Sears Pointless March 23-25th 2012

I will start off by saying, what a weekend it was. It is already over and it seems like it was one long dream. Just.. epic!

It started with the drive up, it went well thanks to my Dad and his RV. My girlfriend and I had a wonderful drive up to the track, and I am now completely comfortable driving the RV myself so the burden of the long drives does not all fall on my Dad's shoulders.



When we arrived it was a stellar day, and the track was breath taking. The rolling green hills, the sounds and sites of race cars. I was in car nerd heaven.

We got the car off the trailer and took it over to tech. One thing I took great pride from the weekend was managing the safety tech preparation of our Spitfire. We got right through tech inspection with out even a single recommendation or question. The head tech himself looked over our car and said we did a good job. All the time and effort paid off, and our car is now good to go for the rest of this year, safety wise that is.



I really wanted to get the bribed stencil painted on our car so I brought the infamous Judge Phil and his cousin Sam a few bottles of Manzanita Brew. I also enjoy sharing and passing on the word about the great beer my friends down in Santee, CA are brewing. Our team does not need to bribe the judges, when they see us Phil said, "Ah it's these guys, give me their sheet" and he marks us Class C with zero penalty laps. This is the benefit of running a slow class C car.



Now through tech and back at our pits we met up with our other two drivers, Rich and Cem. I have too say we could not have picked up a better two arrive and drive drivers. They never made a mistake, drove the car well and were great guys to shoot the shit with. Cem is also one hell of a race driver pulling our fastest laps of the weekend 2:20.38 which in our car is impressive. Rich knows his cars so having him there to help wrench if needed (though we did not) is a great benefit, he told me we needed to richen up our top and as well as lean out the bottom end on our carb. We knew the bottom end was rich but were unsure if the top end was lean.

I had a grand old time Friday night, with our car completely ready to go. I wandered the pits drinking beers and met some great people. I also spent a good amount of time chatting it up with one of my favorite teams, the Zombee MGB guys. Lemons races are just a blast even when we aren't racing, there is always someone to talk to and drink with. There were some great themes and cars out there, one of the themes was the Blue man group. I could dig up a picture of these guys, but really if you just find a picture of the real blue man group, that is how they looked. They did that good of a job on the theme. Once again, I neglected to take pictures of any of it. I was just living in the moment I guess....



Saturday was a wet rainy mess. The track was very slick, we had no windshield wipers and I did not follow the directions on the lexan water repellent so our vision was terrible. We were doing a lot of blind driving just waiting to see brake lights or objects on our sides to know when to brake. It took a lot of concentration to keep the car on the track and out of trouble, but besides one spin, we all managed. Having spent time driving the track on Forza 4 really helped me out. At least I knew where I was supposed to be going.... I have to say even though I was freaked out in the rain it was still something to experience and had it's enjoyable moments. On my second time out with a little bit better vision I had a good time, but just look at the windshield on our car...



It rained all night Saturday, so after partying it up Friday night and a chaotic wet race track, I just went in the RV and got a long nights rest.

When I woke up Sunday morning the rain had stopped and the weather actually had sun in the forecast. I was so happy to hear this, and it turned out to be correct. It did not rain once on Sunday and the track dried up nicely. Each driver came in with a huge smile on their face and had enjoyed their time at the wheel in the nice weather. Once again Sears Point was breath taking..



At the end of the day Sunday when I went out for the final stint of the race, I had the most fun I have had behind the wheel of a car. I also managed to make a big mistake and passed under yellow flag conditions. I was so pissed at myself, as I did exactly what I tell others not to do, and pass a car with out checking the flag stand first. This also cost me about 10 mins of track time and made our team look bad. It was my first mistake out of all the races I have done so far though. So I will forgive myself eventually.

We ended the race 4th in Class C and 50th out of 171 cars over all. That is pretty damn good considering our car, half the drivers were arrive and drive, and the weather.

