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I posted a bit about our 24hrs of Lemons entry in my build thread here: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... 1&start=15

Chet wanted to hear about the results so I thought I’d post the story here.

Short version: We won. Pics and a mini article here: http://jalopnik.com/tag/thunderhill-lemons/ I’m the really happy guy with both arms in the air! First place paid $1500 in nickels.

Long version: We ran a wrecked bone stock 1.6L Mazda protégé with a Fram air filter and stock exhaust, including the cat. We got the car for $200 after it rear ended a jeep. Damage was limited to the RF shock tower and the top of the motor (cam gear). We pulled the shock tower out a bit with a truck and chain and put in a new cam + gear. We ran on Federal brand tires. Nothing fancy. We were the 12th fasted car out of ~65. Stock 13.2 gallon tank – no additional fuel cell. For motivation, conversation and comfort we carried with us three inflatable dolls and two inflatable sheep. “Perfect Wife” was zip tied to the antenna for the first 2 hrs of the race. “Tammy” rode in the front seat while Judy and one of the sheep rode in the back. The sheep on the trunk was zip tied to a satellite dish mount for the entire race. The dolls were not anatomically correct however the sheep were.

Our plan was to run long and steady and stay out of trouble. A black flag for rough driving was a 30 minute stop and go penalty! About an hour into the race it became clear that given the fuel economy we were getting that we might be able to run 8 hours on 2 tanks of gas. This would be a huge advantage since refueling required driving the entire length of the paddock at 10 MPH and fueling at the designated fueling station at Thunderhill. So we turned consistent laps and kept our nose clean. Under full course yellows we did a lot of fuel economy driving. We were in 4th place after 2 hours and did a fast driver change. At ~4hrs we did a fuel stop and driver change. At ~6 hours we were 1 lap up and did a driver change. That was my stint – 7:15PM or so to 9:00. At the checkered flag for the day we were 5 laps up. Sunday was more of the same. The first driver took a brutal 3:15 hr shift. We stopped for fuel and a driver change and ran it to the finish. Margin of victory was 18 laps. In 14 hours of racing we were off track only twice: 4 wheels off once when James hit a big antifreeze spill and I dropped 2 off at night when I hit two major patches of mud two cars had dragged back onto the track. Total fuel burned was ~45 gallons for 14 hours of racing. We had zero mechanical trouble and secured the manufacturer’s championship for Mazda. The only glitch we had in the entire race was a meatball flag for the inner fender liner working loose on the previously wrecked fender. We did a quick stop and go in the pits to cut out the plastic that was hanging down and were back underway in seconds.

Laps times and results here: http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=713849

It was a blast. Check out http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ for the 2008 race schedule and make a run at the coin!
Peter

All HAil the champions!

Way to go. Looks like a well laid plan came together for you. You have my most sincere admiration.

Awesome! I so want to do this next year. I told my brother in law and within 30 seconds he had spit out three perfect donor cars and why each of them could win this race. He'll be the crew cheif. I want to do some drivin next time. Shoot me a PM when I need to start planning this, I'd really like to make the trip. next time.

I just wonder how long and how many trips it took to carry that many nickels....

Congrats! Not often that you see your fuel bill for one race equal the total price of the race car!

Thanks guys. Fortunately the nickels were in $200 bank stamped bags. Each bag was probably 75#. We loaded all of them up in my wife's Subaru and it was apparent we were going to need more motor. Luckily for us we stayed over with family an extra day and did a quick exchange at a local bank before heading north.

Peter

An interesting part of the event is the People’s Curse. One car is selected from the field for destruction. In previous events the car was left in a barely working order. In this event, not so much. Watch here for eventual video: http://jalopnik.com/cars/thunderhill-le ... 339026.php or check Youtube. This 626 had a bad ass motor and was capable of much faster laps than it actually turned – it was way faster than our car in a straight line. Hell, it was way faster than every car out there in a straight line.

I’ve only been to one lemon event, but from what I’ve seen the best way to get crushed is to a) show up with a fast car and b) piss everyone off by bullying your way through the field.

Peter

Some Thoughts on this event…

There are 3 ways to get cash: 1st place, people’s choice, organizer’s choice.

To win the organizer’s choice (the Benz in this past event) bring an old car with minimal prep. Go out and race clean and do better than your old jalopy has any right to do. That 65 Benz had been sitting in a field for 20 years. It still had mold and liken on the hood. They put brakes on it, cleaned the carburetor, but a cage in it, and went racing.

To win people’s choice, pick a good theme, go all out and stick with it. The Caltrans/DOT team did a great job. The whole team was in costume all weekend.

To win, light and nimble are more important than HP. We did 45% of our passing in corners, 45% under braking and 10% under acceleration. Drive within your limits at 9/10ths, not 10/10ths – 30 minute stop and go penalties are more costly than slowing down 1 sec/lap. At night, drive 8/10ths. Make safe passes.

Peter

Congrats!

That looks like a heck of a lot of fun.

I was out there as well running the #87 mr2. We got into too much trouble and had several black flags. Many of which where uncalled for. I ran the last run on sat and on sun. That was alot of fun running thunderhill at night. You could bairly see where the track was in turn 2 it got so bad. Plus the fog started rolling in and the track got cold.

We lost maybe 2 hours all together with penalties and we lost the front hub on our car. We did a drivers change and the first lap out the driver spun. Only one front wheel locked up which turned him around. Then I jumped in it since they said to switch drivers again. He said it felt funny and to watch out for the brakes. I knew right away the hub was falling off since the steering was messed up but I just tried to continue doing laps since we only had about 2 hours left in the race. It took about a half hour and the hub fell apart. I watched the bearrings fly out behind the car.

Luckly there was another team with a spare mr2 so we barrowed the hub off of that car. Then I went back out with about an hour left to go. I was making good laps and passing alot of people. We where in 5th at the time with only one lap to make up so I wasnt going to cruze around like many of the other teams where at the time.

Well, out of no where, I get a black flag. I couldnt believe it. They said I hit someone in 5, which is a crest over a hill. I'm pretty sure they got the wrong car. At the time there was 2 red mr2's on the track. I was close to others on the track but you have to inorder to pass. I dont know, they ended up pulling us from the race with about 45 minutes left. I was pretty pissed but couldnt really bitch at them since our other drivers made some stupid misstakes on the track. Which is why I'm sure they pulled us off the track.

All in all it was alot of fun. It didnt seem like we had more power but our tires where better then most. I made most of my passes in the corners. In the end we ended up 15th.

Alex,

Sorry I didn’t get to meet you there. You guys were damn fast. Bummer about the mechanicals. Better luck next year.

Peter