Hilarious Penalties for 24 Hours Racing

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It was my first time to a 24 Hours of LeMons race. As soon as I could see the track, I knew I wanted to do this. How else can you race all day for so little money?  With a set of not-so-serious sounding racing rules we told you about in a another post, there were some very serious safety rules in place at the track. Off-track excursions or spins were subject to penalties and that’s where the 24 Hours of LeMons style fun started. (click the picture to read)

The penalties for a track infraction are wide reaching.  For the worst kinds of repeated offenses, including total disdain for judges, there were simple time penalties, but with a bribe here or there (of course bribes are legal!) you could get off with a written penalties like the ones above.  I won’t guess the political affiliation of “Chief Perpetrator” Jay Lamm.

So what other kinds of penalties did I see? The top photo shows the tires of one team in the stands so they could, “watch and learn how to race.”  Too funny! The car was on jack stands not far away.

For the rest of the penalties, I grabbed some video.  First up is the “Ride the Whip” penalty.

Team Mohawk and their Dodge Neon enjoyed this ride.  The lady drivers got into it! Here’s how it started:

Next is the “Cultural Revolution” penalty imposed by one of the judges and Jalopnik writer/editor Phil Greden. Phil explains how Mao thought his people were “insufficiently revolutionary” and needed a cultural revolution.  “All hail the great helmsman!”

Finally, you’re treated to the Marcel Marceau (yea the French mime) penalty. Here you’ll see Jay explaining why it’s not OK to spin on the track or to drive in a race with one arm out the window. This is the “B Team” BMW we mentioned in the 24 Hours of LeMons driver’s story.

It was fantastic to see all the drivers and judges having a great time. There was no ill tempers and no excessive pride getting in the way. Maybe it’s cause there’s only $1500 at stake or maybe as one racer told me, “This is our time to not think about our real lives.”

Everyone needs that.

What car are you driving in the next 24 Hours of LeMons? I can’t wait to see it!

Only $500 for 24 Hours of Fun Racing

I wrote about the 24 Hours of LeMons (yea, I spelled that right) in another blog about the “Strict Racing Rules”. I expected some easy going people out to have a great time. I found’m!

It took the “Eyesore Racing” shown above 6 months of weekends to put their 94 Mazda Miata together. The car, built for $500 or less by the rules, was made from 2 Miatas practically welded together in the middle. One car had front end damage and no motor and the other had been carefully wrapped around a tree with the front end intact. The engine, including the small rusty-wheeled turbo from a Mexico only Dodge pickup, was resurrected from 4 engines. Where would 24 Hours of LeMons racing be without Craigslist!

The team consists of neighbors and friends making up 4 sets of couples out of Long Beach, CA. In the Phoenix race, their 9th race,  6 of the 8 team members drive including “March Hare” Dave, “Tweedle Dee” Jay, “Tweedle Dum” Dan, “Alice” Sara and “White Rabbit” Sarah and my man, the “Mad Hatter” Kyle who helped with the details for this story. “Queen of Hearts” Caro and “Cheshire Cat” Kurt round out the team.

The combination’s working because team Eyesore won the Phoenix race and became the first every 2 time winner of 24 Hours of LeMons. They won at the Reno-Fernley race, according to this Jalopnik story,  where they were all dressed like Elvis.

Don’t think they were the only team out having fun though… Let me introduce Team “Off Consistently”

I asked Tyler Irwin, what’s with that name?  Duh… nobody beats off consistently!

This 1985 300ZX cruised in from San Diego, CA and is another Craigslist purchase.  Tyler told me it came up on for $300, not running, and they picked it up for $200. They Finished 3rd.

I also found the “B Team”. Swanee and I couldn’t figure out what the black strip running down the roof was until we found their pits. It’s a Mohawk for the B (not A) team BMW. They finished 10th.

Dig team, “Lemon Martini”. Their 1990 Honda CRX. Money’s split between 17 and 20, but they finished 7th in Phoenix.

To show the real spirit of racing, fun that is, I’ll include this last picture.

The “Sac Indicator” tells it all.

Wrapping things up, here’s a video that shows most of the cars competing. Don’t hate the big 4 door Olds 98 you see cruise by. They took 5th!

MyRideisMe.com will be trying it’s hardest to enter this race next year.  Who’s with me?!

