help with 24 Hours of Lemons

Is everyone familiar with the 24 Hours of LeMons? You buy a (crappy) car for no more than $500 (not including a rollcage and a bunch of other safety equipment), and run it in a couple of 4+ hour races over the course of a weekend.

http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/
http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/rules/
http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/pix/

My similarly misguided friends and I are looking seriously into putting together a team for the event in CT in mid July. But finding the right kind of junker on Craigslist is the easy part, because none of us has built a race car before. We're going to go all-out on safety equipment (even the optional stuff), and want it do be installed right. So we need help.

I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for shops in eastern MA who can build a rollcage, install window nets, fuel cell and other stuff that a race car needs. Even if that race car is a 78 LeSabre, or 85 Jetta. Finding this kind of tech support is key to figuring out whether this whole idea is viable. (Meaning: we're going to worry about borrowing firesuits and extra helmets once we find someone who can install all the stuff we can't.)

ANY help or suggestions (or encouragement or discouragement) would be appreciated.

Chris
#26

Chris, I would strongly suggest that you look for a car for which safety equipment is readily available. Spares would be nice to buy locally at junk yards as well. A very early Miata for $500 sounds like a winner. An older Civic or CRX would be fine. Raboot or an early Golf comes to mind. Jetta is a maybe, but a 2-door golf would be easier.

You don't want to be custom designing anf fabricating a roll cage for a LeSabre. So I'd look for used cage, nets, etc first and then would find a car that would take those things.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the tips. You're right, of course. The practical side of me says certainly a car that is commonly raced and has lots of parts available is a better bet than a "project" like a LeSabre ("or similar" as Hertz might say). The adventurous side (and most of my would-be teammates) say finding the least-racy car we can would be fun. I'm pretty sure practical will win out.

In the meantime, I got some leads on shops that can bend cages and do the rest of the build. Anybody work with Conway in Scituate, VSR in Bowe, NH or Landshark in Natick?

Chris
#26

PS: Mike, were you the red Miata I waved to on Mass Ave in Cambridge on Saturday?

Yes I am, although I waved first I thought it was you

I doubt that Landshark would be bending any metal, if we are talking about the BMW shop I'm thinking of. Not sure about the others, but COM people would be a great resource for that info along with possible parts and maybe a car. Also, have a look at Grass Roots Motorsports forum, there are constant URLs of cool and unusual cheap local cars that that crowd uses for 200X challenges.

One more cool car for this project, btw, would be the first generation MR2. I have a lot of experience with those cars. Other than rust, they are great little thing, not very common any longer. Might be pretty cool to show up in one. And, of course, there's always E30 with parts galore out there.

Actually, if ypu can bargain this guy down... it's a ready to go racing type of deal (you need to learn to chew Scoal, spit through your teeth and whistle Dixie, but it ain't any harder than making a new cage: http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/cto/1061283105.html

Running Miata for $1200.00

I'm starting to think an E30 is a good idea. I'm also starting to think waiting a year is a good idea....

Joe, if you can get that Miata down to $500 (take a sledgehammer to it? and blow the headgasket? shred 1st 2nd and 3rd gear?), we can talk. Otherwise we get penalized 1 lap for every $10 over $500; so that'd have to be a fast little Miata to make up 70 laps....

This one is closer to the restricted price but it needs a rear end...

1997 Mazda Miata Parts Car - $600 (South Hampton, NH)

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/pts/1100015486.html

A little negotiations and selling off un-needed parts and you could have a running contender for under $500.00...

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/pts/1112810107.html

1995 MAZDA MIATA 4 PARTS - $250 (WHITMAN)

Reply to: sale-rfw9s-1112810107@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}
Date: 2009-04-08, 11:31AM EDT



95 RAG TOP, TOP IS GOOD, HAS MOTOR AND TRANS, ALL WHEELS AND INTERIOR

• Location: WHITMAN
  
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
  

PostingID: 1112810107

Here you go... Talk him down, flash cash, what ever it takes, then sell the hard top and you've got an under $500.00 contender...


http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/cto/1330469581.html

This would also make a great autocross car...