The real winners of the race were team Oly Express with their Barracuda that they put a 170cubic inch slant 6 motor in. I was watching their build over Facebook and I had a feeling if they did well over the weekend they would win the Index of Effluency, the highest prize of LeMons racing. It means you took the worst, coolest car out to the race and did way better in the race then you should have. They beat us in Class C with 3rd place, and 44th over all. I would have personally picked them for IOE as well, so props to the LeMons crew for picking a great team for the win.



At the end of the weekend, I was able to drive our car right on the trailer, I think it could do another weekend with out changing a thing. Which is good because our next race is a full 24 hour race back at Buttonwillow and money will be tight, but we will be there.

That about sums it up. I will later add some more pictures and some in car videos as the team gets them uploaded and I find them on the net. As for now you can see the pictures I have from the race HERE One last photo that my girlfriend took of me just before I got out of the car at the end of the race on Sunday and only this picture can really explain how I feel about this crap can racing..



The true 24 hour of LeMons @ Buttonwillow is June 30th-July 1st, here we go again....

Final Prep (for Rain) 3/17/2012

Well we spent the day Saturday doing some final prep work for the race coming this weekend. My dad built a roof out of some drip pans and extended the front wind screen up. Hopefully this will help protect us from the rain. We do not have any windshield wipers so it's gonna be a pain to see if the rain is heavy. When we originally built our car, we never thought about encountering rain. Oh well what can you do?

I mounted on our new fancy rear view mirror that is nearly as wide as the car. We should have no problems seeing anyone coming up behind us.



After mounting a place for our fuel cell dip stick to go in the trunk, I changed the oil. What I found was milky oil left over from our last race, our head was loose and water was mixing in the oil. We have had the head off and replaced the head gasket so we hope the problem wont come back. I just dumped in some cheap oil and put on a used oil filter to flush this stuff out and will change it again at the track Friday when we put the new spark plugs in.



I got a bad bit of news while I was sick in bed last week, one of our drivers and friends wont be able to race with us. He is fine, just has work schedule conflicts. He also normally hauls our spare motor and transmission. We are taking on another driver from the Mazdaritia team who were wait listed for the race and Spank is kindly taking up our spare motor and transmission for us. So things are working out, not as planned but hey, if everything went as planned it would not feel like LeMons racing.

I have got myself plenty of practice on the Forza 4 Infineon Track, but I have no experience racing in the rain. Hopefully we can keep it together and finish this wet race. Even better the weather shifts and we get to pull this roof of and enjoy some dry track.. Realistically though, I have been told it always rains at Infineon so I am expecting a down pour.



The next post will come after the race weekend.. Hopefully it will be a good one. I can't wait to be at the track on Friday...

Short work day - 3/10/2012

Well as there is not much left to do so I had a little bit of fun and started the car up and drove it around again. You know to keep the cobwebs out... I then hooked up our door net, and did a little prep work on our spare motor. The door net was taken off because we decided it limited our visibility, but then we changed out mind for safety reasons. The spare motor just had the air lines on it from the smog equipment that we do not need so I pulled them off with a few other things.



I then spent a little bit of time modifying a work support stand I picked up to use as a cheap video game racing wheel stand. I originally was going to set up the wheel and Xbox 360 at my dad's house so we could practice the Infineon Track on Forza 4, but after his house flooded we never really got much of a chance. So now with this stand I can set it up anywhere there is an HD TV and any old chair. Works great in my apartment and the fact that I can fold it up and put it in the closet keeps it from taking up any of the limited space.





Sure sitting in a normal chair is not ideal and makes it feel more like your driving a truck with a bench seat then a low race car. But hey it is stable, portable, and the height is adjustable. For $30 and ten minutes of easy modification, it does the trick.

Next weekend is the last weekend we have before the race. It's time to make final adjustments, change the oil, replace the spark plugs, clean the air filter, get the last minute shopping done, and organize the tools and spares to be packed up.

