civics, E30s, or in my case Impreza). It's also a lot easier to get replacement parts in an emergency for a Civic (or other common car) than it is for an Alfa Romeo or similar unique car.

Also, if you want to have fun, build the car to be RELIABLE and drive it as fast as it will go reliably. I've had really fast cars and really slow cars, and it's a lot more fun to drive the fast cars but WAY less fun to work on that fast car in the pits while the slow cars are out there clicking off laps. Overall, I have a lot more fun when the car is out on the track driving than when we have to constantly bring the car into the pits, and fast $500 cars WILL be in the pits more than a less-fast $500 car (generally speaking). In my last crap can event (Chump Car at Portland, my sixth event) the Impreza was the slowest car I've raced to date...and we got our best finish yet! 6th slowest car on the track, 4th place finish out of 40, and we had more hours on the track than any other car there. You must first finish in order to finish first and all that. This also factors into tire wear, brake wear, etc. If you're eating up tires when running at 10/10s, it's an easy fix....slow down, use a cleaner line, don't make the brakes work so hard, etc. It's amazing the difference in wear and tear when you drive at 9.8/10 instead of 10/10.

Mostly, just go to have fun. It's the cheapest wheel to wheel seat time you can get, and Chump Car was way more fun than LeMons these days, IMO.

Bryce

OK, so I thought of a specific question.

What methods have you guys used to handle vastly different sized drivers?

I'm 5'8", another driver on our team is 6'3"

Just a stock oem slider? Will that pass tech? How do you then handle your lower harness mounting points?

We've used a fixed seat and compromised seating position, but the size range was smaller. We now use stock sliders with a kirkey seat and the best compromise for the sub belt.

btp76, you said you're considering Hallett as well.

EDIT: Check your profile, says your in Dallas. Was hoping maybe you were in Tulsa or OKC so we could stop by and check out your car.

Would you by chance have any pics of how you mounted the sub belt?

Any belts you buy will come with instructions, if not, look on the supplier's website. Your sub belt(s) will have to be a slight compromise for all drivers, but the lap belts should not be an issue. You can mount your race seat to the stock sliders to accommodate different driver sizes. Also, keep driver height in mind...we had to relocate our wink mirror at the last minute for our tallest driver, the mirror was too low for him (or, more realistically, the seat was a little too high).

Bryce

Oh, and the best mod I've EVER seen on a LeMons car:

Guy rigged up a small r/c driven device on the dashboard. When triggered from the pits a small rod with a little plastic penis on it would lift up into the driver's field of vision. To tell him he was "driving like a dick."

There was another signal rigged up to the box, I think to signal "pit in", but I was laughing so hard when he triggered the first signal that I didn't pay attention to the second.

z31maniac wrote: Would you by chance have any pics of how you mounted the sub belt?

If you find yourself in the neighborhood you're welcome to come see the cars.

As for the belt, it's just mounted to the floor pan with the biggest washers I could get.