LeMons California Day 1: Porsche 944, Volvo 245, Toyota Supra Leading Classes

Right after inspecting a record-breaking number of British automobiles on Friday at the eighth annual Arse Freeze-a-Palooza 24 Hours of LeMons, we had been a bit disappointed on Saturday to locate that the highest-placing British machine at the finish of the initial day’s race session was in 74th location (out of 174 entries). Nevertheless, we’ve noticed lots of thrilling developments in the course of what turned out to be a quite excellent day of racing in California’s Wine Country. Here’s what’s going on at Sonoma Raceway.

Top the most important LeMons class, Class C, we have the veteran (and aptly named) Black Flags team and their 1983 Toyota Supra. The Black Flags have been racing with LeMons considering that way back in 2009, and following 24 races they’ve established themselves as such lovable-however-hapless, spinny-outty, parts-breaking, penalty-box regulars that the LeMons Supreme Court feels no qualms about placing a Supra (normally a Class B or A sort of a vehicle) into Class C. Soon after all, the Black Flags finish most races in the component of the standings reserved for teams that throw connecting rods on the 4th lap. This time, even so, the Black Flags spent the first day of their 25th LeMons race avoiding trouble and turning laps, and they ended the day in P42 overall and with a healthier class lead.

5 laps behind the Black Flags, the drivers of the LaHonda Bandits Racing Grope Porsche 914 are grumbling about this unexpected domination by The Most Terrible Supra In The Globe. Can the Black Flags hold this lead, or will they crack beneath the unprecedented pressure? We’ll discover out on Sunday!

Major Class B and in P16 overall, the 42 Hours of MeLons group and their Volvo 245 are getting their greatest race weekend ever.

Just a single lap behind the dyslexically-named Volvo team is the John Galt Racing BMW 2002. This team has been racing in LeMons at least as lengthy as the Black Flags, with that Class B trophy remaining tantalizingly just out of reach all that time. Nowadays, even though, the John Galt Racing drivers managed to hold onto the P1 spot for most of the early going. A fuel leak required a time-consuming repair stop and expense the 2002 pilots their overall lead, but the team is in great shape for a run at the Class B trophy.

When the checkered flag ended the 1st day of racing, the Porch Racing Porsche 944, winner of the preceding Sears Point LeMons race, held a nerve-wrackingly narrow edge over the team’s closest pursuer. Porsche 944s had been about the most heartbreaking LeMons vehicles imaginable for the initial 6 years of the series, but the final year has seen 3 distinct 944 teams take all round LeMons wins.

About a half-lap behind the Porch Racing automobile is a sight that makes all West Coast LeMons racers most uncomfortable: the Eyesore Racing ghettocharged Mazda Miata. The Eyesore vehicle is extremely fast, the drivers incredibly skilled, and the team organization flawless, but their modest factory fuel tank signifies they have to pit more frequently than the fuel-cell-equipped competition.

Generating things even far more intriguing for Eyesore Racing this time was the LeMons-style marriage proposal offered by group captain and Mazda engineer Dave Coleman to ace driver Sarah Fairfield, by means of this sign waved alongside the checkered flag. She stated yes!

Exactly where else but LeMons racing would you see a couple of brown Ford Pintos duking it out at Sears Point?

Meanwhile, dozens of teams broke, blew up, burned, and otherwise blasted their race vehicles during the day, and now the paddock echoes with the sound of hellbent hammers and screaming Sawzalls. When the Whale Wars Racing team fried the engine in their Mitsubishi 3000GT for the duration of practice on Friday, they found a components car on Craigslist on Saturday morning… and that automobile spent the day donating parts to any group that wanted them. Right here we see what happens when a team wants a replacement fuel filler neck and lacks the patience to deal with a lot of difficult fasteners.

That group, of course, is Team Tinworm and their fuel-dumping 1964 Humber Super Snipe. We’re fairly positive this is the 1st instance in planet history of a Mitsubishi 3000GT fuel filler going into a Rootes Group item.

Be sure to verify in later to see how Sunday’s race session goes!

LeMons California Day 1: Porsche 944, Volvo 245, Toyota Supra Leading Classes

LeMons California Day 1: Porsche 944, Volvo 245, Toyota Supra Leading Classes

Right after inspecting a record-breaking quantity of British automobiles on Friday at the eighth annual Arse Freeze-a-Palooza 24 Hours of LeMons, we were a bit disappointed on Saturday to uncover that the highest-putting British machine at the finish of the initial day’s race session was in 74th spot (out of 174 entries). Nonetheless, we’ve seen lots of fascinating developments for the duration of what turned out to be a pretty good day of racing in California’s Wine Country. Here’s what’s going on at Sonoma Raceway.

