LeMons Northern California Day One: 222 Cars Start, 200 Blow Up, Billy Beer Fairmont Top Class C

Soon after we inspected the biggest group of teams in 24 Hours of LeMons history on Friday, we knew that this swarm of wild-eyed racers would be really eager to attempt out the new, enhanced 5-mile course at Thunderhill Raceway Park. So eager, in reality, that a lot of could be counted upon to spin their long-suffering engines well into the “here there be monsters” portion of the tachometer, and to stuff their cars into concrete barriers, and to cook their brakes and melt their bearings and inflict all manner of mechanical torture on their junkyardy hardware. That’s precisely what happened on Saturday, and although we didn’t literally get 200 blowed-up automobiles, a fast stroll previous the endless line of dead cars on jackstands sure produced it look that way. The competitors in the 3 classes (A, B, and C) was fascinating, the dramatic stories kept coming, and we’re positive all the neighborhood junkyards got picked clean of Honda engines. Here’s how the day went.

We’re filling out all the types needed to get this race in the Guinness Book of Globe Records, as the largest endurance road-race in history. Here’s what 222 LeMons vehicles look like when they line up to enter the track.

And, of course, it wasn’t long ahead of numerous of the teams looked like this. Some felt that the Audi victory in last weekend’s Colorado LeMons race marked the starting of an era of Audi LeMons domination. Such optimism seems to have been premature.

So, let’s get right to the class leaders. In Class A, there was a lot of switching of positions amongst the usual prime-of-the-standings teams for the duration of the course of the day, but the checkered flag for the day’s race session waved over the usual suspects: the Cerveza Racing 1983 BMW 533i. The Cerveza drivers look to have a sixth sense for problems creating several corners ahead, and while other teams get caught up in 40-auto tangles and go spinning off into the weeds, the Cerveza BMW stays far from something approaching difficulty. At this point, they have a 2-lap lead over the P2 car.

That P2 automobile takes place to be the 1987 BMW 325i of The Faustest Group, and it’s much faster than the Cerveza E28. The Faustest guys have been racing the automobile recognized as “the Devil E30” in LeMons considering that the early days of the series, and they’ve been really high in the standings on quite a few occasions. This could effectively be The Faustest Team’s race, even though hold in mind that becoming rapidly is not as essential as being constant and mistake-free in this sort of racing the mighty Eyesore Racing Miata knocked off a very best lap a full 14 seconds quicker than Cerveza’s fastest lap, and they finished the day in P5.

Major Class B is the Tartan Brigade and their 1980 Datsun 280ZX. This automobile has been terribly slow and unreliable in previous races, thanks to its automatic transmission and common air of decrepitude, but every little thing seems to be going correct for the Tartans this weekend. The ZX has a 2-lap lead over a trio of Class B pursuers, so Sunday promises to be a very good race day for fans of this usually-overlooked LeMons class.

The Class C win most often comes down to the group that breaks the least, and somehow the veteran 1979 Ford Fairmont of Billy Beer Racing managed to stay away from throwing any connecting rods in its Ford 200cid inline-6 engine. The Fairmont has just a single-lap edge over the Repeat Offenders’ Volvo 244, and more Class C combatants lurk not far behind them.

The Hella Shitty diesel-engined Porsche 911 jumped out to an early Class C lead, but paid a time-consuming pay a visit to to the penalty box that set it back a few essential laps. This auto (which is the shell of a rollover-victim parts-donor 911SC with a Volkswagen TDI swap) is just slightly quicker than the ’79 Fairmont, a lot to the displeasure of each 911 and TDI fans the planet more than.

The Peugeot Daddy 1963 Peugeot 404 could not be contending for a class lead (at the moment in P176 and a enormous 41 laps behind the Billy Beer Fairmont), but it is doing extremely well for a vehicle that not lengthy ago was abandoned in an Oregon field. Even although it is running laps about 2 minutes slower than the other vehicles, the Peugeot Daddy 404 looks lovely on the track.

The Spank the Builder and the Can-Do Crew 1967 Cat 416F Backhoe Loader (really an oft-reduce-and-pasted Mini Moke) also gets a lot of spectator approval. P160 and 9 laps ahead of the Peugeot!

After all the automobiles had been off the track, absolutely everyone got busy eating, wrenching, and generally celebrating a good day at the race track. Verify in later to see what occurs on Sunday!

LeMons Northern California Day One: 222 Cars Start, 200 Blow Up, Billy Beer Fairmont Top Class C

EU delivers a blow to diesel drivers

Are you one particular of the 10million motorists who made the switch from petrol to diesel for the duration of the final decade? If so, you could be about to see a significant boost in your car’s running fees as the European Union puts much more stress on Britain to cut air pollution levels.

UK to miss pollution deadlines

In 2008, the EU issued the New Air Good quality Directive which set limits on the level of air-borne contaminates and gases produced from the burning of fossil fuels. And even though EU member states had been provided until 2015 to meet these limits, the UK government believes most cities will want till 2020 and the air around London won’t meet the essential common till 2025.

And since the UK has admitted defeat in its bid to cut air pollution levels to the required levels, the government will now be sued by the European Commission.

The negative news if you’re a diesel driver is that, despite the fact that you may possibly think your automobile to be a more eco-friendly alternative and less expensive in car excise duty (VED or road tax to most of us) as a result of lower CO2 emissions, the greater levels of nitrogen oxide diesel engines produce mean they really pose a greater wellness risk.

And if you feel this is practically nothing but far more hot air from the EU, the emissions from diesel vehicles have been linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths every year, with nitrogen dioxide alone accountable for around 7,000 deaths a year.

But this is not what we were being told at the turn of the millennium.

Diesel boom…

Back in 2001 the Labour government overhauled VED so that reduced CO2 emissions meant decrease road tax. This triggered motorists to switch to diesel in their droves and sales went from 1.6million to 11million more than the subsequent 10 years – the decrease CO2 levels developed by diesel engines meant less costly road tax, even though their greater fuel efficiency lowered running charges even additional.

So diesels not just the more eco-friendly option, they were also the much more wallet-friendly choice – but all that is about to turn on its head.

…and bust

Despite the fact that the Labour government was warned that diesel cars create 10 times as several fine particles and  up to twice the nitrogen oxide of petrol automobiles, it still chose to plough on with its plans to base VED on CO2 emissions and, in effect, misled the public with regards to the rewards of diesel engines.

If you’re a diesel driver, you could be about to spend the cost. Not only could you see the worth of your vehicle plummet, you could locate your running charges rise via a combination of more expensive fuel and further congestion charges, as the Mayor of London has already announced plans to charge diesel drivers an further £10 to drive in the capital and this could be copied by as many as 18 other British cities.

The only bit of excellent news for diesel drivers is that there are no plans to adjust the guidelines on VED, but conservative ministers are lobbying the government so it might only be a matter of time.

The notion of low-emission zones is also being floated, which signifies you could find you’re not even allowed to drive your diesel in particular regions, a move that could influence every little thing from college buses, to taxis, to hearses – the diesel really could be dead.

What do you feel? Have we been conned by the preceding government? Or is this just one more way to hit the pockets of motorists? Tell us by commenting below…

EU delivers a blow to diesel drivers