We are starting with a 93 EG si hatch we saved moments before being sold for scrap.

First order of bussiness is finding a cage kit, that both fits, and is reasonably priced.

Any advice?

 

Your bolt-in readily made options are limited to Kirk or Autopower. I personally am more a fan of Kirk, but Autopower should do you fine.
http://www.kirkracing.com/contacts.htm
http://www.ioportracing.com/Merchant...egory_Code=RBC

 

This^^

Whatever you do, stay away from the Safety21/Cusco BS LOL!

 

We built a eg for chump car early this year. We used the S&W cage the main hoop fit ok not so much for the halo and front down bar. A little finagle had it fit safe enough and added extra brace to them. The NASCAR door bar are straight and not curved into the door but they work. We ran in Nashville in a monsoon twice. Had a blast took 2 first event 5 at the second. Drove with a leaking radiator for over 5 hours till the headgasket finally failed.
The one advice or item I would do if your budget permits. Go aftermarket fuel cell 15-20 gallon tank or bigger. Does not affect the $500 cap. You can go 4-6 hours without gas just driver change. Chump Car is also more lenient than Lemons on rules.

 

Has anybody ever used Safe Drive cages?

For our first Chump Car build we used one from CSC Racing up here in Canada...it didn't fit nice at all...so we don't want the same drama this time around.

 

Im almost positive that Safe Drives is a retailer for AutoPower, so all his cages will be Auto Power cages.

Anyhow, the owners name is Charles and he is a very nice guy and will be happy to help you with anything you need. He is active in Rally in the NW and supports the local race community.

 

Safedrives does indeed sell Autopower stuff. Depending on which unit you bought (weld-in vs. bolt-in) fitment will vary. Autopower has also been known to make mistakes occassionally, but Charles has (from everything I've seen) been very good with customer service and getting things fixed. If it was a weld-in kit, you will need to modify the tubing pretty extensively to get it to fit right. Part of the cheapness you're paying for.

 

Did you decide on what you are doing for your cage? I know the thread is a month old now, but I am not an advocate of Autopower in regards to fitment. Customer service was great, but the fit of my cage was not good. I bought one for my EF sedan, and the main hoop was about 4" below the roof-line. After going back and forth with measurements and pictures. Autopower determined that the sedan and hatch EF civic we different sizes and were not aware of this since they sent out a cage for a hatch. They sent out some "spacers" we could bolt in and we got it to work, but the amount of time to make it work was not worth it. For not too much more I could have bought a decent custom welded cage. The auto power cages are also designed to fit with no removal on the interior.

Are you running the Z6?

I'm probably not your local chumpster(I cover central Cananda and the Mid-west", but you can email me if you got any questions. johnb@chumpcar.com or your local chumpster, Joe, joem@chumpcar.com

John

 

We went with a custom cage for our chump car Integra. We needed something that allowed as much clearance between some of our tall drivers and the bars as possible, so custom was the most logical route for us.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'd ever do anything other than a custom cage again.

 

we're thinking an autopower bolt-in so it can always be removed since it would be the only valuable item in the car.

 

We were able to remove our custom weld in cage from our wrecked car and install it in a new car. Just cut the roof and it comes right out.

 

If any of you guys have sold seats to drivers that had no part in the build, how much have you charged for them?

 

Id say divide up the cost of the fees, and charge him 25% more?
The he can be the "uber-chump"

 

Are chump fees normally $1000 like lemons or does it vary per event? I can't find the price of the Nelson Ledges event on their site. We'll have to take into account all of the logistical costs, transportation, gas, free malt liquor for crew.

I'm almost thinking with 2 owners and 3 chartered drivers the price would have to be around $500 for a seat for the 3 chartered dudes (if not more), which doesn't seem like a terrible price as you'd roughly get 5 hours of time on a 25 hour enduro and be beating up a car that isn't yours. I just hate dealing with situations that involve friends+money.

Just trying to find the fine line.

 

Talk to the contributors and see what they think.

Be upfront and tell him what everyone thinks his share should be.
As long as your upfront you should have no issues.
If he does call me I'll pay what you want.

 

Good point, It'll be a little bit of a flight for you

 

Steve
I think I still have some records of what it cost us for the last 2 lemons races if your interested. Throwing a car together for these races takes a lot more time and $$$ than people realize. Gas to Ohio and back will probably run you $200.

 

I'm sure it's worse than I imagine, I can't even build a sandwich under budget. Do you happen to recall how many gallons you consumed on track?

 

Steve: I've seen most seats around here go for 800-1000, which seems a bit crazy to me.

We sold a seat for one race for $700 and shared the winnings with that driver since the car got 3rd for that race.

It's $500 for the car, plus $100 for each driver, plus $75 for license (if needed). We usually end around around $550 each for 4 drivers when all is said and done. (including tow gas, car gas, entry fees, hotel)

At Sebring club course (killer on brakes and gas) we were using a "full" tank every 1:30-1:45 depending on driver. The faster drivers were around 1:30-1:35 before getting fuel starvation around corners.

Chump>Lemons IMO for many many reasons, although with all the full course yellows we had at CMP that one year we did get KILLER fuel economy in the hatchback

Oh, and the car build for us went WAY overbudget, but when you think about it..

car = ~500
cage =500-2000 (1600 for us)
tires, 2 sets = 800
spare set of wheels = 200ish
seat = ~300
harness ~100 or whatever
steering wheel with quick release (if desired, we wanted one) = 300 or so
rollcage padding, depends on how much you need but say 100ish, I forget how much we spent...
brakes another 400+

that's already an easy 4000+ if you go with a custom cage, 3200+ with autopower pretty easily.. then add in any repairs needed, lights for night races, kill switch/other switches, hoodpins if needed, etc.. gets expensive.

We also bought a HANS to share which didn't help our budget any.. I'd like to get another to make driver changes faster too..

 

Thanks for the info dave. I'll try to swing up for your guys VIR North event so I can get a feel for the climate of chump events.

 

Anyone hitting up the proposed Mexican street circuit for Chump next year?

Sounds almost too crazy, but what an experience if they get it to work.

 

There have been races with other groups there before (with a kinda crappy track layout from what I've found) but yeah, we'd either make the drive from Florida or find teams that need drivers and rent seats..