Has Excel racing become too expensive?

[@rossmclaren71]

Couldn’t agree more mate ! We have to keep excel racing affordable. Great video as always !

[@TheNuggetProject]

Cheers mate! more important than keeping it affordable is keeping it fun.

[@jwickert3]

It's too bad they allow engine work. You've got the right mindset! Much more fun to be racing than to not be racing at all!

[@TheNuggetProject]

To be fair the rebuild is to factory spec although they do allow back cutting on valves and oversized crank bearings... Which I have no idea why.

[@billyhamilton3669]

Well said 👍 I was running a wrecker engine right up untill my last race. I've had so much fun over the last 3 years or so years👌

[@TheNuggetProject]

Thanks mate, yeah Hyundai/Mitsubishi definitely made a tough little engine!

[@csbpmg]

Well said. Our engine did 3yrs, gearbox was the same. Started its racing life at 176000kms..we ran it up on dyno at 64kw stock then did a new cylinderhead and it jumped to 73.4kw.. It was fast enough to run at pointy end and qualified front row twice and won a race. Owed me $1500 in total... gearbox was $600 for a rebuild. 99.5% is just chassis speed...but gokarter dads are the ones driving prices thru the roof and seriously they are not going any faster now than we were going with the odd exception... no buffed tyres either...

[@TheNuggetProject]

Ok so this is what I don't get, what's with worked heads? They are supposed to be standard or built to OEM specs, so what are people doing to these heads to give such a gain? Is it just freshly lapped valves etc for maximum compression?

[@TheTorkerman]

Mate! Nicest looking wreckers ever!!!! Jolly’s and Pick A Part over my side of town are a mix of gravel and muddy puddles, that place was nice!!

[@TheNuggetProject]

Yeah it's so legit, I haven't been to the one in Ringwood but dandy and Geelong are all concrete, but Geelong is by far the nicest but they don't get a huge cycle of stock compared to Dandy. Pick a part is great as they have a lot of older cars but yeah, dirt, mud and all that, I have no idea how you would even maneuver an engine crane around there especially Kilsyth that is on a massive hill haha.

[@davidporeilly1]

and no savage dog!

[@LittleJimmyR]

Speedway also kinda has this problem. I have an Excel in Speedway and all you should need is a running engine (and saftey ofc). You don't need performance (in the lower classes of Junior Sedans at least). You just need to be a good driver, and even then you can still have fun!

[@TheNuggetProject]

For sure mate, i think it all depends what you want out of racing. for me i just want ot have fun and get into some good battles on track, yeah ti's great when i do well but some of the front cars are highly developed, I can't compete with that (not at my skill level anyway)

[@stephenpanitz365]

When our engine went pop. We just found a wrecked excel pulled the head and sump, gave it a clean, lapped the valves and stuck it into the car. Runs great.

[@TheNuggetProject]

That's the spirit!

[@darrinkfield5411]

Keep racing for fun! The best comment in your video. And if you want to have even more fun, bolt a set of standard Ebay shocks on your XL and go rallying. In one year my XL did a race meeting, a state rally round, a hillclimb, a gymkhana.....and picked up the fish and chips one night?????? Keep racing for fun.......

[@TheNuggetProject]

So sick :)

[@lj5030]

Well said mate, you don’t have to throw the bank at it to have fun, my orange civic was 5k and I already know no matter what it’s gonna be a hell of a lot of fun

[@TheNuggetProject]

Definitely bud! That car will be an absolute blast, civics and crx have got to be some of the best budget track cars going around:)

[@tyleroutingdyke849]

Just a casual viewer from canada here! i feel like they should open up the class to the next generation of the chassis aswell, and allow the use of the 1.6 dohc "alpha ii" and has more readily available chassis. Now i dont quiet understand how readily available the "excel" is considering in north america its called the accent and the older generations are pretty much gone here aswell

[@TheNuggetProject]

Hey mate cheers for the message. So the accent or as we refer to them here as the excel.was the highest selling small car of the 90s, they are everywhere and you still see th m.driving around on the streets regularly, so there is no shortage of them yet :) As for mixing the newer 1.6 litre cars into this control category it just wouldn't work as the slightly bigger displacement would be an advantage and everyone would move to them cmaking the older models redundant, which would suck when there are close to 600 logbooked excel racecars in the country :)

[@anthonyfogliani3902]

Exactly mate Whether you are at the front, middle or rear in Excel cup racing you will have others to race with

[@TheNuggetProject]

For sure, I mean, we all want to move up through the grid, but hopefully that will come with time and experience :)

[@aussietruckphotosandmodels8510]