Major the most crucial LeMons class, Class C, we have the veteran (and aptly named) Black Flags team and their 1983 Toyota Supra. The Black Flags have been racing with LeMons considering that way back in 2009, and right after 24 races they’ve established themselves as such lovable-yet-hapless, spinny-outty, parts-breaking, penalty-box regulars that the LeMons Supreme Court feels no qualms about placing a Supra (typically a Class B or A sort of a automobile) into Class C. Following all, the Black Flags finish most races in the portion of the standings reserved for teams that throw connecting rods on the 4th lap. This time, even so, the Black Flags spent the very first day of their 25th LeMons race avoiding problems and turning laps, and they ended the day in P42 general and with a wholesome class lead.

5 laps behind the Black Flags, the drivers of the LaHonda Bandits Racing Grope Porsche 914 are grumbling about this unexpected domination by The Most Terrible Supra In The Globe. Can the Black Flags hold this lead, or will they crack below the unprecedented pressure? We’ll locate out on Sunday!

Major Class B and in P16 overall, the 42 Hours of MeLons team and their Volvo 245 are possessing their best race weekend ever.

Just a single lap behind the dyslexically-named Volvo team is the John Galt Racing BMW 2002. This team has been racing in LeMons at least as extended as the Black Flags, with that Class B trophy remaining tantalizingly just out of attain all that time. Today, though, the John Galt Racing drivers managed to hold onto the P1 spot for most of the early going. A fuel leak needed a time-consuming repair cease and expense the 2002 pilots their general lead, but the team is in great shape for a run at the Class B trophy.

When the checkered flag ended the first day of racing, the Porch Racing Porsche 944, winner of the earlier Sears Point LeMons race, held a nerve-wrackingly narrow edge over the team’s closest pursuer. Porsche 944s had been about the most heartbreaking LeMons cars imaginable for the very first 6 years of the series, but the final year has observed 3 different 944 teams take all round LeMons wins.

About a half-lap behind the Porch Racing car is a sight that tends to make all West Coast LeMons racers most uncomfortable: the Eyesore Racing ghettocharged Mazda Miata. The Eyesore car is quite fast, the drivers really skilled, and the group organization flawless, but their modest factory fuel tank signifies they have to pit more frequently than the fuel-cell-equipped competitors.

Creating items even much more intriguing for Eyesore Racing this time was the LeMons-style marriage proposal supplied by team captain and Mazda engineer Dave Coleman to ace driver Sarah Fairfield, through this sign waved alongside the checkered flag. She mentioned yes!

Exactly where else but LeMons racing would you see a couple of brown Ford Pintos duking it out at Sears Point?

Meanwhile, dozens of teams broke, blew up, burned, and otherwise blasted their race cars during the day, and now the paddock echoes with the sound of hellbent hammers and screaming Sawzalls. When the Whale Wars Racing team fried the engine in their Mitsubishi 3000GT during practice on Friday, they located a parts automobile on Craigslist on Saturday morning… and that vehicle spent the day donating components to any group that wanted them. Right here we see what takes place when a team requirements a replacement fuel filler neck and lacks the patience to deal with a lot of complex fasteners.

That group, of course, is Team Tinworm and their fuel-dumping 1964 Humber Super Snipe. We’re pretty certain this is the 1st instance in world history of a Mitsubishi 3000GT fuel filler going into a Rootes Group item.

Be confident to check in later to see how Sunday’s race session goes!

LeMons California Day 1: Porsche 944, Volvo 245, Toyota Supra Leading Classes

LeMons South Day 1: Supra Leads, Frontenac and Fuego In Numerous Pieces

After the parade through a once-wholesome South Carolina town and subsequent car inspections on Friday, the racing began on Saturday morning. As the day progressed, we saw a mix of the expected and unexpected; here’s how it went.

First, the expected stuff: The one-of-60-built 1960 Ford Frontenac coupe of NSF Racing failed to be ready in time to catch the green flag, but then roared onto the track and looked great. Then it suffered from the fuel-system-contamination problems you get with a car that sat for years and began making frequent pit stops to deal with clogged-carburetor-related hassles. Still, the Frontenac was racing!

That is, it was racing until early afternoon, when the engine lost power, began vomiting choking clouds of smoke, and exhibiting all the warning signs of a blown head gasket and/or bad piston rings and/or bent pushrods and/or bad rod bearings and/or a neutron star forming in the oil pan. Such comprehensive engine failure hadn’t been seen since NSF Racing campaigned the worst car in LeMons history last year, but the good news was that they’d brought a fresh-looking 170-cubic-inch straight-6 that they’d found on Craigslist prior to the race. Engine swap time!

This being NSF Racing, the swap process has gone with sub-optimal smoothness, but they should have the new engine in place by the time Sunday’s race session starts. So far, the Frontenac has notched a total of 35 laps, good for P101 out of 109 entries.

Meanwhile, the Renault Fuego Turbo of Interceptor Motorsports also performed as expected (actually, better than expected, at least when you go by the expectations of anyone who has any familiarity with the Fuego). The car wasn’t ready for the green flag, which surprised nobody. Then it clattered onto the track about midday. Hooray!

The Fuego was slow (the slowest vehicle in the race, in fact) and it sputtered to a halt and had to be rescued by the wrecker about every 1.5 laps, but Interceptor Motorsports was competing!

