#TBT: Looking back at 40 years of GRM project cars | Articles

The year was 1984. Tim Suddard had just competed in his first autocross. It was time, he figured, to create a magazine dedicated to the sport. The first issue of Auto-X, the magazine that became Grassroots Motorsports, debuted in November 1984. On that first cover? Tim and his Datsun 240Z. It became the magazine’s initial project car by setting the basics that have endured through today: maximizing the budget, championing open access to the sport, and focusing on fun. 

Lesson learned: Anyone can play with cars. You. Us. Anyone. It doesn’t take piles of money or insider connections. It just takes the desire to get involved.

GRM was born in the salvage yards and discount racks, but soon we had some corporate partners–real ones, like Honda. The OEM worked with GRM to introduce its then-new 1986 Civic Si. We brought in some names that quickly became legendary in the early days of Honda tuning–Mugen, Jackson Racing and RC Engineering–while earning a national SCCA Solo title along the way.

Lesson learned: Working alone might be fun, but teaming up with experts can pay big dividends and open doors to future projects. That Civic wouldn’t be our only collab with Honda, as others would follow.

Randy Pobst isn’t new to GRM. Not at all. Back in 1987, we teamed up with Toyota on a factory-backed Corolla FX16 GT-S project, and we put our local hotshoe–a real up-and-comer–behind the wheel: Randy Pobst. Together we won an SCCA ProSolo title. The following year, Randy was road racing a factory-backed MR2. 

Lesson learned: We jumped into the deep end of the autocross pool with this one–even in the ’80s, competition was tight–but fortunately we had the driving talent to pull it off.

Times were tough for many of us during the very early ’90s, as the economy wasn’t exactly chugging along. So we concentrated on a pair of low-buck BMW 2002 builds: one for the road, one for Improved Touring racing, a hot property for the SCCA at the time. 

Lesson learned: Neither build went easily as we were working out of primitive facilities at the time–but not unlike much of our audience. Perhaps the biggest take-home: Rusty cars make for challenging projects.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away–well, more like South Florida in 1993–you could score a solid, rust-free Mazda RX-7 roller for free. We filled that 1979 Mazda with a half-bridgeported 13B controlled by a Haltech programmable fuel-injection setup, cutting-edge stuff at the time. That car could pass everything but a gas station.

Lesson learned: This project showed us how Mazda’s rotary could be the gateway to smooth power in a compact package. This wasn’t our last one.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

Perhaps we should keep our musings to ourselves. In 1993, we wondered–in print, where everyone could see it–if we should put a rotary engine inside a Triumph Spitfire shell. Enough people encouraged us, so we did it. Installments on the repowering of our 1974 Spitfire shell started in 1997 and ran for several years.

Lesson learned: Don’t have all the necessary fabrication skills? Make friends with those who do–in this case, fellow Mazda and Triumph racer Steve Eckerich.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

The Neon–sold under both Dodge and Plymouth nameplates–immediately upended both the autocross and road race scenes. Power? Handling? How about mountains of factory cash in the form of support and contingency payouts? We worked with Chrysler on the 1994 unveiling and brought home one of the prototypes for a bit of SCCA road racing. If we remember correctly, we won a regional title with that one. No trailer, either. 

Lesson learned: Looking back, perhaps this is an overlooked era to revisit for vintage racing today–although we’re not sure how we feel about going wheel to wheel with factory seats and bolt-in cages, standard issue at the time.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

Non-competitive track days were becoming more and more of a nationwide phenomenon, so in 1995 we picked up a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit. The goal: Build a fun, low-buck street car that could survive a day at the track. Mission accomplished. 

Lesson learned: While chatting with a Ferrari owner at a track day, we realized that “grassroots” wasn’t a price point but rather a viewpoint. He had deeper pockets than us but also had an eye on the budget.

Photography Credit: Tim Suddard

Around 1995 we needed something practical. How about another ’86 Civic Si? That’s practical, right? But this time there was a twist: twin-cam power from an Acura Integra. Honda swaps were just about to become a big thing. Did we know that was going to happen? As usual, we were simply after the easy button for more power. 

Lesson learned: Honda Civics are good. Honda Civics with more power courtesy of a bolt-in swap are even better.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

BMW CCA debuted its own Club Racing program in 1995, and as series supporters we decided to build a car for 1997. BMW had just released its truncated 318ti, and we borrowed one from the factory. Prep was mild–springs, shocks, bars and, odd by today’s standard, just a roll bar–but we ran a lot of laps with that one. Not fast laps, but laps, nonetheless. 

