I'm very happy to see that we have an electric vehicle entered in the green track car category at the Ultimate Track Car Challenge. Yep, it's a Scion, converted to electric by AC Propulsion. And this box is no slouch: it currently holds the 1/8th mile record in the National Electric Drag Racing Association for a street conversion. Can't wait to see this thing go up against the gas-powered cars at Buttonwillow!
Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm.
Chili Pepper Racing's MK5 Jetta TDI was the world's first professional bio-diesel touring car. Their mission? To raise money to fund research into the diagnosis, treatment and development of a cure for pediatric cancer. And they will be competing in the green track car category at the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow in June!
If you want to be involved with the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge, time is running out. Check out cardomain.com/grm. And yes, we're looking for more green track cars!
STIs make hot little track cars with a few minor tweaks, and the Draco guys specialize in Subaru performance. They also have a great driver--Barry Bodine--so watch out for this daily driven shop/race STI at Buttonwillow in June.
If you want to be involved with the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge, time is running out. Check out cardomain.com/grm. And yes, we're still looking for green track cars!
Vince's background is in mechanical engineering, and his day job involves designing patentable algorithms for predicting online users' behavior. His 2001 BMW 3-series track car is his hobby and obsession, and he admits to geeking out a bit on it:
Why a geeky car? In my opinion, the joys of modifying my car is not to constantly look for horsepower performance. The subtleties of modifying for the better involves looking at implicit parameters, such as optimizing flow under the car, through the oil cooler, the angle of the splitter, the flow in the forced induced plumping right down to the driver's accessibility in the cabin and comfort.
What makes this track car unique? Most of the projects and parts put together are NOT off the shelves. Most of them are fabricated from materials from local hardware stores and companies that carry specialty equipments (eg Pitot tubes and sensors).
Man, I really hope I get to check out this car out at Buttonwillow in June. Be sure to click through to his ride page to see everything he has done to it. His steering wheel (stock Sparco with BMW paddle shifters attached) is impressive enough, but you're sure to be impressed by some of the other tweaks and gadgets.
Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm! And yes, we're still looking for green track cars!
The Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge is fast approaching. In addition to the varsity and JV classes, this year we thought it would be fun to add a "green track car" class. Yeah, I know, kind of a crazy idea. Anyway, we had a lot of interest at first, but when push comes to shove, it's been hard to get anyone to commit, let alone find any fast green cars. Tesla was very interested at first, but now they seem to be nervous about the ability of their car to make it around Buttonwillow without blowing up. I talked to Johnathan Goodwin about it, and he was looking into building an electric Ford GT for the event, but then got distracted by some other high-profile projects he had to finish up (more on those soon). The Greasecar guys were also interested, but most of their stuff is on the East Coast, and they didn't think they could make it out West. Same goes for ProEV.
There is also the question of what the hell is a green track car? Is there even such a thing? Many people seem to think that E85 isn't all that green. But we will probably have an E85 car or two (I hope). We should also have some diesel VWs like the Chili Pepper Racing Jetta below. And John Fabijanic from Cal Poly will be there to help us determine just how green the cars are (and he'll be bringing his insane 1000 hp Ford Explorer).
But we need more green cars, so we're asking you to help us out. If you know of any fast green track cars, tell them about this event! How about a quick hyrbid or an speedy electric car? There have to be some cars like this out there. We already have a ton of varsity and JV level cars in our GRM UTCC rating category. But the race is on June 8, so time is running out. Read all about it!
Here's a recent addition to the GRM UTCC rating category: Pablo's race-ready Porsche 968.
No turbos, superchargers, or turbonators! Instead, simple 90s engineering throughout. Four cylinders, great platform, and lots of blood, sweat, and... nah... no tears here. The last of Porsche's four cylinder, water cooled, front engined machines.
It would be a long drive out to Buttonwillow from Philly, but it would be cool if Pablo got invited and could make it! Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm!
e30 Bimmers are all the rage with the GRM crowd these days, and I'm beginning to see why. I got a ride in a spec e30 car at VIR last year, and they can definitely be made into fun little track cars without a huge investment. It looks like Robert has built himself a pretty cool one--with turbo power:
We believe this is the only 4 cylinder turbo being raced in BMW CCA Club Racing, and it was built by two complete amateurs, in my garage. All the rage in the BMW community has been to add Euro parts, and if engine swaps were done it was to add cylinders not remove them. Regardless of that fact, we pulled our 6 cylinder and built a turbo DOHC 4 cylinder.
I really liked this shot of Robert's garage, and yep, those are operating room lights. Be sure to click through to his ride page, which has lots of great photos and more details on the build. Robert is really hoping to be invited to the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow in June, and I'm hoping to see him and his car out there.
Garrett's '98 Civic weighs in at 2,200 pounds with the driver, and its supercharged D16Y8 is pushing 230 hp at the wheels. The car appears to be very well sorted out, and I'm really hoping to see it at the Ultimate Track Car Challenge in June.
Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm!
Witchdoctor Motorsports was invited to last year's Ultimate Track Car Challenger at VIR, but didn't quite get the results they were hoping for. So they are really hoping to be invited back this year, so they can prove what this 600+ hp '97 Camaro is made of.
Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm!
These Ariel Atoms are super light weight and are already scary fast with a
little over 200 hp. So what happens if you double the horsepower? The
funny part is that this car is street legal in California, too. It's not hard to see why Peter's car is near the top of the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge rating category.
Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm!
Here's another contender in the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge rating category: a time attack 350Z built by Relentless Autosports and Jim Wolf Technology. The car puts out over 700whp from its twin turbo VQ35DE power plant, has suspension by Stance, SPL Parts and GTSpec, and aerodynamics design by Kognition Designs. I have a feeling this car could rip up the track at Buttonwillow in June. Be sure to check out Mike's EVO as well.
Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm!
You all know I like Fox bodies, and I love Mike's SVO Mustang, which is currently near the top of the heap in the GRM UTC Challenge rating category. Mike says:
"I cant afford a dedicated racecar, and a fun street car, and a V8 ground pounding racer/driver would kill me at the gas pump. So, here is the compromise, Ford's SVO 2.3 Turbocharged 4 cyl, it's good on gas, but still able to run a decent lap at the local track, I can enjoy it on and off the track."
Mike built this car to compete in NASA's American Iron class, and when he was done, he had the world's first four banger car to compete in the class. How cool is that? I'm definitely hoping Mike makes the cut for the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow.
Tage isn't exactly comfortable with the whole "show off" thing at CarDomain. He doesn't even like taking photos of his car. But he really wants to be selected for the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge, so he built a ride page and scanned in an article and two ads featuring his '95 Civic. He has done all the work on the car himself, and says that "because the car isn't ridiculously excessive, it's easier than most to drive at the absolute limit." He won his class and set a track record in last year's Super Lap Battle. He promises that if he is picked for this year's Ultimate Track Car Challenge, he will be a top contender. And if he doesn't, "I promise to buy the entire staff at GRM lunch as well as a lifetime subscription." Sounds pretty confident to me.
June is fast approaching, and we're starting to get some cool cars in the GRM UTC Challenge rating category. I really like this SE-R, which somehow survived the 24 Hours of LeMons at Thunderhill. Will it make the cut for the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow? Time will tell.
Oh, and I'm still trying to round up some fast green track cars for this event. If you know of any fast grease cars, electric cars or hyrbids, let me know!
