Quote Originally Posted by Ron Earp View Post
Sure, decent means lots of different things.

Knowing what I know now, I'm confident I can build a very good LeChump Mustang for under $7k, but, what I know now came at a heavy price over the last couple of years. I'm sure Steve E could bust out a RX7 LeChump for reasonable money, as could many other racers build a pared down version of their IT car. Granted, the IT version is ultimately more expensive, but for even $7k to $10k I could have an IT car that would be podium capable.

From what I understand the time and money just isn't that much different, certainly not orders of magnitude different.
AEM/Motec ECU- ~$2k vs. a $25 ebay chip
Customer burns header ~$1500 vs. ebay/CL @ $100
Custom valved DA shocks ~$4k vs. Bilsteins @$400

My point above is that pointy end of the field in Chump is relatively cheaper than IT. And by a bunch of cash when you're talking apples:apples point end of the grid cars. Remember, mid-pack in IT means finishing 3rd-5th (most regions would be thrilled to have 10 IT cars in a class). Mid-pack in Chump means finishing ~50-60th. Building a Top-10 Chump car means that you're in the top 8-10% of the finishers. The top 8-10% in IT means that you're 1st or 2nd.

Could I build a mid-pack IT car for $7k? Probably but it'd be tight... and with R-comp loads, stock brake temps, the higher spring rates I'd need for the tires... I'd also expect to start having bearings/hubs/ball-joints dying on me. That same $$ would get you a top-10 Chump car with a lower failure rate and more of the budget to go toward preventative maintenance.