24Hours of LeMONS

I know there are two Nor. Cal FChatters on teams racing at Altamont Raceway next weekend (July7-8). MufflerMan and I will be out there... Anyone else racing a $500 car for 24 Hours?

if not, come on out and watch this really silly race. We abuse junkers in amusing ways. Colby is a menace on the track, and his car is fast this year. That just means he's going to hit things harder.

our 91 Caprice is nearly ready to race. Just another 12pack fueled nights of work and she'll be ready.


check out the mayhem @ http://www.24hoursoflemons.com

 

couple of us are supposed to be there, but we still havent even sorted out the car

--dan

 

Whatcha driving?

We'll be in the 91 Caprice with the "Billetproof" logos on it #80.

Stop by the pits and say hi, or just wave when we sideswipe ya on the track

 

just finished the paint on the #17 rx7.....as it is an oudoor event we used "exterior" latex and as a nod to environmentalists we opted for natural bristle brushes....

 

I just heard about this from one of my friends. Sounds fun and definitely silly. Enjoy.

 

Well, I just got drafted as "crew chief" for a team. I'm not driving because I don't have the stuff - approved helmet, nomex underwear, license, etc. No other Fchatters on my team that I know of, but the team includes Jay Lamm (who organized the event and writes a column in Sport Car International) and his co-organizer whose name I don't remember. I think my job is to make sure we have enough fuel and to use pry bars and large hammers to keep the body work from rubbing on tires after incidents. We have a clapped out Miata. I see the car for the first time on Wednesday. Please don't squish it with the Caprice!

 

OK, I got to see the two cars. The 1992 Miata #31 looks excellent, almost too good. The top and interior were shot, but those are gone now. The engine makes a heckuva lot of valve noise. Should be OK. Apparently the smoking problem went away when a bunch of 140 wt gear oil was added to the engine. My fear is enough oil pressure to blow the filter off. It smells a bit like hypoid when running, but the visible smoke is gone. Body isn't perfect, but for a sub $500 car is superb. The car was prepped with plumbing from the dash vents to a vacuum cleaner hose that you can stick into your race suit for cooling. Good thing because it is going to be HOT out there, probably hoter in an open car. Wheels were still at the shop, I didn't get to drive it. Car has been lowered by heating the a few coils on the springs until they collapsed. Excellent, and definately in the spirit of the event. I'll put a few laps on the car during the event, but I'm not planning on being a main driver.

Did I sign up for managing two cars? I didn't remember that part, but car number 2 is a 1982 Chevy Nova. No, not the muscle car Nova, the sad import version. Was this a Nummi car or rebadged Hyundai? A screaming 1.4 liter four banger that must produce all of 75HP. Not to worry though, half of that will be eaten by the torque converter and auto tranny. In practice sessions in an open parking lot the car topped out at a staggering 56 MPH, able to break speed limits on all but the fastest Interstates and expressways! This car has been a race car for a while (!) and was purchased with a roll cage already installed, lights covered up, interior stripped, door welded shut, whole thing beat to crap, etc. A guy and his two sons (18 and 22) are the main drivers and a few friends of the sons are along for the fun. The guys painted the car yellow. It is thick and bad enough to have texture. How many pounds of paint is that? The Flying Lemon Brothers racing team - expect great things.
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This sounds like a blast.

The miata actually looks pretty good, the Nova on the other hand....

 

Last bit of welding on our car tonight... the window nets go in and we are ready.

Dont know if we'll have time for pic, just look for the 91 Caprice in the pits and say hi.

We're showing up on Friday to get settled and get tech out of the way.... oh yes, and to start partying.

 

I had a great time and even got a chance to drive afterall. We had nothing but cooling problems. I still don't know the root cause - maybe a blocked radiator? We blew a hose on lap 5 and it didn't stop from there. I removed the thermostat, replaced hoses and a radiator fan, but it would just keep overheating. We would just add water every 10-15 laps and go back out. The enigne seized on the cool down lap because the driver didn't want to miss the last lap and didn't come in for water. Ths event is amazingly fu. I'll be back in October for sure!!