Budget Time Attack Civic

So, its no secret that I dig Japanese cars.  I certainly have a special place in my automotive heart for the Honda Civic.  I’ve owned 2 and am looking for #3.  Why?  It’s a Civic?  They’re boring, cheap, small, chick cars with no power and are front wheel drive (FF = front engine, front wheel drive).  Well, lemme “splain”…Being a father of 4 with a mortgage, a retirement plan, food storage, swim lessons, youth baseball, basketball and soccer, 2.5 kids still in diapers…shall I go on?…then you now see the Civic’s big advantage.  Cheap, reliable transportation.  For a car guy, the Honda Civic also offers a lightweight chassis (1992-00 Civics weigh 2200-2500lbs), amazing mpg (I’ve average 39mpg), double wishbone suspension at all 4 corners, ease of transplanting other more powerful Honda/Acura engines and likely THE biggest aftermarket, making the Civic is a great choice.

For this post, I bring you one such Civic, a budget Time Attack machine owned by Tag Evanson of Arizona.  These pictures are from 2008 at GT Live at the Miller Motorsports Park. 

Tag Evanson is from Arizona and made the trip up to Utah for the GT Live Redline Time Attack with his young family. I snapped some pics right after arriving at the track. Then, after watching some West Track action, I headed back to the paddock/pits area. I cruised back around and saw Tag working on his Civic’s left front region.

Apparently he had a leaky axle seal at the transmission side. His wife and 2 daughters had gone into town to pick up a new seal at Willey Honda in Bountiful. Gotta thank those family members who support all you racers out there.  So, while he was working on it, I was just watching. We started to chat a little. Yes, I did offer to help, but the man seemed to have things under control. We chatted for about 30 minutes almost. From what I remember, he worked in Software and raced at the various road courses in the Redline Time Attack series, with minimal sponsorship at the time.  He trailered his hatchback on his own. 

Sorry for the butt shot man.  ha ha  Tag is a very down to earth and super nice dude. He seemed like a totally normal guy, which he is. It’s just that when a Time Attack newby/nut like me is talking to someone who has been on Speed TV, in the mags, and on the internet, its just weird. A little star struck I guess, I totally geek out way too much. 

Check out that ginourmous front splitter.  Dang!  That must generate tons of downforce compared to the light chassis.  Killer sparkly clear coat on the carbon hood too. 

Tag has been known for having a very quick Civic hatchback the last 3 years or so, which is attributed to the car setup (now running a K series engine (from an Acura RSX (2.0L) or even a TSX (2.4L) instead of the B series engine (1.6L Civic Si, 1.8L from an Integra GSR or Type R), which he said needed more upkeep and constant attention compared to the K) and obviously his driving. You can’t have a fast car and it only be because of power. You have to be able to drive the thing and Tag is the man behind the wheel.

 The Civic hatch’ interior is about as gutted as you can get.  Seat, check…roll cage, check…fire extinguisher, check, shifter, check…steering wheel, check.  This car probably weighs right at 2000 lbs is my guess with the interior stripped out.  Stock, depending on the model, they weigh around 2250lbs.  With the K series engine running somewhere around 250hp (stock is 210hp), that’s a killer power to weigh ratio eh? 8lbs per HP.  Compare that with the new Camaro SS (3900lbs / 425hp = 9.2lbs/hp) or a new Nissan GTR (3800lbs / 480hp = 7.9lbs/hp).  That’s gotta be a fun ride!

Tag is a do-it-yourselfer type and is on a budget. I know his car has the typical Sponsor decals, but if you saw pics of his car taken 1 or 2 years ago, it was plain Jane white. He has likely picked up those Sponsorships after he won his first event at Buttonwillow. His wife was way cool too. She thought I looked like someone they knew, but apparently he didn’t think so. :) Oh well, LOL. Good times and thanks Tag for talking to the “little guy”. Keep up the good work and remember, have fun. That’s what its all about.

 

Here’s a picture of what the car look like this last race season in 2009.  Looks like he’s got more sponsors now.  Nice work!  The aero work is much more serious now.  Check out that rear diffuser.  That means business.  The Hasport decal is much more pronounced and I see KSport is on board now, a quality suspension bits manufacturer.  The drive wheels are wider, you can see wider fenders have been installed.  Photo credit goes to OctaneReport.com for this picture of Tag racing at Buttonwillow in 2009.