Ten days left until we make the drive up to Sonoma! I guess we should remember to tighten the steering wheel back down as well.

Short Work day 2-25-2012

Well the car is together; the kill switch is tested, covered, and marked; drove the car around the block; and my dad is off for his vacation to play in the Colorado snow. Now I just need to keep myself busy for a few weeks until the race. With only a small amount of prep and shopping left to do, I will be going nuts for sure. My girlfriend is excited to have me for an entire weekend for the first time in awhile though.

I have found out that the next race we plan to do at Buttonwillow is a full 24 hour race. Now with the second car in the equation, the budget is tighter. So the original plan to buy and upgrade to a 14" or 15" wheel may not be realistic. So I have been looking into what is left of the 13" tire market and think there maybe something to get us by. These Nexen CP641s hopefully will be better then terrible and last the full race. We also will need to get some lights because the last time I drove the Spitfire at Buttonwillow in the dark with the stock head lamps, it was down right frightening. Looking into getting a pair of Hella 500s to mount on the front to help light our way.



Gotta get me some time on Forza 4 to learn the Infineon track better, and stop thinking so much about what we are going to do after the Infineon Race until after it is over.

Damn it feels good to be a crap can racer...

Work Day 2-18-2012

We are almost done...



Thanks to a lot of hard work from my pops, we are very near ready for the Sears Pointless race that is just over a month away. He modified the bumper supports and welded them in so we could mount the bumper on. The big rubber bumper just would not fit right after all the new mods so we mounted the metal one back on. It has taken a few hits before and held up fine so with it and the new fuel cell guard installed, the car is far safer then it has ever been. He also got the motor back together and started up. It ran good which is always a relief.

Well trying to decide how to continue forward with beefing up the floor panel at the drivers feet, a friend who stopped by recommended we use some Herculiner. It should do the trick and protect from rusting. Once we got all the holes patched up and cleaned the floor pan up with some paint thinner, we painted a thick layer of the stuff on the floor. Not very exciting or pretty but functional and important.



We then got the seat back in and now bolted to the new seat back brace as well. The seat is no longer just mounted to the "British Tin" floor. The only downside is we will feel a lot more of the bumps and shocks of the ride because the flexible floor is no longer absorbing some of it. Hey we are looking to be safe, not comfortable.



An interesting fellow came by to check out whats left of our spare parts cars and said he would take them off our hands. He is rebuilding a Triumph GT6 and a lot of the parts are interchangeable with the Spitfire. In return he is pulling off a few parts for me to give to a fellow LeMons racer. So these things are finally out of my parents yard, which I know makes my mom happy. See ya later you awesome rat turn infested rust buckets. You both served us well, now go get hacked up else where.



Next week, we will be finishing up the cover and markings for our Killswitch, bleeding the brakes, and driving it around the block to check everything out. Once those things are done we will be basically ready for the race. There will just be some small side prep work I will be taking care of while my father goes on a much deserved vacation. I am starting to think he works harder on this car for me then he does at his real job. Funny though, now that the spare parts cars are gone, he could not help himself and already picked up another car for our next project. Much faster and a different country of origin.. but that is for next year and will be a different story.



Damn I am getting excited about Infineon...

Work Day 2-11-2012

I was able to get my buddy to come do some welding work for us and man did he get a lot done in only a few hours. It was relieving for me to see most of the safety upgrades are now done as they were the most important items on our list for the 2012 season.



We now have a solid cage around our fuel cell that ties to the frame and the back stays. This set up should ease the minds of the LeMons tech crew a bit.



Within the few hours he was there, he was able to help strengthen the areas around our spreader plates inside the car as well. It looks and feels so much more solid then before.



He was not happy with our floor pan at the driver's feet so with the last bit of time he was there he started installing a plate to beef up that area as well. We will finish it off as he got the most important welds done for us.



