24 Hours of LeMons, End of Day One

[Rupunzell]

The X ran and handled well on day one. We adjusted tire pressures over the course of the day due to the ever changing temperature of the track.. Cold in the morning/late afternoon, the warm mid-day.

The most serious problem we had was with the rented transponder which was part-charged and cost us two extra stops and very possibly lost laps due to the transponder being intermittent. It turns out, there were quite a few rented transponders with this problem. So, the race officials are trying to sort this all out.

The radios again proved to be the other problem. We switched over to CB. There were other teams on the same channel, this was OK until the press to talk button mounted on the steering wheel broke off the cable. I ended up putting that fine wire cable back together with the help of a soldering iron from Steven race trailer.

Where do we stand after day one?
Based on the corrected standings using transponder# 2, we are in 38th overall...or 21 lap behind the overall race leader. If we add the laps from transponder# 1 which is about 15 laps, that would put us 12th overall or 7 laps behind the overall leader. We also got bumped to class L2. Based on the race officials counting our laps from transponder# 1, we would be second in class L2 or about 3 laps behind the class L2 leader which is Hurling Moss, a BMW Z00Z.

We develop a shuttering or wheel imbalance late in the day. Initially we suspected the brake pads where the source of the problem. After an inspection of the brakes and found nothing.. the problems might be due to loss wheel weights. which we put back on later.
This was our findings after doing the post-race inspection. we flushed the brake system fluid and made sure all was well with the brakes. I'm hoping the shuttering under braking stops, if not this is a problem we will need to solve during race day two.

Here are some race day images from day one at Thunder Hill 2009:

It's really a BMW 5 series...


The Scotts...


TR7 with a Buick V6 during tech:


Ex-Renault Alliance Cup car:


???? what ???


Porsche 944, con rod escaped with a loud BANG.. dumped oil all over the track during practice on Friday. This team went looking for a spare 944 engine, did not find one and took it home.


MGBeees:


What is this doing in the USA?


Porsche 928 "Wagon"


Steven & me, doing a part of the pre-race check:


Once the Molly Maids, now Batman & Robin or was that Flatman & Ribon?


Yes, this is a Mercedes S600 racing in LeMons... They blew a coolant hose early on and spent most of the day trying to dig it out and replace it. hope to see it back on track tomorrow:


Diane, Pel, Chris and Murlee Martin (Jalopnik):


Diane, Pel and Mike:


Fuel, driver change, tire pressure check:


"Angry Hamster"


Cooked brake rotors (nice blue and well warped) with pads down to the backing and cooked seales and pistons...


Clucth disc from a Nissan 280ZX turbo with every bit of the clutch lining vaporized:


Over heated Mazda 12A, siezed rotors:


Cylinder head from a SAAB 9000 turbo, detonation in cylinder# 2, erroded the area between exhaust valves which caused the head gasket to fail. They did not have a spare cylinder head or gasket set:


Mustard Yellow FORD powered Volve hit a TR7 that spun. The team used a small truck to pull out the smoosh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT6c3bbOlas

Some of the bent parts from that hit:


MGB, got hit by Team Stimulus Package Honda Civic.. which pushed the MGB into ths side of the track, launched the car, rolled three times..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5lwYdxo0Bo

Two race cars cannot be in the same place at the same time:


Toyota MR2 series one engine spit a con rod..The team changed the engine:


X1/9 on track, three cars across, Porsche 944, Mazda ?


One lap later:


Just before the race began:


Diane & Me working on the brakes after day one:


The "Little Engine That Can"


Nightee NIght:


Bernice

[Black-Tooth]

Continued good luck and best wishes... we'll be watching and waiting!

[JimD]

Great pics. I hope the organizers straighten out the lap count issue and I hope the replaced wheel weights clear your shudder. Go git'em!

Question: Not being a racer, I was wondering who was at fault in the Civic .vs. MG incident. Sure looks like the MG drifted into the path of the Civic, although the Civic may have added a touch of throttle to assert its position. What is the "rule/guideline" on "right of way"? (If there is such a thing)

[fiatmonkey]

You have been busy Bernice. Thanks for sharing - that Civic had no right trying to take that line on the MGB!!

I will be at Thunderhill with hooverspeed.net for the enduro week after next. I am pretty sure it won't be as fun as LeMons

Looking forward to today's results!!

-Tim

[Pete Whitstone]

Originally Posted by JimD

Great pics. I hope the organizers straighten out the lap count issue and I hope the replaced wheel weights clear your shudder. Go git'em!

Question: Not being a racer, I was wondering who was at fault in the Civic .vs. MG incident. Sure looks like the MG drifted into the path of the Civic, although the Civic may have added a touch of throttle to assert its position. What is the "rule/guideline" on "right of way"? (If there is such a thing)

The responsibility of a clean pass is upon the passing driver, not the overtaken driver. The MG driver drifted right to set up his line for the upcoming left hand turn. The Civic driver should have anticipated that move and made sure he was ahead of the MG by the time that took place. If he did not have enough steam to be ahead by then, he should have backed off.

The instructions given in SCCA racing school for being overtaken are "Keep your normal race line, the other guy has to get around you". To me it seems that that is exactly what the MG driver was doing.

Pete

[JimD]

That makes sense. I have heard that "maintain your line" comment in the past. I watched the video a couple more times and it does look like the Civic goosed the throttle a bit to stick his nose in there. Kinda like some folks do when you try to pass them on the highway.

