SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/501768
chassis, they can actually build a complete vehicle from scratch. There are still enough VW bugs to be found, however. If you have the confidence, mechanical skills and equipment within your network of team members and contacts, building your own 5/1600 from the ground up will give you invaluable knowledge for how the vehicle works and the punishment it can take. The drawbacks are that this method typically involves a long learning curve. But for some, building that first race car is an adventure in its own right. "Our team is a bunch of good friends who have varying levels of fabrication, mechanical skills, and automotive knowledge," Reisen said. "We chose to build our own car so we would know what we had and also to learn as much as we could about building a car that would last the grueling SCORE Baja 1000. In hindsight, I would recommend buying a car that has already been built. We spent a great deal of money and time trying to figure our suspension out. It is very difficult to get the car out and test in Vancouver Canada. We do not have a desert in our back yard. However, building your own car let you understand what the car can take and where it may be vulnerable." Whether you buy used, have a car built for you, or build your own, you are looking at an investment in the range of $25,000 to $55,000 U.S. for a race ready 5/1600 car. There are perfectly well built 5/1600 cars available from private parties that you may be able to acquire for much less, but the dollar amounts above are still a good rule of thumb to use as you count the costs for running a 5/1600 car. You can also figure your preparation costs for each major race you enter will be in the range of a couple thousand dollars to about five grand, depending on what you need to replace or repair. When you pencil it out, the costs of building and prepping a Class 5/1600 car for an entire season of racing is reasonable, relative to other classes. Overall dry weight of a Class 5/1600 car will average between 1,750 to 1,900 pounds, so you have plenty of wiggle room to build a solid roll cage and race car without having to spend heavy dollars on uber-lightweight carbon fiber or aluminum components. These vehicles also run a fuel cell holding anywhere from 18 to 25 gallons, small tires, few spare parts, and one or two people. Because of this, race weight and class weight limitations are not going to be a worrisome factor for most teams. A CLASS 5 VEHICLE CAN USE A HEAVY DUTY VW 09 TRANSMISSION THAT ORIGINALLY CAME OUT OF A VW BUS, AND ARE MODIFIED TO WITHSTAND THE ABUSE OF DESERT RACING. COURTESY OF WEDDLE 051 SCORE JOURNAL