Following lining up the largest and most exciting field of Midwestern LeMons racers we’ve ever seen on Friday, we dropped the green flag on Saturday morning and presided more than a drizzly, cold day of racing at GingerMan Raceway. When the checkered flag came out quickly soon after sunset, we’d seen a lot of dramatic class battles and lead modifications, and here’s how it all sorted out.
There was as soon as a time— actually, that time was the first 8 years of LeMons racing— when the Porsche 944 was the most frustrating car imaginable in our series, but the last year or so has noticed the emergence of a number of 944s that can steer clear of scattering fragile Stuttgart elements all over the tarmac for extended sufficient to maintain the lead in 1 of our races. These days, we watched the United Ducktape Racing ’86 Porsche 944 wriggle previous the competitors throughout the course of the day’s racing, and it threw neither connecting rod nor transaxle throughout that period. At the finish of the day, this vehicle held an impressive 2-lap lead more than the Mark’s Tougher Lemonaid 1987 BMW 325i. It is all also likely that this Porsche will sneeze rod bearings out its tailpipe on Sunday, but maybe the proud German marque has turned the corner and will continue to do well in our series.
The Class B leader does a excellent job of pointing out the issues facing the LeMons Supreme Court when it comes to classing these automobiles. Final time we saw the Lemon Help Racing Geo Metro— which attributes a very ill-advised BMW M50 engine swap and rear-wheel-drive conversion— this abomination collapsed in a heap of diminished expectations and broken dreams, finishing a genuinely pathetic number of laps. This time, even though, the absurdly overpowered GM-badged Suzuki defied all expectations and kept running for most of the day’s racing (in spite of getting heavier than a BMW E30), finishing the day with a 3-lap edge more than the Legitimate Racing Honda Accord.
After the Schnitzelwagen Volkswagen Squareback won Class C at the Doin’ Time In Joliet 24 Hours of LeMons in July, we figured that miraculous accomplishment could in no way be repeated — soon after all, the Schnitzelwagon had failed in typical fragile Volkswagen style in race soon after race for the previous 2 years. Still, although, it seemed incorrect to refrain from promoting a Class C winner to Class B, even in the case of an air-cooled Ausfallwagen. But, since we’re talking about what amounts to a Beetle with 400 additional pounds of heft and a crank-driven cooling fan, we provided the team a decision amongst Class B and Class C with 13 penalty laps… and the team took the latter option.
Wouldn’t you know, at the finish of Saturday’s race session, the Schnitzelwagen held a 2-lap benefit over the Afunzalo Racing Fiat X1/9, even with the 13-lap handicap. LeMons auto classing, it is much more art than science.
Meanwhile, the 1981 Dodge Mirada of Group Sheen has stayed relevant in the Class C race, ending the day 4th in class and 18 laps behind the Schnitzelwagen. 18 laps sounds like a lot, but Class C is the sort of location exactly where you can be major 1 minute and watching your crankshaft clank down the asphalt the subsequent, so we may properly see the quintessential Malaise Era Mopar take a miraculous class win on Saturday.
As is usually the case, many teams are fighting maddeningly undiagnosable mechanical demons as the sun sets more than Lake Michigan. The 1972 Pontiac Grand Prix Super Fly Pimpmobile of Team Can You Dig It looked great all day, but then got knocked off the track by a typical-for-its-era mixture of ignition and/or fuel-program troubles. Anybody got a spare Quadrajet?
At the very same time, teams with much more modern day hardware are criss-crossing the Upper Midwest in search of components to replace their blowed-up hardware, and we can count on regional Craigslist sellers to get numerous late-night telephone calls from LeMons teams hunting for that challenging-to-find missing puzzle piece. Such is the life of a LeMons racer.
Sunday morning, the whole demented circus lurches into action as soon as once more. Be sure to drop by later to see what takes place at GingerMan Raceway!
24 Hours of LeMons Michigan Day 1: Porsche 944, Geo Metro, Volkswagen Squareback Major Classes
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