• Registered: 2017-09-12
  • Posts: 11

Topic: Things not required and other questions

I'm searching through many salvage cars trying to find a good deal on something that just needs mostly body work... of which i would plan to rip off anyway but I want to be sure of what isn't required.

Do I need a trunk?

Front and Rear bumper? (I understand the crash bars must stay but what if i'm just removing the bumper cover itself?

Say the engine needs some serious work, does this count in the budget even if it's nonperformance improving? (Timing belt. valves, head gasket) These are things I want to have spare of on race day if for some reason it doesn't hold after a few hours of racing...

Do spare parts count towards the budget? (Spare clutch, spare belts, major gaskets)

  • Registered: 2011-10-14
  • Posts: 4,167

Re: Things not required and other questions

adollarwodbnice wrote:

I'm searching through many salvage cars trying to find a good deal on something that just needs mostly body work... of which i would plan to rip off anyway but I want to be sure of what isn't required.

Do I need a trunk?

Front and Rear bumper? (I understand the crash bars must stay but what if i'm just removing the bumper cover itself?

Say the engine needs some serious work, does this count in the budget even if it's nonperformance improving? (Timing belt. valves, head gasket) These are things I want to have spare of on race day if for some reason it doesn't hold after a few hours of racing...

Do spare parts count towards the budget? (Spare clutch, spare belts, major gaskets)

It is 5 pages, read the rules and it will cover the first two in details...even with only five pages.  Original crush structures...covers are cosmetic on some cars, not on others.

The second is more gray area.  Your first race, stop worrying about and just replace anything needed to make it reliable.  Get laps...who cares?  You still race.

  • 1215
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  • Registered: 2017-09-15
  • Posts: 24

Re: Things not required and other questions

I'm in kind of the same boat you are. Searching CL & wherever else looking for a car for my first build. What I've gleaned from my (very) short time here is that if you come with a killer theme and you are there for the seat time and the fun --who cares if you start at -987 laps... it'll be fun and you'll get the seat time. If however, you show up with only a full-blown race car and act like you have a stick up your ass during BS & tech they will go over your car with a fine-tooth comb.


Here's where my head is at right now... I think the ultimate equalizer is that they can buy your car from you at any point for $500. So as long as you are willing to walk away from the car at any point (whether it be for $500 or you drive it off course into a wall) then you'll be fine. For example, you could buy a $7k, part it for $13k (making up these numbers but that's possible with effort) then buy a $2k car and have a $4k budget leftover on top of the unlimited safety, brakes & tires. So now you have $4k to make a pretty legit car (turbo, suspension, drivetrain, etc.) Except the race organizers can buy your car from you for $500 at any time... So that's the great equalizer... If you push it too far they'll buy it & torch it... And that'll be worth a hell of a lot more than $500 in marketing & PR dollars...


If it's your first race as a team I wouldn't worry about it. I'm more worried about our theme than the car we find. And I (we) don't care about someone penalizing us with "go fart part laps" (left that typo there on purpose) because the only reason why we want to go is so we can party enough Saturday night that no one else can drive on Sunday (and then we win).


Hopefully if my assumptions so far are wrong someone will correct me because I sincerely do not want to be a n00b giving another n00b bad ideas/comments.

  • Registered: 2011-10-14
  • Posts: 4,167

Re: Things not required and other questions

1215 wrote:

If however, you show up with only a full-blown race car and act like you have a stick up your ass during BS & tech they will go over your car with a fine-tooth comb.


Here's where my head is at right now... I think the ultimate equalizer is that they can buy your car from you at any point for $500..

Two things...if you are a new team with a new car...they will go over you car extremely thoroughly in tech.  If you are an old team with a new car...they will go over it extremely thoroughly in tech.

BS is just that.  Have fun with it.  Write you build book explaining how it is a $500 car with receipts, picture of checks changing hand, whatever.

You keep mentioning the claiming...you it has only happenned once I thing and that was DEA agents (or whatever) that build a one and done headed for the crusher S500 racecar that was being destroyed anyway.  They asked Jay to claim it for the story.  He Also claimed the $15K'ish Pratt & Miller engine in a fully professionally prepp'ed car but I cannot remember if the logistics of getting it home or the fact in hella blew up on the track was the deterent from collecting.

