Topic: How To: Buy a used Lemons Racecar!
So, I wanna go racing. I actually got the score of the century and got a ride at CMP back in September with a couple of great guys in a great car (Volvo 240). It was everything I've ever wanted to do in life, so, naturally, I'm looking to do some more. Being me, I am attempting to make the unwise decision of purchasing a racecar, in the wisest manner possible. I've done a lot (probably too much) reading around here, and the general consensus seems to be that, if you're not a great mechanic, have little to no fabrication skills, and mostly are just looking to go racing and have a good time, Buy a prepped car someone else is selling
In my pursuit to not be a total idiot about this, I did some digging to try and find out what to look for. Somehow, I have made it thus far in my life without actually purchasing a racecar, so I'm a bit green. Unfortunately, my search didn't turn up much, so I pose the question: What are the things I should look out for? I mean, basically just like buying any used car, but try and determine if the cage was done according to the rule? (Please feel free to link to the detailed post going over all of this that I missed because I have the misfortune of not only being a useless millennial, but a useless millennial who can't even use a computer correctly)
There's also the issue of timing. Am I an idiot for buying a car shortly before the 2020 rules come out (potentially with changes that would cause more people to want to unload their cars for cheap rather than upgrade to them)? Putting aside all the other reasons I'm an idiot, of course. Probably not that big of a deal? I would rather go ahead and do it, because several of the races near me (Barber isn't that close, but it's close enough and I hear it's a great track) are early, and I know it's going to take some time to get everything sorted on the car, even if it's 'prepped'. It seems quite often teams don't race the car and let them go a season or two before selling, so there's already known tech issues that need to be addressed just from rules updates, and things not wanting to work right from sitting, etc.
So, what say you? If you were tasked with purchasing a pre-raced car, especially one that you are un-reasonably expecting to require minimal work to get going, what are you going to be looking for?
1996 Buick Century - we upgraded our crappy GM sedan with parts from a crappy GM minivan.
"It's got a van motor, a 220 cubic inch plant, it's got van tires, van suspension, van shocks. It's a model with the catalytic converters ripped out so
it'll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it a racecar or what?" - Blues Brothers, Probably