Elio Racing

[Terrence]

I will have to find the reference however I do remember reading about some ideas Elio Motors has for racing including some interesting inexpensive entry level spec road racing and autocross. Essentially the plan is to make available a choice of handling and brake upgrade kits for about $5K which would be the only allowable mods other than required safety equipment along with appropriate wheels and tires. This is intended to make it relatively inexpensive for anyone to just buy and modify their vehicle and go racing with a vehicle which is also their daily driver.

Great for posting that information Goofyone!! More curiosity for the coming weeks, like what is the brake upgrade going to be. Oh , yes good paragraph you have there!
Terrence

 

[JEBar]

Essentially the plan is to make available a choice of handling and brake upgrade kits for about $5K which would be the only allowable mods other than required safety equipment along with appropriate wheels and tires.

wow .... a $5K upgrade on a $7K vehicle .... that must really be one heck of a kit ..

Jim

 

[goofyone]

wow .... a $5K upgrade on a $7K vehicle .... that must really be one heck of a kit ..

Jim

More like one heck of a profitable kit!

But seriously, as anyone who has done any kind of racing knows, $5K is not actually a lot of money for performance parts.

 

[JEBar]

More like one heck of a profitable kit!

But seriously, as anyone who has done any kind of racing knows, $5K is not actually a lot of money for performance parts.

if/when down the road such kits are available, I wonder how much you could save ordering one built with the kit factory installed

Jim

 

[Joe Coppinger]

Americans are "hard-wired" for the stop light ..

 

[bowers baldwin]

I wonder what a stock Elio will turn on a quarter.
I say 17.8 ET. and 75 MPH for a Stock Elio.
Anyone got any infro. on that?

I might get laughed off of the track with an Elio, of course I used to drag race my Miata a lot and people with snicker.... until I beat them, the supercharger helped a bit there.

 

[JEBar]

I well remember the early days when the new generation of diesel dually trucks were laughed at when they lumbered out onto a drag strip ....

Jim

 

[Rickb]

My personal favorite........unlikely looking high performance vehicle.

 

[BillZ]

Actually, now that I think about it solo autocross racing is fun and you could jump into it on day one... I sold my Tri-Power 69 Vette to a buddy of mine many years ago and he took up the sport for a while and had a blast doing it... Since you're racing yourself against the clock there's less chance of you dinging the little beast, unlike regular road racing where you're banging fenders with other gear heads... Remember what Duval said: Rubbin' is Racin'
Here's a link I found to the Houston SCCA chapter explaining how it works and the classes...
http://www.houscca.com/solo/aboutsolo.php I'm sure there are other chapters all across the country...

I can still remember the first novel that I ever read: "The Manificient Jalopy" by John Tomerlin in 1972. The story outlines a race of the kind you describe and I think would be a lot of fun. Not exactly a "Gumball Rally" but it could be a great way to kick off an annual rally. Motorcyclists might refer to this as similar to an "Iron Butt" ride.

 

[zelio]

OH, no no no no, nope. Not me and not my car/baby. I've seen some open wheel crashes and these things may be safety rated, but that doesn't mean you can roll it over in a turn a walk away without MAJOR damage. Nope, not me.

I shudder at even the idea of racing an Elio or any other vehicle for that matter. It won't happen with mine at least as long as I am alive and still in control of it. :-) Z