SDOTM! October 2009

The Grassroots Motorsports $2009 Challenge edition!

On the off chance you've escaped having me expounded on the wonders of this competition to your face in excruciating detail, here are the basics: buy a car, prepare it as best you can for autocross, drag racing and concourse (yes, all 3) and don't spend more than $2009. The labour your team invests is free and selling unneeded parts from the car puts money back in your budget. Sound fun? You bet your sweet bippy.

In honour of this must-do event, my latest (longest?) Screamin' Deal Of The Month entry showcases a few possible contenders. I've pestered Mark about this for years and if he'd hurry up and build his garage and buy a welder, we could bloody well get started and shut me up. Hi Liz!

78 Civic:

People stuff 1,000cc sportbike engines in things like this. And live.

Trans Am:

Even in the blurry, washed-out photo you can tell this F-body has spent some time using rural side-road ditches as halfpipes on the way to the LCBO. But it has the V8 / 5-speed combo. Parts are cheap, hop-ups are limitless and you'd have an excuse to grow a mullet.

LS400:

You only want the engine. It's an all-aluminum, 4-litre, 4-cam, 32-valve V8 making around 250-260 hp. '97 and later versions had variable valve timing and made 300 hp and 310 ft lbs. Toyota themselves strapped a pair of turbos on one of these motors, dropped it in an MR2 and went to LeMans. For the Challenge, why not bolt it into something similarly light weight like, oh, I don't know... a Miata?

Miata:

The asking price pretty much maxes out the budget but once you've talked the guy down and sold the soft top, interior, engine and trans, you'd probably have enough cash back in the budget for a V8 from a Lexus.

Scirocco:

It's a classic Scirocco for $1000! And I bet you'd make that money back selling the interior and various hard-to-find pieces. Then you'd have $2009 to put towards an eBay turbo kit, some used R-compounds and apparently a new hood (concours, remember).

Taurus SHO:

Ford wanted to build a competitor to the 280Z, Fiero, MR2 and RX7, so commissioned Yamaha to develop a 220hp 24-valve DOHC V6 to power it. Unfortunately, by the time development was done on the car, the market for 2-seaters had cooled. Ford axed the project but not until after Yamaha had delivered the motors. What to do? Stuff them in the Taurus, add a 5-speed and give middle-aged dads something to scare the bejesus out of the kids on the way to soccer. You'd have a tough job making it a contender for the Challenge since they handle like a bowl of jell-o but a few gallons of N2O might get you in the top 10. And if things go kittywampus, a decent nitrous explosion would certainly earn the trophy for Most Spectacular Failure.

Those who've been on the SDOTM mailing list long enough may notice a glaring omission: the suggestion of stuffing a GM LSX V8 in a Nissan 240sx. While the idea still keeps me up at night, I don't think it can be done properly under the Challenge cost cap. It's really more of a Targa Newfoundland project. So there, no pic of a beat-to-hell rice rocket this issue. Happy?

If you're actually still reading and think this isn't the stupidest way ever to spend your free time, here's a link to the Challenge:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/events/2009-challenge/