Great stuff as always. We managed to get to our first hill climb for just over $2200, and had a fantastic day. However there is now a big problem here that we somehow have to find a way round. All the auto breakers in southern Tasmania have now all gone. I know there is still one in Launie. but I don't know how long that will last. The government really doesn't like auto breakers and has made it near impossible for them to survive., siting soil contamination as their point of focus. A good mate ran his yard after taking it on from his dad and told me that he was getting letters and visits from the local council nearly weekly. A few years ago they had to ban public walk rounds, so you couldn't just walk about and choose parts. And the yard was strictly for employees only. Add to that the car culture has shifted greatly over the last 20 years, and if anything goes wrong with your car now or it gets a bump or ding. then it's back to the dealer or franchised body shop., where the insurance will take care of it for you while you get about in the loaner car for a week. For him the numbers just weren't adding up, so he had to call it day. That brings us to problem 2.. What happens to all the older cars ????? Most of the wrecking yards have been bought over by a company called Angle.... the government and most people loves them.. Angle will collect your older car. They pay you $300 cash on the spot. take your car away. Drain all the fluids, cut the cat of it and bale it... You can't get onto their premises, they won't remove any parts. they don't want to know. I've seen reasonable HQ"s Bedford, and Transit vans, early Commodores, Mini's, 80's sport Jap cars , you name it, I've seen them all going through Angle's crusher ( Our depot's just along the road ) They only see the cars as weight value, no compassion at all. and for the government... no mess..I know a guy that used to work for them who told me they were baling 55 to 70 cars a day, and he couldn't even buy parts from them. bare in mind they have 2 sites in the Hobart area that are chewing through about 120 cars a day and you can see the problem. Other than buying up cheep cars from Gumtree and the like for personal use and having my own personal bone yard I don't see a way round it. I know some guys that have done this already and even they're under pressure from the local councils, and nosy neighbors. Regardless of all this I'm still pushing on with my project...... Ball Ux to them.......

[@TheNuggetProject]

Ah man that really sucks hey, wrecking yards are the greatest! Makes it really hard for you guys down there :(

[@xvClinton]

U swung you a message on Facebook the other day and your replied almost instantly what a absolute top bloke 🤟. I need to build one of these 😂 I saw them racing at Sydney motorsport park and your right the battle for 20th was as close if not closer then the battle for 1st keep up the amazing vids 🙌

[@TheNuggetProject]

Ah my pleasure mate, I try to respond as soon as possible :) Yeah there are fun battles all the way through the pack, I'm never going to be up front but I'm glad I can have just as much wherever I am on the grid :)

[@rosstulloch8100]

I really like you. I watch all the automotive you-tubers and when you or Jeff or B is for Build drop a vid, I am one of the first viewers. TBH, though, I like the building and problem solving way more than the racing.

[@TheNuggetProject]

Cheers Ross :) Yeah I try to do a mix, with the car somewhat built now it's harder to do big build videos but I'm still developing the car so hopefully I can do a mix. I really want to build another track car ( something completely different) but time, money and space are the issue. Thanks for watching though :)

[@teamluxeperformance]

💯 spot on mate

[@steveoliver8769]

Awesome video, enjoyed the series.🏁 Just saying, We were buying complete road going registered cars for 400 - 600 only a few years ago. Be lucky to find one now. 😩

[@TheNuggetProject]

Yeah maybe, I still reckon with a bit of hunting there are lots around but probably more leaving notes on windscreens and knocking on doors than going throught the trading post.

[@MrBlaze256]

Do you not have many 2005 and early accents there? Why are they not included same car different shape

[@TheNuggetProject]

@@MrBlaze256 Hey mate so yeah there are heaps and you're not wrong it's essentially the same car underneath, but this is a very controlled series and teh accent did have some upgrades compared to the excel, heads were slight different and obviously aero would be very different they want to keep it all as close as possible and after enough testing one of the models would stand out over the other as the superior car so everyone would just use that, easier just to keep to the one model :) Also, all that aside the rules are made my the governing body :)

[@davidporeilly1]

Great points made in your video. Yes you can have great racing and great fun without overspending. I'll take it one step further; the organisers are doing the series a disservice by allowing "built engines" and the like. Once the guy with the fattest wallet can simply out-spend his competition you no longer have a level playing field. So Excel racing needs to decide what it is because by making it legal they make it compulsory to be competitive. The driver not the car should make the difference. I race here in the UK in MX5 Supercup. I get to dice with and beat LeMans LMP2 winners, British GT champions, race Abbie Eaton and teams with mega budgets on a level playing field. The reason is that apart from a spec exhaust manifold, spec air cleaner, spec exhaust system and a remap the entire engine and drivetrain can not be touched. In fact we have a maximum hub HP rating and you can be dyno tested at any time. I also considered another production based series but on reading their tech regs and seeing that a lot of engine mods were permitted I left it alone. Recently I spoke with a guy who went there. He could not compete without spending £7,000 (A$14,000) per weekend and there were teams spending twice that to win what is effectively a club championship! ( I spend £800-1000 per weekend) Last year we were successful in even having the seasonal tyre allowance (A$1,000 per set) halved to a set every other race weekend as some drivers were buying new sets for every quali session. We showed it didn't add to the racing-just to the costs. That saved drivers about £2,000. It's very easy but very destructive to get over excited by the engineering possibilities, let the money come in and ruin the championship. The big money small incremental gains do not improve the racing and hence the championship. In my view the guys with big budgets should be made to play fair and can showcase their wealth in other traditional ways like a massive transporter, big watch, helicopter etc and leave the racing fair. Alternatively if wealthy "Go-Karter dads" as another viewer put it want to use the series to launch their kids career they need to understand that everybody will know if the car or the driver made the difference. (Edit: In other words there is more credibility in winning a strict one make series. That's how Mark Skaife launched his career in Ford Lasers.)

