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For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the 24 hours of lemons is an endurance race in which all cars must cost $500. Bumping is expected, but foul play is frowned upon and many cars are black flagged. Some punishments include ziptieing a radio in the car with norwegian sea chantys playing at full blast, or smearing stinky cheese on the exhaust manifold.
The race was july 7-8, and we had a festiva entered. We bought our car for $350. It was completely stripped, and had a rollcage and sohc B6 already installed. We put on aspire brakes and some safety gear and called it good.
The car when we bought it,
The car just before the race,
Day one got off to a good start. I took the first drive. We piled all 87 or so cars onto the track and the race was under way. About 15 minutes in I spun it, and took a nice hit getting back onto the track. Nothing but paint damage. At 10 or so we get hit HARD on the right rear wheel. They bent the fender and unibody in about 6". It took some serious hammering to get it away from the tire. The beam and mounts were fine, so we continued on.
A couple hours later I'm watching as a team tries to cut inside on a hairpin and T-bones us right in the left front wheel. We get towed in to the pits to assess the damage. They hit us hard enough the spring left dents on the inner fender, and the axle shoved the engine over into the opposite frame rail hard enough to dent it. Luckily the only damage was to the strut, so we sent some teammates out for a replacement.
2.5 hours to find the strut, 15 minutes to install it. Next year we're bringing more spare parts.
20 minutes later,
Apparently in the rush to get the car back out we forgot to tighten the lug bolts. The threads stripped and the wheel came off. Towed back to the pits for the second time. I put some spare bolts on and sent the car back out.
30 minutes later,
I guess the threads were too damaged, wheel came off again. By now it's nearly the end of the day and there's no chance of a fix.
Back to the hotel to dream of a solution,
Day 2 starts with me and a teammate driving to every hardware store looking for a tap set. While we were gone the Car & Driver team lent us some taps, and the EDGE BMW team loaned us some longer lug bolts. We cleaned out the threads and the bolts reached some nice undamaged threads. We got the car back on the track, and a ragged cheer went up from the crowd.
The second day of racing was rougher than the first, but we escaped any more big hits. The alignment was off, and the motor was feeling a bit tired, but we were still passing cars like crazy.
30 minutes before the end of the race I'm in the pits talking about packing up and here comes our car with the front right wheel at a 45 degree angle. The upper hub-strut bolt has come loose and the camber change has torn the ball joint out. Everyone jumped to it, and nobody got any pictures. We replaced the bolt and hammered the balljoint in. 10 minutes later and the car was back on the track with a warning to the driver to take it easy.
Right up until the checkered flag I was expecting the wheel to come off again or the balljoint to come back out. By the time we crossed the finish I was hoarse from cheering and my face hurt from grinning. We started the second day in 72nd place and clawed our way up to 54th by the finish. Considering that half the field didn't finish at all I take that to be a complete victory.
This festiva has survived several seasons of hornet racing and now 14 hours of some of the roughest on-track endurance racing a stock car could see. It took a serious beating and kept on going. It finished when more than half the field dropped out. To top this all off, the chassis is in good enough shape we're going to fix it up and race it again next year. The organizer has assured us we can keep our number and that there will be a spot open on the roster.
Some pictures of the aftermath. The rear is low because of the straps.
The race was july 7-8, and we had a festiva entered. We bought our car for $350. It was completely stripped, and had a rollcage and sohc B6 already installed. We put on aspire brakes and some safety gear and called it good.
The car when we bought it,
The car just before the race,
Day one got off to a good start. I took the first drive. We piled all 87 or so cars onto the track and the race was under way. About 15 minutes in I spun it, and took a nice hit getting back onto the track. Nothing but paint damage. At 10 or so we get hit HARD on the right rear wheel. They bent the fender and unibody in about 6". It took some serious hammering to get it away from the tire. The beam and mounts were fine, so we continued on.
A couple hours later I'm watching as a team tries to cut inside on a hairpin and T-bones us right in the left front wheel. We get towed in to the pits to assess the damage. They hit us hard enough the spring left dents on the inner fender, and the axle shoved the engine over into the opposite frame rail hard enough to dent it. Luckily the only damage was to the strut, so we sent some teammates out for a replacement.
2.5 hours to find the strut, 15 minutes to install it. Next year we're bringing more spare parts.
20 minutes later,
Apparently in the rush to get the car back out we forgot to tighten the lug bolts. The threads stripped and the wheel came off. Towed back to the pits for the second time. I put some spare bolts on and sent the car back out.
30 minutes later,
I guess the threads were too damaged, wheel came off again. By now it's nearly the end of the day and there's no chance of a fix.
Back to the hotel to dream of a solution,
Day 2 starts with me and a teammate driving to every hardware store looking for a tap set. While we were gone the Car & Driver team lent us some taps, and the EDGE BMW team loaned us some longer lug bolts. We cleaned out the threads and the bolts reached some nice undamaged threads. We got the car back on the track, and a ragged cheer went up from the crowd.
The second day of racing was rougher than the first, but we escaped any more big hits. The alignment was off, and the motor was feeling a bit tired, but we were still passing cars like crazy.
30 minutes before the end of the race I'm in the pits talking about packing up and here comes our car with the front right wheel at a 45 degree angle. The upper hub-strut bolt has come loose and the camber change has torn the ball joint out. Everyone jumped to it, and nobody got any pictures. We replaced the bolt and hammered the balljoint in. 10 minutes later and the car was back on the track with a warning to the driver to take it easy.
Right up until the checkered flag I was expecting the wheel to come off again or the balljoint to come back out. By the time we crossed the finish I was hoarse from cheering and my face hurt from grinning. We started the second day in 72nd place and clawed our way up to 54th by the finish. Considering that half the field didn't finish at all I take that to be a complete victory.
This festiva has survived several seasons of hornet racing and now 14 hours of some of the roughest on-track endurance racing a stock car could see. It took a serious beating and kept on going. It finished when more than half the field dropped out. To top this all off, the chassis is in good enough shape we're going to fix it up and race it again next year. The organizer has assured us we can keep our number and that there will be a spot open on the roster.
Some pictures of the aftermath. The rear is low because of the straps.
ccasion5: Time for a beer??
That really is cool :!:
It's a good thing you don't read the stickies, you might of learned something.
Poverty produces creativity
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