2025 specialty class proposal: cash in the envelope

When will you be mailing out those $2000 cash envelopes?

I might actually try to do this, mainly just to show up and try a Challenge!

I posted a Legacy with a blown engine a while back. It's been sitting in an apartment parking lot for a while, and the owner has been getting some pressure to make it go away. I was told this weekend that if I show up with $100 and get it out of there, he'll sign over the title. 

One of the adjacent teens just advised me he knows somebody looking to get rid of a 6 cylinder Subaru engine out of an Outback... hmmm.... 

 

SoonToBeDatsun240ZGuy said:

When will you be mailing out those $2000 cash envelopes?

I think stampie said he's got one for anyone who beats him.

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

I might actually try to do this, mainly just to show up and try a Challenge!

I posted a Legacy with a blown engine a while back. It's been sitting in an apartment parking lot for a while, and the owner has been getting some pressure to make it go away. I was told this weekend that if I show up with $100 and get it out of there, he'll sign over the title. 

One of the adjacent teens just advised me he knows somebody looking to get rid of a 6 cylinder Subaru engine out of an Outback... hmmm.... 

 

I have cheap intercooler.....

I competed in the challenge a few years ago.  I enjoyed the car part but not the accounting part so this is up my alley.

It has been a while so I am a little behind on the rules.  Would this be a standalone class or a caption trophy?  The thing that makes this class work for me is $50 200TW or hoosier takeoffs.  Finding the right cheap/free set of tires is almost more important than finding the right car.

In reply to ralleah :

Your situation should be covered by the standard FMV/RRV rules.

As much as we'd like to minimize budget complications, we do need a method of valuing stash parts; no reason to reinvent the wheel here.

All-in cars will have blank recoup sheets and no claimed exemptions in budget, but they still fit into normal Challenge classes.

gumby said:

In reply to ralleah :

Your situation should be covered by the standard FMV/RRV rules.

As much as we'd like to minimize budget complications, we do need a method of valuing stash parts; no reason to reinvent the wheel here.

 

All-in cars will have blank recoup sheets, and no claimed exemptions in budget, but they still fit into normal Challenge classes.

this approach addresses most of the asterisks we have to use when we explain the $2000 challenge to outsiders.  no recoup, but you still have FMV/RRV for when you buy a parts car or a pile of parts but only use a few things from the purchase.

I'll bet Patrick and I could complete the Corolla to these proposals. Not that I intend to.

Edit: You bunch of enablers have had me wasting all evening finding cars I can't work on anymore. Daydreaming is fun, but I need minions. I did find a $1000 MINI Cooper S though.

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

You're welcome, I think? 

Tires - do we envision a TW200 limit or would something like a cheap used Hoosier be ok?

In reply to glueguy (Forum Supporter) :

I don't see any reason to limit to a tire class. I think this class is intended to show what you can really do for $2000 real dollars. If you buy a $200 vehicle then throw on a brand new set of A7s for $1200 then you have $600 for your nitrous and get it race worthy. 

I like that. Run what ya brung all in for 2k. 

In reply to glueguy (Forum Supporter) :

Do you have a source for free, narrow A7s?  I can get wide ones but nothing that will fit the stock wheels of a car I want to bring to the challenge.   I prefer street tires because free, narrow 200TW are pretty easy to find from autocrossers.

In reply to ojannen :

I can find 205/50/15 A7s pretty easily, but anything in a 17" size will likely be 245 width, or wider. I bought a set of Bridgestones in a 225/50/16 size a couple of weeks ago for $50.

ojannen said:

In reply to glueguy (Forum Supporter) :

Do you have a source for free, narrow A7s?  I can get wide ones but nothing that will fit the stock wheels of a car I want to bring to the challenge.   I prefer street tires because free, narrow 200TW are pretty easy to find from autocrossers.

No but before I started looking I wanted to know if this was going to be an option.  Never know what you might find out there.....

I still like "SPEC Cheaptire" 

Everyone is required to buy the tires with the cool names like Landspider Citytraxx H/P or Arduzza Epoch Sport ES.

In reply to QuasiMofo (John Brown) :

For King of the Heap races at NCM the rule was $1000 cars (enforced by a claiming rule) running Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires.  The tires are amazingly equalizing between different machines.

In reply to KyAllroad :

Actually, I like that approach. Same tires for everyone. Who cares if they are cheap crappy tires. 

I don't think a spec tire is necessary, however if people wanted to go that route The Hankook Ventus V2 Concept2 is available in a number of sizes from Miata sized up.  The only issue is it is not available in anything wider then a 255.  

We should be good stewards and select a brand/type that is available from the Tire Rack if we went spec tire route.  As entertaining as it would be to find Ebay's cheapest tire brand.  

Also on reflection a spec tire would consume at a minimum $300-400 of most budgets.   That doesn't seem like the best plan when those tires aren't actually a performance part but still would be 20% or more of everyone's budget. 

It seems this is a mish mash used tire class.  If someone wanted spec tires they could and should do a different subclass.  

nocones said:

It seems this is a mish mash used tire class.  If someone wanted spec tires they could and should do a different subclass.  

Exactly 

Very interested in this class but what am I not going to win? All jokes aside,  I always was intrigued by the 2k challenge but it has seemed to go off track by all the rules.  

What is gained by evening out the performance of all the cars with all season tires in a car builder competition?

This ruleset seems like it is designed to make you buy nearly corded takeoffs.  I understand removing full slicks or dot slicks because they just aren't available for certain sizes in certain parts of the country.  I don't see the benefit of buying new tires that I will never use again.

In reply to ojannen :

Oh I never said it was intended to even out the competition. I just think it would be a great way to not spend $2000 on Hoosiers. I have a set of $150 R888Rs and a $1400 set of the same tires, the difference for me driving them is negligible. 

In reply to QuasiMofo (John Brown) :

The difference is even better if you dont mind soaking the cheap set to be sticker than the expensive set.