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

We’re back in the Midwest as soon as once more, for the fifth go to of the 24 Hours of LeMons to the Autobahn Country Club and this year’s operating of the Doin’ Time In Joliet race. With a lot more than 100 teams entered, we’ve got a total of 5 former all round LeMons winners on the premises (a Camaro, 2 BMW E30s, a 300ZX, and an MR2) and a lot of a lot more prospective contenders. You can study LeMons Supreme Court Justice Judge Eric’s race preview for more information on the probably class contenders correct now we’re going to appear at some of the much more interesting vehicles and teams that showed up for the conventional vehicle inspections today.

With a good half-dozen or so Porsche 924s and 944s right here, we anticipate to see a lot of errant engine components scattered more than the tarmac and numerous teams staring blankly at 20-hours-to-replace dead transmissions. This race will be run in a single lengthy session that begins Saturday morning and ends at midnight, so tough-to-repair cars such as these will be at a disadvantage with no 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 automobiles with ill-advised Detroit-sourced engine swaps are nothing at all new in this series. Here’s a Mercedes-Benz C230 that showed up at the wrecking yard owned by one particular of the team’s members. Following selling off almost everything of worth from the car, 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 automobiles also get strange engine swaps in LeMons racing. Here’s the Pabst Blue Racing Nissan Maxima, which characteristics mid-mounted Cadillac Northstar V8 power.

Pabst Blue Racing has suffered from repeated transmission difficulties in past races, largely brought on by nervous breakdowns of the transmission’s electronic handle unit. The poor transmission ECU thought it was nonetheless installed in the Cadillac STS drivetrain-donor car, and it was not satisfied with the inputs it was receiving from its new property. As a outcome, the team 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 for the duration of the whirling chaos of wheel-to-wheel road racing, fumbles at the switches in the hope of deciding on the right gear, and overrides the tranny ECM by actuating internal transmission solenoids via direct electrical stimulation. This should operate perfectly.

The Pabst Blue Racing car is a gloriously undesirable concept, but it’s positively sane next 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 mind and went big crazy.

Yes, that is 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 car ended up weighing much more than the team’s E30 race automobile, so we’re not expecting it to run away with anything this race.

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

Right after installing a Fat Man atomic bomb, a Little Boy atomic bomb, and a covered wagon atop their Civic, the Group Formerly Recognized As Oregon Fail now has a gigantic Led Zeppelin installed.

The BRIBED stencil employed by the LeMons Supreme Court this race functions an homage to the wonderful Brougham Edition vehicles that had been once so well-liked in this element of the nation. BROUGHBED!

Why do not far more teams race V12 Jaguars? You can get a operating XJ-S for much less than scrap worth these days, we enjoy British automobiles, and no LeMons engine sounds as very good as the massive twelve.

Sure, there may possibly be some drawbacks to this approach, but what other vehicle with this much power gets put into Class C?

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

As Billy Dee Williams would say, the Mitsubishi 6G72 almost works each time.

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

We also have a genuine 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 used a fleet of specially configured Chevettes as delivery cars in the 1980s.

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

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

That and many other pressing problems will be settled Saturday. Check back later for the race benefits.

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