[olerascal]

Howdy Tim:
Curious about your connection to Altanta based national club team?

[olerascal]

Mgb's right of way is akin to pedestrian's right of way with vehicle.
Mighta been right, but guaranteed to go sailing after contact like that.
"Watch your mirrors" goes along with "Maintain your line".
"Know who you're racing" less likely in Chump/Lemons.
Therefore, "expect the unexpected" takes precedence.

TR7's errant trajectory after spin coulda been anticipated by Volvo.
Appeared to not back down sufficiently.
Encountered exact same scenario myself once.
Barely avoided errant car.
Corner worker was most complimentary afterwards,
but I knew I coulda left more room for evasive maneuver.
A cheap lesson learned.

Chalk both incidents up to minimal experience
of both drivers in both situations.
And red mist...

[jjay911]

Wow. Good stuff....

[Chris Obert]

Originally Posted by olerascal

TR7's errant trajectory after spin coulda been anticipated by Volvo.
Appeared to not back down sufficiently.
Encountered exact same scenario myself once.
Barely avoided errant car.
Corner worker was most complimentary afterwards,
but I knew I coulda left more room for evasive maneuver.
A cheap lesson learned.

Chalk both incidents up to minimal experience
of both drivers in both situations.
And red mist...

Gotta say I watched this Volvo/TR7 video a few times, and I am still shocked that the Volvo driver didn't slow down more when the TR started to spin, or that he drove right to where I knew the TR was going to end up... The only grace I can give him is he did just pass a few cars, & I can't see in his mirrors to see if they did not give him any other line choice...

I second minimal experience, but this is scary stuff.

[cmice]

Still getting the brake fluid and other assorted detritus out of my sleepy little eyes, so I'm sure somebody (me, Bernice or Steven) will post a more analytical update later.

From the driver's seat, it's kinda intense - sure. You cannot run lemons and have a thin-skin for aggressive driving, idiot drivers, very close passing, etc.

I came around turn 6 approaching seven, and saw a BMW pirouetting on it's nose just off to the left. Don't see that every day. The TR7 was having some serious brake issues, his bias is waaaaay off, and he locked his rear going into 10 and instantly snapped sideways right in front of me. I got chopped about 6 times, dive-bombed from behind maybe about 7 times. The experience level varies wildly, the car abilities are similarly varied - with cars capable of 120mph at the end of the straight, others capable of only 60 or so.

But the MAJORITY of the driving was clean, fun, well mannered, and exciting as h*ll.

Because this is endurance racing, you can't run at 10/10ths - you have to leave room. I had a guy chop my apex to turn 1 as he was entering the track from the pit lane. That's right...as he was entering the track, he immediately apexed right in front of me - I was approaching turn 1 at about 85mph, and he dives at the apex in front of me at maybe 60mph. I can hit 95 at the end of the main straight, but didn't, because I saw someone tee-ing up to enter the track, and I can't trust that he's gonig to the right thing (and he didn't). So I set myself up to handle whatever happens, but backing off slightly, and repositioning to a defensive line. That extra 10mph and conservative setup for 1 gave me the ability to brake hard mid-corner, change line, and still exit on-track in the position to slam the door on him the next corner.

Sure I've got complaints about some drivers/cars, but I'll run Lemons again in a heartbeat. Great stuff!

[bb4re]

[cmice]

17th overall, out of 158. 2nd in class (we got bumped up a class after Buttonwillow).

[willrace4beer]

For probably a few reasons, like it takes two to tango/tangle and so they don't have to figure out who's to blame, LeMons officials black-flag both drivers involved in a contact and penalizes them equally. In many cases, both drivers share the blame for the contact; but, I've also been hit from behind with no fault of my own. It would suck to be penalized for that contact.

[fiatmonkey]

Originally Posted by olerascal

Howdy Tim:
Curious about your connection to Altanta based national club team?

Better late reply than never...

Jason Hoover is my nephew. He and my brother (his father) Marc Hoover have been racing Miatas for a little while. Jason owns and Marc races under the AMG Racing or Hooverspeed which they share.

I rarely see Jason unless he gets out this way and I missed his teams #1 win at the nasa 25 hour in Willows month back.

-Tim

[Vick X1/9]

The Vick AutoSports Staff informs me we have a package of parts going out to you today for your LeMons X1/9. You have our best wishes and we will be watching with enthusiasm your great success!

-Jerry Lee Phillips, owner VAS
1980 X1/9 daily driver

[cmice]

...they fell off a truck.

Thanks for the parts. We need em!

[fiatmonkey]

EDITED:

Originally Posted by Vick X1/9

The Vick AutoSports Staff informs me we have a package of parts going out to you today for your LeMons X1/9. You have our best wishes and we will be watching with enthusiasm your great success!

-Jerry Lee Phillips, owner VAS
1980 X1/9 daily driver

Woohoo!

[cmice]

Originally Posted by fiatmonkey

Woohoo! Now that is a great sponsor to have!!

Lemons has sketchy rules on sponsors - and therefore we've avoided going too far down that route.

"4.5: Sponsorships: Conned some hardworking corp into giving you parts or cash? Nice work, but it still counts toward the $500 total. We recommend blowing that sponsorship dough on other stuff instead--hotel rooms, gasoline, entry fees, pedicures, driver suits, personal male enhancement medication, travel expenses, Freudian therapy for the organizers...things like that."

[bb4re]

I guess the cat got let out of the bag a little too publicly. Not much of a chance that any competitors will catch it, though.
In other words.....Shhhhh!