Richard S

Grassroots Motorsports Magazine has an annual challenge, which basically involves building a car for less than $2006 (including purchase price) and competing in a drag race, autocross, and concours. This year a 928 was entered and finished DEAD LAST overall Even a Yugo beat it! Here's a link to the results page http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com...ll_results.pdf

This is a really cool challenge. It's amazing what some of these guys can build for under $2006.00 How bout a 10.572 sec 1/4 mile 260-Z? Of course, a 928 isn't exactly cut out for this kind of competition, especially when you try to keep costs below $2006.00. The owner tried to sell it on Ebay, but it looks like no one bought it. Ebay link WTF? He didn't even mention the 2006 Challenge results! This car now has some racing pedigree!

Rich

heinrich

WTF are "Dynamic Points"? That is what made it lose.

928SS

too bad they didn't try building an old BMW 6 Series, AM, ferrari or benzo... course, we don't have to be told these old boats aren't cheap to hot rod...

ck out dry sumps for chebys and ferds - $500 for a custom pan vs $1500 for ours/assuming its even available... but how many chicks want to ride in a Yugo??? gotta really spend some $$ getting them juiced up enough for that!! ha!

cooleyjb

dynamic points were a percentage. The fastest combined time for the auto-x and the drag was at 100 and the rest were percentages of that total time. They then added the dynamic points to the concours for the total score.

The 928 was crushed in the timed events.

Larry928GTS

The fact that it was the slowest in the AutoX, being four seconds slower than the next slowest car of the bunch, didn't exactly help.

IcemanG17

I can't see how it was so much slower in just about everything compared to the other cars??? But what do you expect for $2006..... I just can't see how an 88 Rx7 can be 13 seconds (23%) faster around an autocourse and still run a 10 second 1/4....with only $2006....no way the turbo alone would cost that....

HOWEVER....looks like are very own DR has a side hobby....check out #34

Evil Patrick

Now we know that the maximum e-bay bid should not exceed $2006.

hacker-pschorr

I don't have the 2006 issue so I'm guessing here. In 2005 there was an RX7 with a chevy small block - this could be the same car or something similar. Build an RX7 with a chevy for $2,006???? You are allowed to spend any money you make selling parts off the car. IIRC last year they sold the original rotary engine for enough money for the V8 conversion.

A "stock" 928 is out of it's league in a competiton like this unless you have a real ringer of a driver. Fun to see it in there, but hard to make competitive.

EDIT - looks like the same RX7:
http://www.grmotorsports.com/news/ca...007-challenge/

Ed Hughes

Actually, I believe the article on this will be in next month's issue, they mention it in the current issue which I'm just getting around to reading.

JEC_31

RX-7s (and Datsun 280Zs) equipped with V8 swaps have enjoyed serious dominance in the GRM $200x challenge for the past couple of years. Included in the rules is then fun fact that you can buy a car for under the cap (which rises by $1 each year), then sell parts off that car and use that money (up to half the purchase price, IIRC) for hop-up parts. Mazda wankels have a high $ core value... and small block V8s are cheap and plentiful, and relatively cheap to hop up. So you get a chassis with great handling (and if you're lucky already has suspension mods from the previous owner/ricer who blew the wankel up), then cheap reliable HP and torque from Ford 4.9 or 350 Chevy.

I actually sold a dead RX-7 several years back to a guy planning on building it up for the GRM Challenge, a slightly rusty '82 base model rolling shell for $50. I don't know if he made it.

IMO, a 928 is not well suited for this very-low-budget oriented competition, as the average 928 running-car values and basic maintenance costs are well beyond the money cap - let alone modifications. But if I scored a $1000 OB 5-speed that needed only tires and an oil change... I might go for it.

EDIT: I'm wondering if mechanical failure hurt his auto-x and drag times, usually the last few cars in the standings are DNFs.

123quattro

I know the guys who won this previously. I think it was two years ago? Anyway, they converted to a carbed small block and put a lot of nitrous through it. The car was on the verge of blowing up the whole way through. It's a lot of work to be competitive.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Weight is the enemy for both drag racing and autocross and a 15.25 second 1/4 MILE is reasonable for a early 928 especially if the driver has little drag experience. Autocross especially a very tight course is a tough one for a 928 to get around well and driving experience is the key to that one. And a big problem with this challenge in my opinion is LABOR is free so a team can spend hundreds of hours building a car plus the accounting for the money spent is suspect as well .....like maybe finding a "used" small block Chevy for little $ which just happens to be FULL of expensive go fast parts ! The only way to make such a contest kind of work is make it a claiming race where any competitor can BUY any car for $2006. Still a fun event just not $2006 cars .

F451

Ouch! Ha ha...

I'll be picking up next months mag, thanks for the heads up. The challenge is a cool concept, will be interesting to read about it again.

Ed Hughes

The really cool race is the 24 hours of Lemons...
http://24hoursoflemons.com/index.html

Richard S

I'm not dissing the guy that entered in the 928, he states on the message boards that he had an awesome time participating, which is what it's all about Unfortunately the 928 is just not a good candidate for this competition. No wiggle room at all for go-fast parts. You would have to get a running 5-spd VERY cheap, sell some parts to re-coup some spending money, and add as much nitrous as you can. The rules have gradually changed over the years to make things a little more fair...for example, less weight to the concours portion. And the competitors have gotten totally **** about documenting expenses. If you have a spare part sitting in your garage that you decide to use, you have to assign it a market value, no freebies. All in all, a fun competition, highly recommend the magazine.

Rich