Hechtspeed

VW Beetle Road Racers

My first car was a 1972 Bug I picked up from a family friend for $500 (Check my Bug Garage here).  Then I spent 2 years in Brazil as a missionary for my church.  Brazil was one of the few countries that manufactured the Volkswagen Beetle.  I was surrounded by them.  One of the cities I lived in had a race track and they used to run Copa Fusca, which means Beetle Cup, a race class just for road racing Vdub Bugs.  Some of these photos also come from the German version, the Kafer Cup series.  I got to thinking and did a quick google image search.  Check these Fuscas out, so rad!

I dig the front airdam spoiler, extra wide fenders and wide wheels and tires.  Pretty simple formula.

This silver Fusca may be running a front radiator or oil cooler, not sure.  Man that looks fun!

Here’s a German Kafer racer.  Check out that big Porsche style rear wing!  The little vent behind the rear window tells you its a 1972 or newer Bug.  I believe all these VW racers are “Super Beetles”, the name given to the ‘72 and later bugs that came with the road race friendly MacPherson strut front suspension.

Another German racer.  This one has a milder rear wing and a fiberglass front end.  They must be running oil coolers in the front bumper area, see those vents?

I think it’d be cool to do a street version of this setup.  Super Beetles are neglected versus their 50’s and 60’s brothers, so picking one up cheap would be easy.  VW performance engines are very affordable and body parts in fiberglass are also easy to find.

This 68+ Fusca is possibly the perfect Bug to me, perfect stance.  Super low, wide fenders, bumperless body and extra wide wheels.  Dang that’s hot!  Raise it up an inch or two and go track racing.  150hp pushing 1600 lbs has gotta be a super fun ride!

Hope you enjoyed these Fuscas.  Any Vdub lovers out there?  Let us know below with a comment.

Hechtspeed

Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman

Automotive book publisher Motorbooks recently launched  a new book about Paul Newman. “Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newan” was written by Matt Stone and Preston Lerner with a foreword by none other than Mario Andretti himself, a personal friend and driver for Paul Newman.

Most people know Paul Newman for his movies. As a slick pool player in “The Hustler” and then in “The Color of Money” and he could do comedy too in “Slap Stick”. These movies and a long list of others made Paul Newman a Hollywood legend!

But the book, good for me, doesn’t cover the movie side of Paul.  “Winning” focuses on how Paul Newman got into racing, the team’s he owned,  the cars he modified for the street and the many race cars he drove and his impact on the people surrounding him.

Paul Newman didn’t start racing until he was 47 years old.  Many speculate that if he had started when he was 17, (or younger like the racers growing up now behind the wheel of shifter carts) he may have been one of the greats.  He wasn’t fast right out of the gate, but he was serious about racing and learned over the years, gradually getting faster and faster and racing larger, more powerful cars as his skills improved.  By the 1980’s he was a very successful driver in the IMSA and Trans-Am series.

Here’s some interesting tid-bits from the book giving you a glimpse into Paul Newman’s passion for racing:

One of my favorite parts of Paul Newman was that he began his amateur racing career in Datsun’s with Bob Sharp Racing.  He drove one of my favorite cars, the Datsun 510.

Paul Newman made it to the SCCA Runoffs 11 different years, ranging from 1973 to 2002 and won 4 times, making the podium 10 of the 14 times he ran at the SCCA Runoffs.

Paul owned a VW convertible with a Porsche engine, brakes, sway bars and  suspension goodies.  This was in the ’50’s!

Paul Newman was the voice of Doc Hudson in the “Cars” movie.  For the premier of the movie, which was shown at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Newman (about 80 years old at the  time) took a custom built ‘51 Hudson body mated to a Craftsman Truck Series chassis and drove it over 160 MPH on track!

There’s so much more to this book for the car enthusiast.  There are comments from former drivers that raced for Paul under the Newman/Haas CART/IRL/Champ Car teams, names like Mario Andretti and his son Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Christian Fittipaldi and more.  Others like Bob Sharp, David Letterman and many more including competitors, actors and pit crew shared experiences they had with Paul Newman.

One of the greatest compliments that was mentioned over and over throughout the book was that he was a “regular guy”, who saw himself as a racecar driver first, actor second.  He was passionate about cars and racing.  The book has great glossy photographs that document his racing career through the years.

Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman will make a great addition to your car book libary!

Hechtspeed