24 Hours of LeMons Chicago: Many Porsches, Many Former Winners, and a BMW-Powered Geo

We’re back in the Midwest when again, for the fifth check out of the 24 Hours of LeMons to the Autobahn Country Club and this year’s running of the Doin’ Time In Joliet race. With far more than 100 teams entered, we’ve got a total of 5 former general LeMons winners on the premises (a Camaro, 2 BMW E30s, a 300ZX, and an MR2) and a lot of much more potential contenders. You can study LeMons Supreme Court Justice Judge Eric’s race preview for more specifics on the most likely class contenders right now we’re going to appear at some of the more interesting automobiles and teams that showed up for the classic car inspections these days.

With a great half-dozen or so Porsche 924s and 944s right here, we count on to see numerous errant engine parts scattered over the tarmac and several teams staring blankly at 20-hours-to-replace dead transmissions. This race will be run in one particular extended session that starts Saturday morning and ends at midnight, so tough-to-repair automobiles such as these will be at a disadvantage without having the usual Saturday evening wrench-fest.

Of course, this 944 has Common Motors 4.3-liter V6 power… and the Porsche transaxle. This ought to be interesting.

German cars with ill-advised Detroit-sourced engine swaps are absolutely nothing new in this series. Here’s a Mercedes-Benz C230 that showed up at the wrecking yard owned by one of the team’s members. Right after selling off every little thing of value from the auto, they rummaged by means of the yard for a appropriate replacement engine.

Which, naturally, turned out to be a “Pinto 2300″ out of a Ford Ranger.

Japanese vehicles also get strange engine swaps in LeMons racing. Here’s the Pabst Blue Racing Nissan Maxima, which characteristics mid-mounted Cadillac Northstar V8 energy.

Pabst Blue Racing has suffered from repeated transmission problems in previous races, mainly triggered by nervous breakdowns of the transmission’s electronic handle unit. The poor transmission ECU believed it was nonetheless installed in the Cadillac STS drivetrain-donor car, and it was not happy with the inputs it was receiving from its new property. As a result, the group replaced— or possibly supplemented, we’re not sure— the shifter with this set of switches. With this new rig, the driver merely reaches over with his gloved hand during the whirling chaos of wheel-to-wheel road racing, fumbles at the switches in the hope of selecting the correct gear, and overrides the tranny ECM by actuating internal transmission solenoids by means of direct electrical stimulation. This ought to perform perfectly.

The Pabst Blue Racing car is a gloriously bad idea, but it is positively sane subsequent to what LemonAid Racing has completed with their Geo Metro. This vehicle won Class C and the Index of Effluency with its original 3-cylinder Suzuki engine, but then the group decided that they wanted more power. Rather than go the boring route and drop in the “big-block” 4-cylinder Suzuki engine, the members of LemonAid Racing lost their presence of thoughts and went massive crazy.

Yes, that’s a BMW 6-cylinder engine out of a late E30. The Metro also received a narrowed E30 rear suspension the driver had to be moved back a couple of feet to make room for the cruelly butchered firewall. Somehow, this vehicle ended up weighing more than the team’s E30 race car, so we’re not expecting it to run away with something this race.

Soon after finishing in the best 5 in what seems like a dozen Midwest Region LeMons races, the Small Lebowski Urban Achievers and their naturally-aspirated Volvo 245 are back for another shot at that ever-elusive all round win.

Following installing a Fat Man atomic bomb, a Tiny Boy atomic bomb, and a covered wagon atop their Civic, the Group Formerly Known As Oregon Fail now has a gigantic Led Zeppelin installed.

The BRIBED stencil utilized by the LeMons Supreme Court this race functions an homage to the excellent Brougham Edition cars that have been after so popular in this portion of the country. BROUGHBED!

Why do not a lot more teams race V12 Jaguars? You can get a running XJ-S for less than scrap worth these days, we love British vehicles, and no LeMons engine sounds as very good as the big twelve.

Confident, there might be some drawbacks to this strategy, but what other car with this considerably energy gets put into Class C?

The Union of Pentastar Racers have brought their confusingly Soviet-themed Duster, or possibly it’s a Shadow or a Sundance, back for another shot at Mitsubishi-powered Chrysler glory.

As Billy Dee Williams would say, the Mitsubishi 6G72 practically works each and every time.

Great themes abounded. Here’s the “Cougar” (truly a Ford Probe) of Burnt Rubber Soul Racing.

We also have a real Cougar, covered in blinding orange reflective tape for added irritation.

Zero Spending budget Racing redecorated their Class C and Index of Effluency-winning Chevy Chevette Diesel with this patriotic Domino’s Pizza-influenced theme. Why?

It turns out that Domino’s utilised a fleet of specially configured Chevettes as delivery automobiles in the 1980s.

Domin8′s Pizza: “Sluggish, Surly, ‘Splodey Delivery.”

The RUN-EXP Ford EXP has returned for an additional try at Class C victory. Can it beat the Jaguar?

That and numerous other pressing issues will be settled Saturday. Check back later for the race results.

24 Hours of LeMons Chicago: Many Porsches, Many Former Winners, and a BMW-Powered Geo