Wreck Racing Places Second in Grassroots Motorsports Competition

The team's 1987 BMW 5 Series placed second overall.

A team of Georgia Tech students took home second place in a recent competition that had them build a car with a budget of $2,018.

Wreck Racing traveled to Gainesville, Florida, to compete in the annual Grassroots Motorsports competition, which is meant as a friendly challenge among collegiate car enthusiasts. Teams compete in three categories: autocross, drag racing, and concours.

Wreck Racing’s 1987 BMW 5 Series placed second overall. The car has a custom-mounted LM7 5.3L V8 engine and also contains parts from GMC, Ford, and Chevrolet vehicles.

"The best part about the Grassroot Motorsports Challenge is variety of vehicles our team is able to engineer," said Lawson Sumner, a mechanical engineering major and Wreck Racing president.

Last year's car, an autocross-focused, mid-engine Honda Insight, placed first. This year, the team wanted to take on a new challenge by creating a drag-focused car.

"We're really excited about the results we had our first time out with it," Sumner said. "Despite construction preventing the drag event this year, our E28 proved a competent autocross car and stole the show in the concours to give us a second-place overall result."

Learn more about the competition.

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