shoeish
10-05-2009, 08:42 PM
Since I run with this group, I thought I would share here, as well.
Last weekend (Oct 3&4 2009) I flew up and meant my buddies for "The Lamest Day," a 24 hours of Lemons event parodying "The Longest Day" at Nelson's Ledges. Here is how I remember it, anyway.
Our 1985 Saab 900 Turbo, a six time veteran of the Lemons races, finally had the bugs worked out, or so we thought.
Our plan was to only use 4500rpm and 3rd/4th gear to save the car, it is a 24 hour race after all. The first two drivers went out and each used a tank of fuel in ~ 2 hours. Driver changes and fueling went flawlessly, everything was going to plan. Now my turn.
I pull out on to the 2 mile, 10 turn road course with the ~110 other $500 cars. This being my 8th lemons event, I expect the worst possible drivers. Disappointed I was not. I saw two cars skid off the track into the "World's first Tirewall" at 80+mph, multiple spins, plenty of bumps, a few bangs, and thought how there really should be a standing meatball flag.
About 90 minutes in to my session, the car shifts out of fourth gear on its own. This is expected behavior for an automatic transmission, but not so much for our 5 speed manual. As the car coasts down, I keep trying lower gears with no success... 3,2, 1... shit. At 15mph or so I try 5th... it worked!
I lugged in to the pits, we checked things out, the fluid hadn't escaped, so we decide to try and run the remaining 19 hours in 5th. We put in a driver who just wanted a chance to drive thinking our efforts would be futile and almost right away he spun off the course and gets black flagged.
After writing "We will not go 4 wheels off" on the car 100 times with a sharpie (Bart Simpson Penalty), we put another driver in the car for what we thought would only be a short "hey, I went racing" shift. He stayed out... and stayed out... and stayed out. Then we timed a lap, and he was going much faster than when we were using only 3rd and 4th gears.
What once was thought of as a futile weekend turned in to a race. We were not many laps down and fifth gear was perfect. Our 2200lb car didn't take much low end grunt to get moving.
At this point I took a nap, it was pitch black night after all. After an hour of trying to sleep and 15 minutes of sleep, I get jerked out of the car I was sleeping in, put in nomex, and told to go drive until I'm out of fuel. When I woke up to the guys pushing me down the hot pits (only 5th gear, remember?), I started the car, engaged the clutch and sputtered down the pits on to the track. The speed came, and with the boost came the speed, and with the speed came rpm, more boost, and POWER. Temps had fallen to 45 degrees, the 200 treadwear tires wouldn't overheat, traffic had thinned out to ~80 cars, and the car was aligned perfectly... in 1995.
Once I got used to the blinding lights in the mirror I was driving by most cars so fast I thought I was missing a yellow flag. I backed down from 9/10ths to 8/10ths. I found a way to stay on boost through the one slow corner, a few grippier spots in the pavement and a better way around the carosel as to not cause certain death if I had to avoid something mid-corner. Over two hours in to my session, only 15 minutes had been yellow. The gas gauge was at 1/4, I was making time on the leaders, and at that rate we were going, through guessing and not science, decided we had a shot to win.
And then a yellow flag... Just as I went through turn one at the limits of physics was about to pass the Lada at nearly a 30mph differential at the end of the corner, he braked for the yellow flag. I don't know why because the incident was visible 150 yds away, but he did. I couldn't brake mid-corner and then couldn't out-brake him to avoid passing him under yellow. I passed under yellow and it screwed me. One lap later I had a black flag and a my number waiting for me on the starter stand. I pulled in to the penalty box, explained myself, had fox urine poured behind the seat by the judges, and we are told to switch drivers.
We were moments from a driver change and fuel anyway so the penalty didn't hurt. It just stunk. I helped fuel, tried and dilute the penalty, then go get real sleep. While I was sleeping another driver "saw jesus in the tire wall" and another got a 15 minute penalty, storied I still don't understand, but those penalties and downtime whittled our chances for a win down to nearly nothing. We pretended it didn't.
Anyway, one and a half hours of real, warm, half assed sleep before being jerked out of my slumber, handed two redbulls, and chased (by the team owner) to hot pits to fuel the car and drive. I had wings. Traffic was thin, I had caffeine, I had experience in the dark at this track, and was told to go for the glory. My driving was flawless and most other drivers had learned to be predictable. The ones who hadn't had old tires (from the tire-wall) and cones bolted to their roofs by the judges. I drove in to the daylight, which was a new experience. All of my past track time says "the track should be the same every lap." Now, with each lap it was brighter and different. Each lap had more visibility, and pretty soon I found myself at nearly 10/10th's. It was sublime, the best two and half hours of driving I have ever done. My best lap time was one of the better best lap times of the whole event... and we only had 5th gear.
I came in when the car was starving for fuel through corners and the gas gauge reading 1/8, I came in, helped fuel, and slept nearly 4 hours in locked rental car. I woke up found that the other drivers had the driving handled, I showered, and the checker flag was waved. 13th out of 136 entries. Not a top finish, but in my little "racing" career, it was epic.
