Just finished up our first Chumpcar race of this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Unusual format this time - 4 classed sprint races then a 6 hour (8PM until 2 AM!!) evening enduro under the lights on the full ROVAL .
Chumpcar's premise is to start with a $500 car, add lot's of safety gear, then run endurance racing. Modifications are limited. It is surprising what people are able to bring as a $500 car (can you say BMW E36) as the rules get pushed to the max. - but that's part of racing.
We were heavily outclassed in the sprints - we ran in group 3 which was 2.3L to 3.0L cars. Lots of BMW's and other 3L cars. Group 3 and Group 4 (anything over 3.L) ran together. These were run on a short infield road course. We did manage a 10th place finish in the 3rd heat.
The evening enduro had 67 cars listed to start. Our first driver out was pushing the car hard and had an "off" with heavy contact to a barrier on the passenger side. Pretty nasty looking cosmetic damage but nothing critical appeared damaged. We sent him back out to finish his stint. Next 2 drivers out and we continued to move up the the rankings. Last stint and our driver radios in the car died. It get's towed back to the paddock. Toggle switch controlling our power went bad - luckily we had a spare and after a quick swap we were back on track. Car took the checkered flag and we finished in 25th place.
This engine, transmission, clutch have been solid for us. We've run a 12 hour enduro at Road Atlanta, a 14 hour race at Daytona, a 24 hour race at VIR, a 12 hour race at AMS, and now this event all on the same engine/tranny. Nothing special done to it and not a single DNF. It may not be the fastest but it sure has been reliable. (Ford, Duratec, reliable - - who would have believed it?)
This is the old Paul Radisich tribute Conturd we ran in 2012 but with a new Rothmans livery paint job for 2013.
Rubbin is racin??
Special thanks to Justin, Jim and his son (fellow CEG'ers) for coming out to spectate and support us.
Chumpcar's premise is to start with a $500 car, add lot's of safety gear, then run endurance racing. Modifications are limited. It is surprising what people are able to bring as a $500 car (can you say BMW E36) as the rules get pushed to the max. - but that's part of racing.
We were heavily outclassed in the sprints - we ran in group 3 which was 2.3L to 3.0L cars. Lots of BMW's and other 3L cars. Group 3 and Group 4 (anything over 3.L) ran together. These were run on a short infield road course. We did manage a 10th place finish in the 3rd heat.
The evening enduro had 67 cars listed to start. Our first driver out was pushing the car hard and had an "off" with heavy contact to a barrier on the passenger side. Pretty nasty looking cosmetic damage but nothing critical appeared damaged. We sent him back out to finish his stint. Next 2 drivers out and we continued to move up the the rankings. Last stint and our driver radios in the car died. It get's towed back to the paddock. Toggle switch controlling our power went bad - luckily we had a spare and after a quick swap we were back on track. Car took the checkered flag and we finished in 25th place.
This engine, transmission, clutch have been solid for us. We've run a 12 hour enduro at Road Atlanta, a 14 hour race at Daytona, a 24 hour race at VIR, a 12 hour race at AMS, and now this event all on the same engine/tranny. Nothing special done to it and not a single DNF. It may not be the fastest but it sure has been reliable. (Ford, Duratec, reliable - - who would have believed it?)
This is the old Paul Radisich tribute Conturd we ran in 2012 but with a new Rothmans livery paint job for 2013.
Rubbin is racin??
Special thanks to Justin, Jim and his son (fellow CEG'ers) for coming out to spectate and support us.