The $500-Ish, Viper V10-Powered Rolls-Royce

In reply to Toyman01 (Forum Supporter) :

Cheers.  REading time

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

Thx, I wondered why I hadn't seen that one before.  New thread today!!!

Serious Q.  Does any organization run something similar to the Champ/LeMons concept that isn't endurance.  Events for single driver cars less than an hour in duration?  

This is my Lemons car, the Mazdamaro, which is for sale btw.   We had our fun with it.  Next will be something to Champ rules.  Would love it if GRM had a west coast event.

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Serious Q.  Does any organization run something similar to the Champ/LeMons concept that isn't endurance.  Events for single driver cars less than an hour in duration?  

I believe the SCCA was looking into something for these crapcan enduros but it's been met with mixed feelings throughout the regions. Central Florida Region has been offering some open class racing lately. 

NCM does the King of the Heap series - which by all accounts is a hilarious, fun event.

https://www.motorsportspark.org/events/king-of-the-heap/all/

The spec tire is "Uniroyal Tiger Paw Touring" - lol

 

Was it Lemons that used to crush a car at the end to keep the rest honest? "Spectators Choice" or some such?

In reply to nimblemotorsports :

That 4th gen nose works disturbingly well with an MX-3. Disturbingly.

In reply to NOHOME :

Yeah, they called it the people's curse. They did away with it a while ago- I think people were getting mad at some of the cars chosen, they weren't always the cheatiest. 

In reply to Mndsm :

Yep, usually the ones driven by shiny happy people.

stuart in mn said:

KillermgBee said:

Anyone can buy a car but to fab something like this together on a shoestring budget and then actually race it is awesome, my hats off to him! 

A neat car, but I'm not so sure about that 'shoestring budget'...

I guess what I meant by that was he built it himself with what he could find , didn't order bolt on stuff from a catalog and have a speed shop build it. He tried several times before he got it to work correctly 

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Serious Q.  Does any organization run something similar to the Champ/LeMons concept that isn't endurance.  Events for single driver cars less than an hour in duration?  

Building a race car for me is a 2000 + hour task.  The idea of putting that much labor and having to share that with other drivers who have nothing more than  money invested  on a track with other drivers with nothing more invested is offensive.  
Out of self defense a person is required to  use a mild cheaply available motor and an automatic transmission ( since fewer and fewer drivers can operate a clutch ). 
 

One person for short sprint races would introduce a whole lot of new drivers to the sport. 5 lap races. Maybe with the top finishers entered for a 20 lP feature race should be something clubs should  look into.
Keep the buy in low. Say 20 years old limited to normally aspirated 2 liters or smaller with automatics, 30 years old allow bigger motors 40 years old allow some mild ( Non power adding) modification 

All cars have High tread wear tires,   with required safety equipment. 
 

Toyman01 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Mndsm :

Yep, usually the ones driven by shiny happy people.

I noticed a team or two changed driving styles after the people’s curse was awarded at Nelson Ledges a long time ago.  Pretty sure at least one team had been sandbagging pretty heavily beforehand.

In reply to eastsideTim :

It's hard to believe that was over 10 years ago.

dculberson (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to eastsideTim :

It's hard to believe that was over 10 years ago.

Yikes!  It was, wasn't it?

frenchyd said:

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Serious Q.  Does any organization run something similar to the Champ/LeMons concept that isn't endurance.  Events for single driver cars less than an hour in duration?  

Building a race car for me is a 2000 + hour task.  The idea of putting that much labor and having to share that with other drivers who have nothing more than  money invested  on a track with other drivers with nothing more invested is offensive.  
Out of self defense a person is required to  use a mild cheaply available motor and an automatic transmission ( since fewer and fewer drivers can operate a clutch ). 
 

One person for short sprint races would introduce a whole lot of new drivers to the sport. 5 lap races. Maybe with the top finishers entered for a 20 lP feature race should be something clubs should  look into.
Keep the buy in low. Say 20 years old limited to normally aspirated 2 liters or smaller with automatics, 30 years old allow bigger motors 40 years old allow some mild ( Non power adding) modification 

All cars have High tread wear tires,   with required safety equipment. 
 

2000+ hours of labor for a 5 lap race. Might as well just go drag racing or cars and coffee show hopping. If you're worried about possibly wadding your car up in a race you're in the wrong sport, it's an inherent risk you take and forgetting to tighten a lug nut could inflict just as much damage to your car as an "arrive and drive" driver. 

eastsideTim said:

dculberson (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to eastsideTim :

It's hard to believe that was over 10 years ago.

Yikes!  It was, wasn't it?

 

Our first run was in 2008. 12 years ago. Managed to trophy that one too. Most likely to go home in a Ambulance. 

Good memories. This is the year I started hanging out with Curmudgeon and on GRM.

#65, Team Animal House

You can be proud when your team wins the Most Likely To Leave In An Ambulance trophy at the 24 Hours of LeMons, and that's just what Team Animal House did with their Fox Thunderbird. Note the Deathmobile fins and portrait of Chief Perpetrator Jay Lamm as hood ornament.

From here. https://jalopnik.com/the-24-hours-of-lemons-south-2008-uber-gallery-399755

Darko is a cool cat.  After Radwood Detroit we met up with for drinks near his place and he drove it right to restaurant and street parked it, it's not some Lemons trailer queen made just for the race!  

Those who are pissing on this build must not have a sense of humor.

One of the best lemons cars I saw was a 60's something thunderbird that had a BMW diesel motor stuck in it.   I think I ahve photos of it some place.

here it is

And a Porsche in its natural habituate in a lemons race.  

In reply to dean1484 :

Speedy Cop did that one, I believe, or some subset of his team.  It's actually not as crazy a swap as it sounds, as Lincoln used that BMW diesel in the Continental in the mid-80s, attached to a ZF auto transmission.  So there is a Ford connection there.  Sort of. 

In reply to dean1484 :

Is the radiator core support a pair of RATCHET STRAPS?? Madness

In reply to Appleseed :

"Why U rune klassic?"

dculberson (Forum Supporter) said: ...I won't mind sharing a Lemons track with something like this. Why? Because as shown it's not going to DOMINATE like people seem to think. 

Until it does, then it's not okay...

I see both sides of this. At one time I considered getting involved, just for the experience, not worrying about winning anything. But between the expense of the entire affair, and the growing discontent in the sometimes arbitrary "rules", I think I'll stick to occasional trackday events. That said, if they ever have one of these locally (SoCal), I'd go check it out, but they all seem to be east or south.

After witnessing the struggle in the pits for several races with this car I was genuinely happy for them to see it on the track.  Last time we raced with them I believe they won class C which means they get bumped to B.  My car is slow but handles well, It was awesome to see this coming in the mirror and then actually stick in a corner.  Impressive.

One of Lemons first questions is always "how was your last race" that determines how they treat you.  We recently got down graded to C after a couple of miserable showings.  After a couple decent finishes in B we took penalty laps to stay in B, my point is the Judges get tougher on you based on your success or lack there of.

I would still rather see this than another Miata or Mustang or Honda in basically stock form yet right at budget.