My CMC2 build - maybe

I made a post on the CMC website about a year ago and got a lot of good suggestions to buy a race car rather than build one. I have since moved up to NASA Time Trials but have kept the car both TTC and CMC2 legal. However the car has a full interior, A/C, etc., so it's a heavy pig.

Because of economic reasons, (one way to motivate salespeople is to cut their compensation :roll: ) I won't be doing a lot of track days or Time Trials in 2010.

Sooooo, I'm thinking to take the leap and start preparing (gutting) the car for CMC2. Here are my reasons:

• It doesn't cost me anything to strip the car
  Reducing weight just makes me more competitive in TT
  I have enough time to research anything that I don't know how to do
  I do want my race car to look like an S197 Mustang
  A cage and seat is cheaper than a used race car (cheap labor above)

I've met a lot of you at TWS - I'm driving the white S197 Mustang - and have probably pestered all of you at least once.

So assuming that the car is free, what am I missing regarding converting my Mustang to a CMC2 legal car? If the only expense is my time stripping the car, a cage, and a seat, shouldn't it be cheaper than buying a $5K minimum race car?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HoustonNW

So assuming that the car is free, what am I missing regarding converting my Mustang to a CMC2 legal car? If the only expense is my time stripping the car, a cage, and a seat, shouldn't it be cheaper than buying a $5K minimum race car?

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Wayne, I did basically the same thing your proposing to get started. Found a non-running (but not a big problem) car that happened to be an automatic. Stripped the interior including excess wiring, bent up and welded the cage myself. Seat, belts, fire system, etc.

Knowing what I know now, would I do it again? Probably.

In terms of total dollars, I believe it IS cheaper to buy a built, sorted car. But for managing limited cash flow and learning and frustration it's more "fun" to spread out the spend.

Once you put a cage in it, I'm in the camp that it's no longer streetable - you didn't mention if it was trailered now.

I'm sure other folks will chime in when they get back from Eagle's Canyon this weekend. Or you could just drive to Decatur and hang out with the group?

Hi Wayne,
As one of the other S197 build vs buy racers out there, I'll offer my 2 cents worth of opinion and another 3 cents worth of experience.

Hind sight being what it is, the deuce would have been a more reasonable place to slot my car in instead of AI to start out. And I did have plenty of advice in that regard from people in this series so I don't have ignorance as an excuse.
The fact is, I really wanted to run the car with more power, more stopping power and see where it could go.

At the time, money was not an issue but it became one half way through the build and instead of backing up I kept moving forward on my original plan.

I would have been racing a year earlier, spent a lot less money and had improved by BBQ skills tenfold.

I don't really regret the decision - the route I took did give me a LOT more knowledge about what the S197 platform is capable of first hand rather than just listening to the world of opinions out there.

With that, I can tell you that weight reduction should be a major focus. The stock brakes IMO are not up to the challenge without significant weight reduction.

The stock engine is a work horse. I've beat the crap out of my car for over 3 years now and with the exception of three or four instances of throttle gremlins that popped up (includig one this weekend) the engine has been remarkable. It will serve you well in CMC2 for many years.

One thing that should be easier now is the cage build...there were enough of us guinea pigs who paid for cages to be built that I think there is a wealth of information to help reduce the overall cost now several years later.
Well, let me know if you want to compare notes.