Then the car limped into the penalty box, spewed a vile-looking engine-fluids milkshake out through the grille, and spat its thermostat onto the ground. Now that’s a dramatic breakdown, even in the eyes of the seen-it-all-before members of the LeMons Supreme Court. The Fuego managed 9 laps on Saturday, which is about 6 more than most of us expected. We told the Fuego guys to go fix the first half-dozen problems they found under the hood and try again in the morning.

Also expected— though more depressing— was the sequence of events that took place with Team SOB and their Volkswagen Golf. This team started out as South of the Border back in 2008, then junkyard-turbocharged their engine and became Screaming on Boost a few years later, and now they’re the all-too-aptly-named Team Sick of Breaking. For 6 long years, they’ve been coming to LeMons races at CMP, climbing to the very top of the standings at each race thanks to excellent driving skills… and then breaking the car. This time, they grabbed the P1 spot early and began building up a nice cushion as the day went on. Then, a blown tire followed by a leaking oil cooler cost them about 10 laps, and they finished the session in 8th place and 6 laps back of the leader— still in the hunt but in need of some mistakes by other teams to reclaim the top spot. The path chosen by the Volkswagen racer is not an easy one.

Now we’re going to veer off into unexpected territory, with the class leaders at the end of Saturday’s race session. Leading Class A and in P1, we’ve got the Hong Norrth C 1984 Toyota Supra. Hong Norrth has been one of the teams to beat in the LeMons South Region for years now, but their string of victories came with a pair of well-sorted Mazda MX-3s, which the team now appears to have stuffed into The Crusher and replaced with one of the least-reliable cars in the series (2 Supras have won LeMons races, but the most recent such victory came in 2009). They’d done very poorly with this Supra since its debut a few races back, but today they’ve managed to inch all the way up to the pinnacle of the standings. Can it last?

On the same lap as the Hong Norrth Supra, oddly enough, is Fast Al’s Race Team and their automatic-transmission-equipped Volvo 745. We don’t know how this is happening, what with the Volvo 740′s propensity for mechanical failure in LeMons, but there it is.

Also with 225 laps, we’ve got the VW Golf driven by Hung South Racing, making a 3some of notoriously breakdown-prone vehicle types within seconds of one another on the lead lap. Sunday is going to be exciting for the spectators.

The Class B lead became the subject of much controversy during the latter hours of Saturday’s race session, with the LeMons Supreme Court attempting to right a perceived classing screw-up by promoting the Halfast Racing Chevrolet Caprice from Class B to Class A (the last few races have been subject to a certain amount of activism from the bench, which has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth among some racers). After much agonized debate among the justices, the LCS has granted Halfast Racing the Class B/5-lap handicap we gave them at the Alabama race, placing them in P9, where they will begin Sunday’s racing with a 5-lap lead in their class.

That means that the long-suffering Duff Beer team and their D-engined ’94 Honda Civic will be hoping for the Halfast Chevy to blow up… which it has done at each of its last 6 LeMons races.

Even if the Halfast Caprice sprays a mist of vaporized pistons out of its tailpipes on the first lap tomorrow, the Duff Beer guys won’t be able to relax, because just yards behind them lurks the Generar Ree Datsun 260Z. This plot has plenty of twists and turns.

The Class C leader will start Sunday’s session with a comfy-seeming 12-lap lead over its nearest pursuer, but how could any racers feel confident when they’re driving a wretched Cadillac Catera? The members of Cadillac Racing have been in this position before, only to see their dreams shattered by the reality of desperate 1990s GM badge engineering. Their powertrain sounds like a couple of sick bison trapped inside a shipping container full of plumbing fittings, but that’s normal for a Catera.

Somewhat more reliable (but no faster) than the Catera, the Slant-6 E30 (which is a BMW 3-series with a Chrysler Slant-Six swap) will be poised to take slow-motion advantage when if the Catera disintegrates into a fine mist of Opel vapor tomorrow.

The Penalty Box was quite busy during Saturday, with justice dispensed by your LeMons correspondent, Judge Jason Torchinsky, and Judge Steven McDaniel. We had so many spinning/crashing/off-roading Mazda Miatas during the day that we made some of the offending Miata teams celebrate the Miata’s 25th anniversary.

The Speedycop-built Wagon Queen Family Truckster started off strong, but fried its brakes after the first hour and fell down to 78th place. Not that anyone really cares, because just look at it!

The Knoxvegas Lowballers and their Duratec-powered, mid-engined Geo Metro have converted their Smokey and the Bandit 18-wheeler to a terrifying Maximum Overdrive machine. Unlike most LeMons cars of the absurd tiny-car/big-engine genre, the Lowballers have found a way to be (fairly) fast and (sort of) reliable with their Metro, leading Class B for a few glorious moments on Saturday.

There’s plenty at stake on Sunday, so be sure to check in later!

LeMons South Day 1: Supra Leads, Frontenac and Fuego In Numerous Pieces