The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Passing tech with an ARCA car.
What are the rules regarding using a car from another sancitoning body? For example, I am looking at a car that is currently raced in the ARCA 4 cylinder series. It has an ARCA VIN and runs almost every weekend. The problem is that ARCA rules state no back stays on the cage, and the exhaust is a little loud.
So, does passing tech at ARCA automatically qualify the car for Lemons? Any input is appreciated!
Follow Lemons rules. If you buy the car, add the backstays to it. Can you post pics of the car/cage? Someone here will be able to point out what you need to add, (if anything) to make it Lemons legal. Besides, I want to see this super cheater car for myself 
HAHAHAHAHA, super cheater. It's an escort! They were worth $500 brand new 
.
Anyway, the back stays are all I would need for the cage, but I would have to rip them out should I want to race in ARCA again. Sometimes you can get by if you can prove your car passes tech at other races. Like a NASA car racing in SCCA, etc. I'm sure this has happend before, so I'm curios to know if it has, and what happend.
Another Escort! AWESOME!!!
All these Escorts... and no EXPs?
HAHAHAHAHA, super cheater. It's an escort! They were worth $500 brand new
Anyway, the back stays are all I would need for the cage, but I would have to rip them out should I want to race in ARCA again. Sometimes you can get by if you can prove your car passes tech at other races. Like a NASA car racing in SCCA, etc. I'm sure this has happend before, so I'm curios to know if it has, and what happend.
The ARCA rules state that you can not have backstays? This seems kind of odd.
The ARCA rules state that you can not have backstays? This seems kind of odd.
I totally agree, but I saw the car, with no back stays, it raced 2 weeks ago, and is racing at Flatrock this weekend. According to the current owner, he asked if he could add the back stays for additional support, and ARCA officials said, no. Chassis stiffening maybe???
Anyway, no one knows if there is a precedent for this? If I enter it in the Lemons race, and it survives, I may want to race it again in the ARCA series, but that would require re-re-modification of the car.
I looked for the rules on the cage for actual racing, but I found these instead. The figures 8 chain race states you can reinforce your door with concrete...
http://www.arcaracing.com/competitors/f … ntry-blank
And this is just entertaining:
http://www.arcaracing.com/competitors/f … ntry-blank
Would it be permitted to bolt on the back-stays and unbolt them when/if you went back to ARCA? I think it'd be a long shot, but maybe you could ask Jay or Nick.
Bolt in backstays would probably work - do them like an Autopower cage, and it'd be fine.
I am not a Lemons tech inspector, but I would be willing to bet they will not allow you to race a car without the backstays, regardless of what the ARCA rules state.
I'd think that the tougher part would be getting it in under the $500 limit. But I guess you'd have to see the car. Any car from a series that allows go-fast parts to be bolted on would probably face some pretty serious scrutiny.
Bolt in backstays would probably work - do them like an Autopower cage, and it'd be fine.
I am not a Lemons tech inspector, but I would be willing to bet they will not allow you to race a car without the backstays, regardless of what the ARCA rules state.
That's actually the way I'm leaning, but I was hoping to get Nicks or Jays input. Do they comment on this forum, or is it better to email them?
I'd think that the tougher part would be getting it in under the $500 limit. But I guess you'd have to see the car. Any car from a series that allows go-fast parts to be bolted on would probably face some pretty serious scrutiny.
Nah, these cars have no bolt on parts, it's not allowed in this series either. These cars are of the exact same caliber as the Lemons cars.
We can't give a blanket ruling on a car from another series--all we care about is whether or not it passes our tech.
That said, cars built to SCCA or NASA roadracing specs (pretty uncommon in a $500 race), tend to do just fine in Lemons tech. Cars built to circle-track specs (not surprisingly, pretty common in a $500 race) tend to do very badly (with the exception of NASCAR stuff which tends to be hella beefy).
At Buttonwillow, the inspectors drilled the cage of an ex-circle track car (ironically, an Escort), and found the wall thickness of the tubing to be insufficient. $1400 and one overnight custom cage later, they were in the race....
Bottom line, if you are buying a car with a cage, it's up to you to apply the same if not higher scrutiny as our tech inspectors will. If you don't have the expertise to properly evaluate it, it might be a better idea to start from scratch--at least that way you know what you've got.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Passing tech with an ARCA car.