I feel kind of useless while he does this work, so I just try and get him what ever he needs, food, beer, water, and stand by with the fire extinguisher. Then during his smoke breaks I assist my pops while he works on the motor, and I have some fun adding some paint to the car. I created a simple safety pin stencil that looks kinda cool and gives the car more of that punk rock look.





Also I have been continuing on my team theme costume. It has come along pretty well and now I wont just be standing around in a t-shirt. I will actually look like the jack ass who owns this car. I still have more spikes, safety pins, paint, and patches to add to the vest before it is done. I will also be spiking my hair up at the race, but you can get the idea.





Good times, we are almost ready and the sense of urgency is gone. Now time to check out the greatness from the LeMons race that was out in Texas over the weekend.



And well I guess I should get back to work....

Short work day - Feb 4th 2012

Continued stripping down the third Spitfire for parts, and it soon will be time to have these things hauled off. The last major piece we wanted from it was the diff. Thanks to a can of PB Blaster this kind of thing is becoming quite easy, but the working conditions were less then ideal. Check out what is still left in the trunk of this thing, you can see why he only charged us $500 for both of the cars and an extra standard 4 speed transmission.



Here is a look from under the car where I spent a few hours working...



But it was worth it.. I got out a diff that turns like butter and will be great to have as a spare. We already thrashed the original one and are running one pulled from the other parts car.



My pops was able to find a buyer for the over drive transmission we pulled out of the car last week. It is in good shape and sold for $350. So we actually made back $100 from the two cars, got two running motors, two good diffs, spare axles, and two spare transmissions from the deal. A lot of work, but that is half the fun of crap can racing, rat turds and all.

Here is the over drive transmission with it's driveshaft, the guy who is buying it is meeting us at Infineon to pick it up. So it is one more thing we have to haul with us.



It was a good day... Now off to go have a few cold ones with some friends and watch the Super Bowl. Go.. uh .. I do not like either team, should be good fun anyway.

Theme stuff - getting punked out.

Got started on some of my theme gear to wear at the next race. I never was into the flashy punk rock style with the big hair, safety pins, patches, spikes, studs, etc... but this is quite fun. I can see why many kids did this kind of self made styled clothing during class and when they were supposed to be doing home work. Just look at these nuts.. that is a lot of effort and money to show they are "punk" haha.



There is a damn funny article about "how to be punk" where I found the pics of those kids you can read it Here.

I was more the t-shirt, jeans, and vans shoes type of kid. Though I can not deny I had my moments of trying to hard when I was in high school, and had a real liberty spike mohawk for about five days of my adult life. Anyways......

I had a general plan of the things I wanted to make and what I would need. The most expensive item was going to be the leather vest or jacket. But lucky for me, a friend of mine gave me one for free that, after cutting the arms off, will work great. I also was going to order some spiked wrist bands but found a site that whole sales spikes and studs, so for very little money I can make it all myself.

The first thing I made is a neck chain horribly modeled after the neck chain Sid Vicious wore. If you do not know he was the bassist in the Sex Pistols.



Here is a picture of the famous Sid sporting said neck chain and one of the spike wrist bands I will make...



I will be cutting out the team logo from my team shirt to add as a patch on the back of the vest. There are also two other band's logos I had patches of that I will be adding, The Dwarves and Flogging Molly. When I cut the arms off the jacket I realized the cuffs have buttons and will be perfect for making cheap spiked wristbands so I will be able to make three, the third will be made from an old leather belt I have.



My pops has been showing me up at the races so far by actually getting his hair dyed and cut to sport a real mohawk. He also has a spiked neck collar he got in England. This time around I will at least be proudly sporting some less the classy punk rock threads..

Will post up pics of the gear later down the line when it is done.

"Anarchy in the U.K.!"

Work Day 1/28/2012

We had another productive work day on Saturday....

It was a windy Saturday and our welder friend was busy over the weekend so we decided just to finish cutting the tubes for the fuel cell protection and put off welding anything for another day.

