We’re back in the Midwest as soon as 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 a lot 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 several far more possible contenders. You can study LeMons Supreme Court Justice Judge Eric’s race preview for more information on the likely class contenders proper now we’re going to appear at some of the much more exciting vehicles and teams that showed up for the traditional vehicle inspections today.
With a good half-dozen or so Porsche 924s and 944s here, we anticipate to see numerous errant engine parts scattered over the tarmac and numerous teams staring blankly at 20-hours-to-replace dead transmissions. This race will be run in one particular extended session that begins Saturday morning and ends at midnight, so difficult-to-repair cars such as these will be at a disadvantage with out the usual Saturday night wrench-fest.
Of course, this 944 has General Motors 4.3-liter V6 power… and the Porsche transaxle. This ought to be exciting.
German vehicles with ill-advised Detroit-sourced engine swaps are practically nothing new in this series. Here’s a Mercedes-Benz C230 that showed up at the wrecking yard owned by a single of the team’s members. Following promoting off almost everything of value from the car, they rummaged by way of the yard for a suitable 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 features mid-mounted Cadillac Northstar V8 energy.
Pabst Blue Racing has suffered from repeated transmission troubles 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 vehicle, and it was not pleased with the inputs it was getting from its new home. As a result, the team replaced— or perhaps supplemented, we’re not sure— the shifter with this set of switches. With this new rig, the driver merely reaches more than with his gloved hand in the course of the whirling chaos of wheel-to-wheel road racing, fumbles at the switches in the hope of choosing the right gear, and overrides the tranny ECM by actuating internal transmission solenoids by means of direct electrical stimulation. This should perform perfectly.
The Pabst Blue Racing vehicle is a gloriously undesirable notion, but it’s positively sane next to what LemonAid Racing has done with their Geo Metro. This car won Class C and the Index of Effluency with its original 3-cylinder Suzuki engine, but then the team decided that they wanted more energy. 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 handful of feet to make room for the cruelly butchered firewall. Somehow, this auto ended up weighing a lot more than the team’s E30 race automobile, so we’re not expecting it to run away with anything this race.
Following finishing in the top 5 in what seems like a dozen Midwest Area LeMons races, the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers and their naturally-aspirated Volvo 245 are back for another shot at that ever-elusive all round win.
After 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 utilised by the LeMons Supreme Court this race attributes an homage to the great Brougham Edition vehicles that had been once so well-known in this part of the country. BROUGHBED!
Why don’t far more teams race V12 Jaguars? You can get a operating XJ-S for much less than scrap worth these days, we adore British cars, and no LeMons engine sounds as very good as the huge twelve.
Positive, there may possibly be some drawbacks to this strategy, but what other auto with this much energy gets put into Class C?
The Union of Pentastar Racers have brought their confusingly Soviet-themed Duster, or maybe 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 operates each and every time.
Fantastic themes abounded. Here’s the “Cougar” (in fact a Ford Probe) of Burnt Rubber Soul Racing.
We also have a true 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 employed 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 yet another try at Class C victory. Can it beat the Jaguar?
That and numerous other pressing troubles will be settled Saturday. Check back later for the race benefits.
24 Hours of LeMons Chicago: A lot of Porsches, Several Former Winners, and a BMW-Powered Geo