Lesson learned: A track car that could also serve as a fairly practical daily–especially with a/c–became a recurring theme. For a modern equivalent, look at our latest GTI and BMW 435i projects.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

Hot Hondas defined the late-’90s import scene, and we were there with a CRX–and not just any CRX, but a 1988 Barbados Yellow Si, a holy grail among the faithful. Despite having covered nearly 170,000 miles when we purchased it in 1998, it looked clean. We added a Jackson Racing supercharger and kept the car busy: autocross, drag racing and mingling with the locals. 

Lesson learned: Perhaps we had found the total package, as these wishbone Hondas offered reliability, practicality and tremendous performance potential.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

Many Miatas have passed through our hands–we’ve lost count, to be honest–but in 1998 we picked up a 1992 model from a local new car dealer. The goal: Showcase the latest bolt-ons from companies like Jackson Racing and Flyin’ Miata. After a few years on the front burner, we left it to sit in the back of the garage–for nearly a decade. A few years ago, though, we put the Garage Rescue Miata back into service. (Clever name, right?)

Lesson learned: Miata is always the answer.

Photography Credit: Tom Suddard

Let’s go vintage racing, we decided, and we found a car that had been racing since nearly new: a 1957 Triumph TR3. It came with history, an SCCA logbook and a name, Millie. Even though it was already prepped, we still had to assemble an engine, update the safety and go through the entire car. The project made its magazine debut in 2000, and this one is still with us.

Lesson learned: For those who want to go back and experience racing the way it was, a vintage car can scratch that itch.

Photography Credit: Rupert Berrington

2001 was a big year: We survived Y2K and Mini brought back the Mini. Yes, this one was bigger than the original, but it was still small by the day’s standards–and it became a huge hit. As in days gone by, the Mini quickly became a common sight at autocrosses and road races. So of course we got our hands on one–just a Cooper, as those in the know would say. At that year’s Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals, Mike King wheeled ours to second place in class, making it the fastest Mini at the event. More early Minis followed, including a few Cooper S race cars. 

Lesson learned: Over the years, we’ve watched several manufacturers capture lightning in a bottle. The trick is holding onto it. Minis once dominated the sport, but that’s not quite the case these days.

Photography Credit: Tim Suddard

While at the 2002 SEMA Show, a friend from BFGoodrich posed a question: Did we want to borrow the company’s new Honda Civic Si show car? It wouldn’t fit in our luggage, but eventually the Civic did arrive. BFG prepped the car to showcase the SCCA’s fairly new Street Touring program, so we followed their lead before eventually prepping it for NASA Honda Challenge road racing. 

Lesson learned: Honda no longer blessed the Civic with a wishbone suspension, so making this one turn took a bit of work–think a big rear bar and plenty of spring.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

To paraphrase an old Car and Driver review, there are eight reasons to love a Fox-body Mustang: They’re arranged in a V and send power to the rear end. In 2003, we added a 1990 Mustang GT to the stable–yes, a five-speed car, of course–and proceeded to throw most of the Steeda catalog at it. 

Lesson learned: Once you sort the brakes and suspension–all bolt-on stuff both then and now–a Fox-body Mustang becomes a very capable track car.

Photography Credit: Scott R. Lear

Locost fever burned pretty hot in 2004, so we decided to build one. But we made it extra challenging, choosing to complete the entire build in one weekend–and not even a three-day weekend. We dragged a beat Miata to Champion Motorcars–at the time a big name in the Locost world–and, 48 hours later, emerged with a running, driving modern take on the famed Lotus 7.

Lesson learned: Sometimes it’s amazing what you can build with adjustable wrenches in a short amount of time.

Photography Credit: Tony Neste

Ever see a Berkeley Sports? Likely not. It’s a little British sports car of the late ’50s. Fiberglass body. Front-wheel drive. We picked up a 1958 example in 2006 and decided to prep it for our $2000 Challenge–but with a complete tube frame and everything. Denny Crabill, who had already built some crazy cars for the event, was enlisted. The Berzerkeley retained the front-drive layout but got bike power. It made an appearance at the PRI Trade Show but didn’t quite take gold at the $2000 Challenge. 

Lesson learned: You know those wild ideas that keep you up at night? Before acting upon them, maybe make sure you’re up to ride them all the way home. 

Photography Credit: Andy Hollis

Andy Hollis helped write the book on Street Touring prep for the early Miata, and we documented his process during the 2006-’08 seasons. He pulled his 1992 Miata from storage and reconfigured it for the then-new STS2 class. After a year of development–and wins–he claimed an overall ProSolo championship plus the year-end title for the class. 

Lesson learned: The key to a successful racing effort? Development, development, development.