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t11/annabelleharper/24%20Hours%20of%20LeMons/

http://www.youtube.com/v/TkE3Xr5V16Q

 

That Miata looked way too expensive. I'm surprised the organizers didn't exercise their right to buy it for $500. Or is that only in the Double 500 they can do that.?

 

The bungie cords extending out from under the car look interesting

 

What a blast !!!!

Pushing ****ty cars way harder then was ever intended. A great time.

We got hit with the "Anna Nicole Smith" penalty for driving like the biggest dicks. Partially deserved, but none of our love taps were intentional. Can we help it that when a 91 Caprice hits an little import car the laws of physics rule the day?

We got a blow up sex doll strapped to our hood, and held in the pits for a while to talk it over and think about the error of our ways.

Colby's team (MufflerMan) was voted Peoples Curse and their car got attacked by a BobCat with a jackhammer on it. Fun stuff. Then the crowd went to town with sledge hammers. Some vindictive folks in the crowd went for the carb through the shaker air cleaner. The roof was also caved in. Thats ok though, as they just turned the Camero into a roadster, fixed the under hood damage and went back out on track... until they got thrown out for driving down the front straight backwards and pulling a J-turn at start/finish. CLASSIC move .

we started 50th and rose steadily to 21st over all. We had two minor break downs, and 2 flat tires. Total "down" time in the pits was less than 40 mintues, driver changes not included.

 

The miata looks pretty decent. Gotta love the story and the action when it all unfolds. lol

 

You are judging a car by its paint, not its merits. The car was a piece of crap with nice paint. The POS Caprice run by Choptop beat us by HUNDREDS of laps, no exaggeration. The car looks good for 250,000 miles, but it was worn out. If I was looking for a daily driver I would have passed this Miata by also. If a car won't pass smog, in California it is a $500 car unless someone is willing to ship it out of state.

 

Some pics here:

Pre-race paddock:

http://web.mac.com/ddunwood/iWeb/Site/24HoursOfLeMons.html

Race:

http://web.mac.com/ddunwood/iWeb/Site/24HoursOfLeMonsPage2.html

Colby, I saw you get turned around, then threw it into reverse going, oh, thirty? (the field was coming at him as he scooted backwards!) then pulling that awesome J-turn at start finish. NICE ....

 

Thanks. The officials didn't care for it though, we got the boot for the remainder of the race. They said "I was out of control".

 

Out of control? Hell, that was a lesson in car control. Thanks again Colby that was the best time I have ever had!

 

yep, Colby prolly had the best car controll out there, cept for our team of course .

Getting booted for that was BS, but hey, Jay wanted to tighten up the rules this year and he did. It took a little away from it all if you ask me. But it was still a blast. Cant wait for Oct.

 

ChopTop - are you planning on the next 24Hours of LeMONS at Thunderhill at the end of December? I'm contemplating joining a few friends and doing it.

 

Yep, we are going to run in Dec. getting headlights and tail lights back on our car for T-hill.

we are stoked as most of our team are AFM motorcycle racers and we run T-hill all the time. cant wait to push a 91 Caprice REALLY hard around the track.

 

Are you running the next Lemons at Altamont in two weeks? The mounts for the sprint car wing to go atop the Miata are almost done. I'm not sure how we will get in, but the downforce should be awesome! The donor says that it could produce 1500lbs of downforce at 60mph. Now the question is - will our lethargic Miata be able to push that wing through the air at 60?!?

 

Not running in Oct... too much to do.

a wing on the Miata? COOOOOL. Might make the whole rig top heavy, make sure ya run it through some corners to see if yer gunna need stiffer springs.

Very funny though.

we tossed you tail lights and head lights which are going to be needed for T-Hill. So we are thinking some sort of 4x4 style roof bar with a rack of KC headlights is in order... for front and back

 

Indeed. I don't think Christmas lights will cut it.

 

come on out, it will be a GREAT time. T-Hill is a fun track and we'll be partying hard. I'll prolly stay in the RV at the track. We'll fire up the BBQ and blender and have a good ole time.