TSB does Gingerman w. 24 Hours of Lemons!

We got to the track w/ litte issues, the door that holds trailer ramps in, came unsecured, nothing a zip tie can't fix for now.  During tech. inspection we found an oil leak, which turned out to be a cam seal.  We replaced that but, we were unable to get any practice laps in.

"Dive Bomb" Barry came off of the track after 2.5hrs, he got nailed for passing under yellow.  Until the black flag, he got us into 1st place!

I went out 2nd, and after 2hours 20 minutes I slide off of turn 3, and went four wheels off, and got a black flag for it; next time I will attempt to save it.

Dave Hildebrant went out for three hours, he got us up to 3rd place.

End of Day one, the race was cut short by about 1/2 an hour because the corner workers can't see the cars!  The snow is blinding.  The black spray paint is from me, it is susposed to be flames, it was my penality for going off the track.

Getting the car ready.........

We have been pretty lazy this winter far as car work goes.

I finally sourced a replacement transmission!  Lemons only alloted us $100 for replacement.  See their residual value.  Basically if you show up to a race, no matter what your accounting records show, they assume you spent $500.  So if you break something (aka a transmission), one must plead to the judges "can we spend money on replacement items?"

This one was found on Craigslist (thanks Adam!).  It was in a VW Cabrio that had a 16v swap, that got yanked in favor of a VR6!  I drove down to Northfield and picked it up for exactly $100.  Hopefully it works for us...he said it was a working pull, but who know how many miles are on it?  I did find out that Adam liked to take his Cabrio to the BIR drag strip.

BTW!  I never did thank Neil T. for donating to us the Contractor grade lawn edging used for our front lip!  Thanks!  The 1/8" thick ABS plastic we originally had on there didn't hold up, might have had something to do w/ loading it on a car trailer w/o ramps long enough for lowered cars?   Or the fact that it went to a rally-x event w/ it on.  DOH!  I did find out that Cert-A-Fit bumper covers have the factory like lower lip integrated as one piece w/ the bumper, where as factory have the lip as two seperate pieces seperate from the bumper!

Chump Car & 24 Hours of Lemons car invited to SCCA races?

SCCA-LOL will be inviting Chump & Lemons cars to both of thier road races at Brainerd Intl. Raceway this year! 

A special class has been forme IT-CC.  Right now the way I understand it is:
-it will be there own session
-cars must meet SCCA GCR rules (I believe the Chump car will only need a seat back brace)
-the same Chump car rules will be used (aka DOT tires & what not)
-each race weekend will get a warm-up, practice, and four sprint races

Also they are having a Time-Trials program.  It is much like qualifying.  The driver is competing for a single fastest lap.  Passing is pretty much unrestricted except for dive bombing.  It is the closest one can come to road racing in street car (aka no cage or 5-point harness required).  So any car (especially auto-x and chump cars) are elligible!

More info WILL be found on thier website: http://www.scca-lol.org/

Lucas Oil On the Edge, 24 Hours Of LeMons

Someone was nice enought to post the entire show on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLBCgn6cS28
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNHVuRBZgbM

TSB is on TV!

Lucas Oil has a show on Speed Channel, called the "Lucas Oil on the Edge"; they have a show dedicated to the Autobahn Lemons Race.  Our little "school bus" yellow golf was shown several times!
http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/search/Lucas%20Oil%20On%20The%20Edge

2011: Chump Car & 24 Hours of Lemons

http://www.chumpcar.com/events.php
http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/events.aspx
For sure we will be at both Brainerd events...the rest haven't been decided on yet.
Road America, Autobahn Country Club, Midwest Auto Motorplex, & Gingerman are all on the marker board.

Yellow Flag = No Passing....kinda.....

So when a racer sees a yellow flag, it means something bad happened beyond the flagstation waving a yellow flag.  So there is no passing FROM the flagstation until after the inncident.  This is how every driving school, go-kart place, and racing series conducts themselves.

This is how 24 Hours of Lemons conducts itself.  Once a racer can see a waving yellow there is no passing.  Can you see the confusion? 

One: being different than the rest of the world. 

Two: where a person "sees" the waving flag is relative.  If the driver is looking way ahead he/she can see it at the begining of turn 9.  If he/she isn't they won't see it until after turn 9. 

Three: in the pictured senario, even though the inncident is at the end of the longest straight of the entire track, every one is forced to slow down to pace car speeds for the entire straight! 

Four: There have been several accidents caused by a lead car stomping on the binders in a turn because they saw a flag, the ppl behind them may not have seen it, and plow into the rear of the lead car.  This doesn't happen w/ traditional yellow flag rules, because the racer has more time to see the flag.

Unfortunatly TSB didn't realize this until 1/2 way through day two at Autobahn.  I hope any other teams out there learn from our mistake.

For instance, Aaron passed a car on the exit of turn 9, the pass was completed WELL before the flag station waving the yellow flag (Start/Finish), this resulted in black flag.