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04-01-2009, 07:37 PM | #1 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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24 Hours of LeMons: LeMons South 2009
It's that time again!
If you don't know about LeMons, read here: http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ This will be my third LeMons race, I did LeMons South at Carolina Motorsports Park last July, and LeMons Detroit(ish) in Toledo, Ohio a couple months after that. This race will be with the same team I ran with the first time, a Tampa area team started by one of the local BMW guys. I've set up a Facebook page to put updates and photos and whatever on, give it a look: Team Euro Trash on Facebook We hit the road tomorrow! PS: This has nothing to do with Yarii... but you wouldn't want to do this in your Yaris, anyway! Last edited by Loren; 04-01-2009 at 07:49 PM. |
04-01-2009, 07:45 PM | #2 |
Banned
Drives: 2007 4 Door Yaris Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Southern California
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lol... sounds crazy... your photobucket link chopped itself up
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04-01-2009, 07:50 PM | #3 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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Fixed.
Yeah, it's one of the craziest and funnest things I've ever done! |
04-01-2009, 07:50 PM | #4 |
Banned
Drives: LB Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: OH
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Woah, Loren, you do endurance races? Awesome! Subscribed.
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04-01-2009, 07:54 PM | #5 |
Banned
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Location: Southern California
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04-01-2009, 07:58 PM | #6 |
Banned
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LOL. There is some statistic about the amount of wear an engine takes in one of these. One endurance race is equal to 3 years of normal driving or something like that.
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04-01-2009, 08:10 PM | #7 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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Hard to say. Much depends on how you drive the car. If you drive conservatively in an effort to preserve the car and ensure that it finishes, it's not THAT hard on the car.
The last one I did was pretty rough on the engine, though. We were running a BMW 325es, which is factory rev-limited to about 4700. We had the ECU chipped to allow it to rev to 5200... then, 3 hours into the race, the shift linkage broke inside the transmission and left us stuck in 2nd gear! Now, LeMons races are typically fairly low speed, and this one was particularly slow. We might have gone 10-15 mph faster in 3rd gear, so it didn't cost us TOO much to stay in 2nd, but it was REALLY hard on the engine. We drove that car for at least 16 hours at an almost constant 5000 rpm and it never missed a beat. BMW makes a stout engine! |
04-01-2009, 09:10 PM | #8 |
Drives: . Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: .
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Why did I just know you were a GRM kinda person?
Love the Lemons. |
04-01-2009, 09:14 PM | #9 |
Drives: 08 Yaris Sedan Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: California - Bay Area
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My boss at my old job used to do this. He was telling me what there would be junkers at the end wher eyou would just sign over your pink slip and they would take the car for you. He also mentioned to be careful when cars are about to die they usually try to take out another car with them.
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04-01-2009, 09:27 PM | #10 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
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It's not uncommon for a team to prep a dirt cheap car with the intention of leaving it at the track when they're done with the race. If you've got the facilities to do things like all the roll cage work without incurring a lot of cost, it would be a heckuva way to go. (but for the rest of us, it cost $700-1000 to have the cage put into our "$500 car" and we're more reluctant to see them go!) Much less stressful to know that the car doesn't have to survive to fight another day. I've found LeMons to be pretty low-stress, anyway, though.
It's VERY liberating to be out racing with a bunch of other cars that nobody gives a shit about. I mean, yeah... you'll get a penalty if you hit another car, but it's not going to COST you anything, and nobody's really going to complain. It's unlike any other form of racing in that regard. |
04-01-2009, 10:24 PM | #11 |
Joey
Drives: '14 Scion xD 5-speed Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: El Monte, Ca
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YES!!
Only seen clips on YouTube. Someday soon I'll go to one of these events (and if I can find my first car I just might enter)
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Formerly owned Met-Met. '07 Yaris LB 5-speed. A forum post should be like a skirt: Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep things interesting. "I don't have an anger problem. I have an idiot problem." -Hank Hill |
04-01-2009, 10:34 PM | #12 |
A friend of mine here in NW Florida was trying to start up a team for the Louisana race with a $250 1985 celica but I think he missed registration and there was some other date conflict... totally leaves the race in SC open but looks like you guys did fairly well, looks like you left with the bmw ;) good luck on friday!
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04-01-2009, 11:06 PM | #13 |
resident senior
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Nice , I might have to stop by and check it out
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04-01-2009, 11:37 PM | #14 |
Apexing Egg!!
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Ben and James from HTM will be running a car, the Jewbaru
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HighTach Motorsports 2007 Toyota Yaris-ARGH!! Mods: Tokico HTS, 6.6 kg F, 6.1 kg R custom springs, 23 mm RSB, 2-way TRD LSD, 15x7 +25 Team Dynamic wheels, 195/55/15 Dunlop Star Specs, Cobra Suzuka S |
04-01-2009, 10:44 PM | #15 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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I'm sure every team says this, but... we could have won the SC race last year. The car was plenty fast enough (as is almost every LeMons car), had we not lost over 2 hours for mechanical difficulties, we'd have had a good shot. Lesson learned: Reliability is paramount, this is an endurance race, you can't win if the car isn't on the track!
But, yeah, the car survived with just a few more dents and scrapes. The engine was pretty well toasted, though. Overheated several times, run low on oil once, and generally beat to death... it had some pretty nasty bearing noise going on when we put it back on the trailer. New engine for this race, though. Hopefully, all of our reliability issues are behind us! |
04-02-2009, 11:38 AM | #16 |
vroom vroom
Drives: lil red 5-door Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Posts: 7,744
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oh man these races look like so much fun, good luck out there
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04-02-2009, 12:48 PM | #17 |
Small cars are a big deal
Drives: 2007 Yaris Liftback Join Date: Feb 2006
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Awesome. Some day I'll do the LeMons ...
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04-03-2009, 09:26 PM | #18 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
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Facebook page is updated, complete with some photos. Link in previous post.
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