ChumpCar

[lawlberg]

Any of you guys race ChumpCar? (For those who don't know, it's a $500 car value endurance racing league.) My brother's been building his '88 E30 BMW for the last year and topped the podium in his second race in the car at MIS this past weekend.

The win was not without a fair amount of scary moments, which is what makes ChumpCar so much fun. The list of our cars failures during this race started off with a mysterious engine stalling issue on lap 2, the tachometer only reading accurately below 5krpms, one of our hood pins falling out a hundred or so laps later, radios and clocks failing, instrument cluster falling off the dash and dangling from wires for 30 laps, and a false alarm fuel leak (burned 15gal of fuel in 45 mins because the gas cap was loose, didn't realize that was the reason until after the race) that made for a very nerveracking final 2.5 hours.

I was there the whole 14 hour event, it was a great time, and I helped in the pits and ran video for them, which means that, after a few weeks I'll have some good edits to share. In the meantime, I've got a brief clip that I put together of the Honda Civic in front of our car that lost its steering wheel and went into the wall with all four wheels locked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSjTO-IK9JQ

 

[FZ09Bandit]

My brother had a 88 3 series 2 door I6 Beamer with 365k miles and it would still burn tires in 3rd, great car!

They do something like that around here. Had an 93 olds cutlass supreme 4dr we thought about running, it's reliable to a fault.lol.

 

[MG-242]

What is MIS? Michi....., sorry I can't bring myself to type the word. Is it that state north of Ohio? Blah Was it a the speedway?

It sounds similar to the 24 Hrs of LeMons that normally runs on a road course. A couple of friends and I were talking about doing it a few years ago, but we all weren't up to the investment (time and money). They required a driving suit and none of us had 'em. It really sounds like a lot of fun!!!

 

[lawlberg]

What is MIS? Michi....., sorry I can't bring myself to type the word. Is it that state north of Ohio? Blah Was it a the speedway?

It sounds similar to the 24 Hrs of LeMons that normally runs on a road course. A couple of friends and I were talking about doing it a few years ago, but we all weren't up to the investment (time and money). They required a driving suit and none of us had 'em. It really sounds like a lot of fun!!!

Same group/organization - and yeah, it was at the speedway, on the road course.

It was actually the first ever night race run at MIS, which sound surprising until you're there, experiencing the utter darkness that was the pits after 9PM. There's no lights there!

Definitely not cheap, I've decided that my brother doesn't like having money.

 

[MG-242]

Cool! Sounds like fun. And he didn't let you drive????

 

[lawlberg]

Cool! Sounds like fun. And he didn't let you drive????

The team breakdown this weekend was:
My brother - Half owner
His future brother in law - Half owner
Charlie - mechanic with the trailer (brought the car to the track)
Andrew - Best friend, experienced ChumpCar driver, brought his dad with years of pit/racing experience

Compared with them I've
never driven his car (he's concerned I'll lose my sh!t on the 125+mph straight at MIS, provide little benefit compared with the other guys (experience).

so it makes sense. I'll be driving it at they're first race next year in Illinois, after I get comfortable (relatively) in the car at a small figure 8 track (hopefully empty) near his house.

Don't worry - I'm getting in there soon.

 

[MG-242]

Be careful. You know just one toke and you'll be addicted