  • From: NH
  • Registered: 2010-01-20
  • Posts: 3,299

Re: Things not required and other questions

Leave the bumpers on the car. Leave the trunk on the car. Stripping every last ounce off your car will not gain you anything since you are not going to win your first time out. Do not focus on things like that.

Yes, fixing your engine technically costs against the budget. Try to buy a car that runs. If your car is crappy, they'll care less that you replaced engine parts. If you show up with a rear/mid engine Porsche with shiny new everything however, you're going to catch hell. from everyone.

Some things are not counted to the budget. These are things like your fuel system. Make sure that is in perfect condition (because fires are bad mm'kay?). Your brakes are also in that category. make sure they work.

You cannot go negative in budget with selling parts off. Meaning you can't buy a $4000 car, then sell $5000 in parts and claim your car was -$1000 dollars so you get that to spend on speed parts. Doesn't work.

Spare parts are a grey area. If your car breaks at the track and you have spare parts, throw them on. Get back on track. But if you magically show up to race #2 with a clearly built and cheaty motor and claim it was your spare, you're going to catch hell.


Just about everything I just said is in the rules. Read the rules. Read them again. Then again. I've read them dozens of times at this point.

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  • From: Tustin, CA
  • Registered: 2010-12-30
  • Posts: 3,275

Re: Things not required and other questions

They won't claim your car no matter what it is.  They don't want it.  Yes, the R&S motor got "claimed" but never changed possession.  The S600 that got claimed formerly belonged to a drug smuggling foreign diplomat and was obtained at auction but because of it's past it had a very radioactive title that made everyone not want to touch it with a 10 ft pole.  I think they were going to abandon it at the track after the race anyway.  Both of those incidents happened what, 7 years ago?  They stopped crushing cars 6 years ago?  Don't worry about the race org taking your car.  What still remains is the fairly remote but still real possibility that it gets written off during a race.  It's racing.  Stuff happens so put effort into safety.

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  • From: Cleveland, OH
  • Registered: 2011-09-03
  • Posts: 2,227

Re: Things not required and other questions

1215 wrote:

So as long as you are willing to walk away from the car at any point (whether it be for $500 or you drive it off course into a wall) then you'll be fine.

Forget even the claim. The more important thing to take as gospel is never put money in a car you wouldn't happily burn in your back yard fire pit.  Your car can go from ready to race, to burned to the ground off turn 5 in as long as it takes to exit the paddock and get to turn 5. (You'll be fine because you were a good responsible team and practiced emergency egress)

With care and luck you can get years out of a car. But don't put money you ever expect to see again into it.

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  • Registered: 2009-08-28
  • Posts: 606

Re: Things not required and other questions

MOST cars don't need a trunk, especially if its just a trunk lid, we ran our Camaro without the rear trunk/glass at a few races and....it made the car handle like crap, I'm not sure if it was the weight or the aero, but after those races Id want to keep the trunk on my car.

You NEED the front and rear bumpers on any car, its part of the crash structure, in some cases you can get rid of the plastic bumper cover  but again I would not do it. 

Anything engine related other then the fuel system counts towards the $500.  Most of the time they are not going to fault you for things like a timing belt and an oil change, but don't do a complete rebuild for the first race.

Spare parts don't count, you are not going to win the race if you are making a pitstop for a head gasket or a diff, so its not a bad idea to bring some with.  But DO NOT use that as an excuse to swap in racey stuff.  I would add "radiator" to my list of spares for a first time team. 

Again as many others have said read the rules!   Also keep in mind that EVEN IF you find a loop hole, its Lemons, going against the spirit of the series is never going to end well for a rookie team.

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  • Registered: 2017-09-12
  • Posts: 11

Re: Things not required and other questions

Thanks for answering guys, I just want to make sure the car is legal to race and I don't get snagged because of something silly.

Main concern is keeping the car going, not really worried about winning. I expect potential failing of clutchs, belts, radiators and such and just didn't want having spares to hit my budget just because they're sitting around.