Last weekend (Oct 3&4 2009) I flew up and meant my buddies for "The Lamest Day," a 24 hours of Lemons event parodying "The Longest Day" at Nelson's Ledges. Here is how I remember it, anyway.
Our 1985 Saab 900 Turbo, a six time veteran of the Lemons races, finally had the bugs worked out, or so we thought.
Our plan was to only use 4500rpm and 3rd/4th gear to save the car, it is a 24 hour race after all. The first two drivers went out and each used a tank of fuel in ~ 2 hours. Driver changes and fueling went flawlessly, everything was going to plan. Now my turn.
I pull out on to the 2 mile, 10 turn road course with the ~110 other $500 cars. This being my 8th lemons event, I expect the worst possible drivers. Disappointed I was not. I saw two cars skid off the track into the "World's first Tirewall" at 80+mph, multiple spins, plenty of bumps, a few bangs, and thought how there really should be a standing meatball flag.
About 90 minutes in to my session, the car shifts out of fourth gear on its own. This is expected behavior for an automatic transmission, but not so much for our 5 speed manual. As the car coasts down, I keep trying lower gears with no success... 3,2, 1... shit. At 15mph or so I try 5th... it worked!
I lugged in to the pits, we checked things out, the fluid hadn't escaped, so we decide to try and run the remaining 19 hours in 5th. We put in a driver who just wanted a chance to drive thinking our efforts would be futile and almost right away he spun off the course and gets black flagged.
After writing "We will not go 4 wheels off" on the car 100 times with a sharpie (Bart Simpson Penalty), we put another driver in the car for what we thought would only be a short "hey, I went racing" shift. He stayed out... and stayed out... and stayed out. Then we timed a lap, and he was going much faster than when we were using only 3rd and 4th gears.
What once was thought of as a futile weekend turned in to a race. We were not many laps down and fifth gear was perfect. Our 2200lb car didn't take much low end grunt to get moving.
At this point I took a nap, it was pitch black night after all. After an hour of trying to sleep and 15 minutes of sleep, I get jerked out of the car I was sleeping in, put in nomex, and told to go drive until I'm out of fuel. When I woke up to the guys pushing me down the hot pits (only 5th gear, remember?), I started the car, engaged the clutch and sputtered down the pits on to the track. The speed came, and with the boost came the speed, and with the speed came rpm, more boost, and POWER. Temps had fallen to 45 degrees, the 200 treadwear tires wouldn't overheat, traffic had thinned out to ~80 cars, and the car was aligned perfectly... in 1995.
Once I got used to the blinding lights in the mirror I was driving by most cars so fast I thought I was missing a yellow flag. I backed down from 9/10ths to 8/10ths. I found a way to stay on boost through the one slow corner, a few grippier spots in the pavement and a better way around the carosel as to not cause certain death if I had to avoid something mid-corner. Over two hours in to my session, only 15 minutes had been yellow. The gas gauge was at 1/4, I was making time on the leaders, and at that rate we were going, through guessing and not science, decided we had a shot to win.
And then a yellow flag... Just as I went through turn one at the limits of physics was about to pass the Lada at nearly a 30mph differential at the end of the corner, he braked for the yellow flag. I don't know why because the incident was visible 150 yds away, but he did. I couldn't brake mid-corner and then couldn't out-brake him to avoid passing him under yellow. I passed under yellow and it screwed me. One lap later I had a black flag and a my number waiting for me on the starter stand. I pulled in to the penalty box, explained myself, had fox urine poured behind the seat by the judges, and we are told to switch drivers.
We were moments from a driver change and fuel anyway so the penalty didn't hurt. It just stunk. I helped fuel, tried and dilute the penalty, then go get real sleep. While I was sleeping another driver "saw jesus in the tire wall" and another got a 15 minute penalty, storied I still don't understand, but those penalties and downtime whittled our chances for a win down to nearly nothing. We pretended it didn't.
Anyway, one and a half hours of real, warm, half assed sleep before being jerked out of my slumber, handed two redbulls, and chased (by the team owner) to hot pits to fuel the car and drive. I had wings. Traffic was thin, I had caffeine, I had experience in the dark at this track, and was told to go for the glory. My driving was flawless and most other drivers had learned to be predictable. The ones who hadn't had old tires (from the tire-wall) and cones bolted to their roofs by the judges. I drove in to the daylight, which was a new experience. All of my past track time says "the track should be the same every lap." Now, with each lap it was brighter and different. Each lap had more visibility, and pretty soon I found myself at nearly 10/10th's. It was sublime, the best two and half hours of driving I have ever done. My best lap time was one of the better best lap times of the whole event... and we only had 5th gear.
I came in when the car was starving for fuel through corners and the gas gauge reading 1/8, I came in, helped fuel, and slept nearly 4 hours in locked rental car. I woke up found that the other drivers had the driving handled, I showered, and the checker flag was waved. 13th out of 136 entries. Not a top finish, but in my little "racing" career, it was epic.