Photography Credit: Rupert Berrington

How well did the NC-chassis Miata work in autocross? Only one way to find out, so we borrowed a new 2010 model from Mazda and teamed up with Tire Rack. The competition arena was Street Touring R, at the time a new, supplemental class. At the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals, Angie Rogers scored the STRL win while Chris Harvey and John Rogers landed in the Open trophies. 

Lesson learned: Again, development pays off with hardware.

Photography Credit: Per Schroeder 

Do you like Subarus? We do. Several Subaru wagons have turned up in our shop, including this 2000 Impreza L wagon: five speeds, no sunroof. We acquired it in 2010 and did a low-buck rallycross prep–used Konis, for example–but didn’t skimp on the bank of Hella rally lights. 

Lesson learned: A lot of Radwood’s greatest hits passed through our hands, and looking back, maybe we should have held onto more of them. At the time, though, we figured the well would never run dry.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

Someone out there was silly enough to prep a 1986 Lincoln Mark VII for road racing–and, in 2010, we were silly enough to buy it. It already had a cage, but as we quickly learned, it was junk. This car became a group project for the GRM team that we took low-buck endurance racing. The crazy paint? Pergo, a Daytona area artist, did that for us during the Rolex 24 At Daytona. 

Lesson learned: Despite what you may have read on the internet–or even on our own website–a Lincoln isn’t exactly a big Mustang. It’s close, but as we learned–usually at the track–there were some nuances.

Photography Credit: Tom Suddard

Factory Five, long famous for its Cobra replicas, came to us in 2011 with an ask: Could our readers help the company design a body for a forthcoming kit car? This one would feature a mid-mounted Subaru WRX drivetrain. A little while later, with help from Very Cool Parts, we built our own. 

Lesson learned: Building a car from scratch–even with a bolt-together kit–takes dedication. But like the idiom says, many hands make light work.

Photography Credit: Chris Clark

Had road racing gotten too expensive? Enter B-Spec, a new idea for 2012 that pitted new compacts against each other. We bet on a Ford Fiesta and picked one up from Dearborn. After a few track days, we did the full road race prep, eventually running a pro event with the Pirelli World Challenge series. 

Lesson Learned: Pro racing is all about the show, and it’s more expensive than you think. Everything there costs money.

Photography Credit: Tom Suddard

Back in 2012, someone posted an ad for a genuine 1992 Sunburst Yellow Miata on our own forum. It had been sitting. Asking price? $700. We bought it, of course, but what to do with it? We first took it autocrossing followed by some track events. Then, we thought, let’s turn it into a low-buck endurance car. And because we like to keep things interesting, let’s add a turbo. The car went faster, but that’s also when things started to break. After four years with that car, another Lemons competitor crashed into it, sending that chassis to the big Miata junkyard in the sky. 

Lesson learned: That Miata never gave us any trouble before we turbocharged it.

Photography Credit: Rupert Berrington

A Z-car project, we figured, would take us back to our roots, so we prepped a 2003 Nissan 350Z for autocross–specifically, the Street Touring ranks. We ran this car during the 2013-’15 seasons but always felt a bit hamstrung because the commercially available parts just didn’t jibe with the rule book. We also wonder if we should have spent the extra money for the later, higher-output version. 

Lesson learned: Things seem to go more smoothly when the sanctioning bodies and aftermarket work together.

Photography Credit: Ed Higginbotham

Colin McRae rallied a Focus. Could we find similar success with one? We added one to the fleet in 2014–one of the high-output SVT models–and quickly took it rallycrossing. Real rally tires made a real difference, helping us pick up an SCCA regional championship along the way. (We might have been the only regular entry in the class that year, but a win’s a win, right?)

Lesson Learned: Rallycross is fun, but it’s also tough on equipment. Our Focus broke. A lot.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

When the Camaro Z/28 returned to the lineup in 2014 after more than a decade away, Chevrolet Performance used the SEMA Show to demonstrate how much of that hi-po hardware could be bolted to the more common CamaroSS. Chevy let us borrow one of those SEMA cars, and we concentrated on NASA Time Trial competition. 

Lesson learned: Modern cars have gotten fast, with this one hitting the 155 mph limiter shortly after leaving Daytona’s Bus Stop and just sitting on it until Turn 1. Biggest challenge was keeping the oil temps in check.

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

We still wanted to road race a Miata, so we did the only sensible thing upon the 2016 demise of our yellow enduro racer: We immediately bought another one, a 1996 chassis already set up for SCCA racing. We swapped over the turbo drivetrain and blew a few engines–it might have been four, but who’s counting?–before we had an idea: What if we just installed a Camaro V6? We might have killed a few V6 engines, too, but this one is still in the GRM fleet. 