We did very little with the actual race car it self, plugged some holes, and began making a cover for the back of our kill switch mount. Then one of our old team members came over and added some art work on the trunk of the car for us. I am a horrible painter so I am glad he wanted to do it, and it looks cool. I will just finish painting in the letters later. It is one of the Sex Pistol's album names, we just changed "Pistols" to "Pistons" as usual. Damn we are creative...




Then after he left, my dad and I decided to go check out the motor in the 3rd Spitfire. After charging the battery and hooking up a make shift fuel tank out of a 5 gallon fuel bottle and some spare fuel line, the thing started right up, ran smooth, and sounded good. So we drove it around to where the engine hoist is and I noticed the clutch and transmission felt really good. We worked for hours to get the motor and transmission out and we did it. This motor is now mated to one of the standard 4 speed transmissions and only needs a little bit more work done before it will be a spare that is ready to drop in. The Overdrive transmission that was in the car will go up for sale as well as other parts we won't use. Like maybe the windshield? Though I am not sure how the market looks for used Spitfire 1500 windshields... 

Here is the car now minus the motor. I will be pulling the diff out of it next week to have as a spare, because the more spares the better.



Here is the motor it has a Schneider camshaft, so we're told, and if it is anything like the motor we pulled from the other Spitfire (we got from the same guy) it will be in pretty good shape. The alternator is good, the water pump seems fine. We just have to finish removing the smog air lines and plug the holes those lines leave in the head then tighten things down and it will be ready to drop in if needed.



We had a few casualties during this work day, my dad tore open his knuckle pretty badly and I drenched my cell phone in old radiator water. Nothing some bandage, a popsicle stick, a blow dryer, some alcohol, and a slab of prime rib couldn't cure. You can figure out what cured what....

On a side note, I have started making myself a punk rock vest and some other things to help with our theme aspect. As the captain I have been lacking in that department, but I should be pretty punked out for the Infineon race. I will add photos of that once I get going on it.

There is more work to be done....

Work Day 1/22/2012

We got some of the updates for the new safety requirements started over the weekend. The kill switch needed to be moved to be within reach of a belted in driver, the seat back brace needed to be expanded and we are adding protection around the fuel cell. Most of this work was done by my dad and tacked in place as I do not know how to weld and work done on the car is not the time to learn. A friend of ours will come later and do the complete welds to make it solid.

Here is the new Killswitch location. We still need to add a cover over the back, mark the off position, and mark the area with lightning bolts.



This is the new expanded seat back brace to prevent the seat from falling back in the case of an accident. Our old one did not cover enough area.




I was wondering what year our car was as 1978 was only a guess. I found out we covered the vin/info plate when we were painting the car and we also cut it in half while cutting away the inside of the door.. But from what I can tell it was built in Oct 1979, so most likely it was sold as a 1980. What made this confusing is the way the cars radiator is mounted strait up and down and it did not have the electrical fan which I believe were added in 1979. It has the front rubber bumper so we figured it was after 1977. The previous owners could have changed the front end to have the older style large radiator with belt driven fan, or they could have added this body to the frame. I guess we will never know, but does it really matter?



I went back and took pictures of the parts cars, the first is the one we stripped down already. There is not much left but the front suspension and steering column. We already have the motor and the diff in the racecar, with the transmission and axles as spares.



Here is the third spitfire which a friend was going to try get it running as a street car but that never happened. We plan to pull the motor and use it in the race car eventually, and sell the over drive transmission to cover buying it back. Yeah he never even got it out of my dad's yard, and all we have taken from it so far is the rear rubber bumper that will go on the race car for the next race.



You can see in this car the way the radiators were mounted with an electric fan, which is why we were thrown off guessing the race car's year.



Next week we will be building the cover for the kill switch and labeling it; and getting help from our friend to finish up the fabrication and welding work. Then we will mount the ugly rubber bumper and possibly get the motor in the third car running.