[@guyb6665]

Just agree to start next season with everyone in a GETZ. You'll need to acquire them from all the UberEats drivers first 🤭

[@TheNuggetProject]

haha totally

[@gamingjoshy6530]

95 - 97 are single cams and 98-2000 are twin cams

[@RUSSM8]

Nice video. Only 2 questions... why didn't you just buy that whole car as spares.... And why don't you have a tow bar on the Subaru yet for wrecker runs ! Haha

[@TheNuggetProject]

Haha, valid questions! 1: I dont have anywhere to put a whole car! plus it's from a wreckers so if i wanted the whole thing they would probably charge me the collective price of the rest of the parts which wouldn't be cheap, and lasty i've got just about everything i need off it now, bar maybe some spare panels :) As for the subie i actually have a towbar which a legend gave to me but haven't fitted it, but on that note the impreza won't be with us much longer, i've got my eyes set on a new daily :)

[@Festivaltix]

Pappa almost lost his toes under that trailer

[@TheNuggetProject]

Na, after that many years you figure out where the end of your toes are :p

[@gamingjoshy6530]

I have 3 excels. Doing up my mums 96, have a 97 that im trying to kill. So far I have hydrolocked it, put grass through the engine and it still runs on 3 cylinders XD, I have a 98 that I daily as well. The 96 has 300k, 97 230, and the 98 has 260 on the body and 140 on the gearbox and motor XD

[@TheNuggetProject]

Definitely the cockroaches of the car world! just won't die!

[@gamingjoshy6530]

@@TheNuggetProject yep!! they just keep on going. Bloody good cars they are

[@datorr7470]

I have been building an Audi for the 24hours of lemons here in the US. same principals, cheap car, go race and have fun

[@TheNuggetProject]

That's it! That should be great fun mate :)

[@rodneypurbrick7899]

This becomes a problem in any sport once the competitive juices start flowing. I did raise this question with the S.A. club. It is still expensive to race cars no matter the class. To buy a going Excel starts at over $10k. Without spares or trailer.

[@TheNuggetProject]

Absolutely but it's cheap as far as motorsport is concerned, I think trailer and tow rig is one of the most overlooked things when getting Into motorsport.

[@rodneypurbrick7899]

@@TheNuggetProject I was involved in Qld Superkarts in the 80's and 90's and saw how money can kill a sport. Guys would spend big bucks on gear, beat everyone then numbers dwindled to the point of running multiple classes in each race. Almost killed the sport up there and here in Adelaide, still low numbers on track. Most people don't even know what they are.

[@TheNuggetProject]

@@rodneypurbrick7899 Yeah it happens, and i can understand how frustrating it can be for people who want to move up the ranks and are starting a racing career, but for the rest of us i think the biggest mod that should be made is to their view of the sport and their attitude, just accept that people are spending big money and there is a lot of skill, and just have fun in the field with like minded and similarly skilled people. With that mindset you'll be going home with a smile on your face and that's what it's all about.

[@rodneypurbrick7899]

@@TheNuggetProject yep totally agree Matt. Just get in and participate for the fun and friendship. Maybe the rules should be tightened a bit to limit teams like 888 from coming in and spoiling the party with unlimited budgets ?

[@davidporeilly1]

@@rodneypurbrick7899 the Karting spend is ridiculous. Teams can spend £100,000 per year to run a goddam kart. Used rotax engines are changing hands at multiples of the new price. If I was in charge the engines would be numbered and pooled and every round you draw a number to get your race engine. Problem solved.

[@troyd-motorsport9933]

Well said, IMO, if they want to pour money into engines, then go race something else. The whole excel racing was built around being an entry level, cheap way to get people into competitive racing.

[@TheNuggetProject]

Yeah, it doesn't matter what form of motorsport it is, sooner or later people will come in and pour money into it to get up the front, unfortunately ti's inevitable and the excel leauge is huge now so it was always going to happen.

[@djredhareaus38]

It could be 1 114 000km

[@TheNuggetProject]

Haha that would genuinely be funny :p, but by the condition of the bushes in the control arms and the engine mounts I highly doubt it :)

[@jeffgray3863]

Could not agree with you more. Bloggers are floggers!