Lesson learned: Adding power can often reveal the weak link–or, in this case, weak links. This one’s also been hard on brakes and transmissions.

Photography Credit: Ed Higginbotham

When Mike Smith, one of our forum regulars, passed away unexpectedly from cancer, the GRM crew sprang into action to complete his rotary Miata project. The reason for this 2016 thrash: to raise proceeds to help fund his daughter’s education.

Lesson learned: Building a car to win a race is fun, but building a car to help a member of the community truly warms the heart. 

Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

Fast cars, loose rules: Welcome to the SCCA’s Classic American Muscle autocross program. It was gaining steam, and we wanted in. Early in 2016, we officially threw our hat into the ring, picking up a low-mileage 2012 Mustang GT. We added the usual CAM hardware–bigger footprint, improved suspension and some aero–and our best finish was third at the SCCA’s season-ending CAM Challenge. 

Lesson learned: Going fast in a big, fast car wears out parts. The Mustang ate front tires and went through rotors until we installed some humongous Baer brakes.

Photography Credit: Dave Green

Late in 2017, we decided it was time to build a Corvette. Some friends in the scene pointed us toward a C5 rather than a C6 for a simple reason: The earlier car cut a smaller hole through the air. Start with a Z06, they added. We lucked into a 2004 Corvette Z06 Commemorative Edition, meaning it had the factory carbon hood. We threw even more power at it and eventually had it going nearly 180 into Turn 1 at Daytona. 

Lesson learned: Once you have a buyer on the line for a project car, don’t even touch it. During that last on-track photo session–not pushing anything hard–our crate engine decided to come apart in spectacular fashion.

Photography Credit: Tom Suddard

The M3 wasn’t the only hot E30 offered by the factory. The menu also included the twin-cam, inline-four 318is. It didn’t have quite as much power, but it was still a cool piece of ’80s nostalgia. Our 1991 BMW 318is even had a slicktop. The catch: When we found it in 2018, it had been sitting for years and needed a full mechanical redo.

Lesson learned: Successful sharks never stop swimming. We spied this one–sitting dormant in a towing yard–while out sightseeing.

Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

Low-buck racing has been at our foundation since the earliest days, so when we spied a 1993 Volkswagen Fox race car advertised for just $500, we had to nab it. The Fox had one of the best cages ever seen at a Lemons race, the ad boasted, along with multiple top-10 finishes. We grabbed the car late in 2018 and quickly pressed it into endurance racing service–where it broke a couple of times. Comically huge Nine Lives aero let us rule the turns, though. 

Lesson learned: People like to bench race about the wacky projects, but perhaps there’s a reason people stick with the proven options. The Fox constantly had us searching for parts that had been NLA for years.

Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

LS all things, right? In 2016, we built a fresh LS. Now, we thought, what to put it in? We answered that question in 2018: a Nissan 350Z, with LOJ Conversions offering the bolt-on swap kit. We’ve been racing–and developing–this one ever since. 

Lesson learned: LS swaps are cool, but bolt-in LS swaps can make life way easier–although you should still budget time and money for the details and unexpected surprises.

Photography Credit: Tom Suddard

Could your track car also be your daily–and a comfortable one at that? And with just the addition of some stickers, could it podium at the Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports? As we found with our 2017 Volkswagen Golf GTI–a member of the fleet since late in 2022–that answer is yes. 

Lesson learned: Shop smart and be patient. We held out for just the right GTI, meaning a non-sunroof car fitted with the factory big brakes.

Photography Credit: Tradd’s Photos

Our GTI proved that a track car and a daily could be one. But what about those who crave a bit more speed–and want more focus on competition? Enter our 2015 BMW 435i. With BimmerWorld’s assistance, since the beginning of 2024 we’ve been prepping this one for SCCA Time Trials competition. 

Lesson learned: Modern BMWs can be challenging to work on and expensive to maintain, but we tend to forget all that when it all comes together on track.

Photography Credit: Nicole Suddard

For sale: 2014 Porsche Cayman with just a four-speed transmission. For $15,000, it was ours. Two big questions: How do we get it from the West Coast to our Florida base and, upon returning, could we easily resurrect fifth and sixth? Porsche said the car needed a new gearbox to the tune of $15,000. Small spoiler alert as this one hasn’t yet made its magazine debut: We drove it cross-country with just the first four gears and we fixed the gearbox for $61.05.

Lesson learned: Sometimes you just have to trust your gut when taking a risk, but first do some research to help tip those odds in your favor.