24 Hours of LeMons - $500 beaters go at it, wheel to wheel!

[Dan G]

Where FSAE Alumns go to continue the habit. First a bit of back story on the event...

http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/


This endurance race is for cars purchased, fixed up, and track-prepped for a total of 500 bucks or less--and before reaching the grid, you'll have to survive the Old-Lady Mannequin Slalom, the Baby-Carriage Braking Test, the Brick On the Gas Pedal Challenge, and similar qualifying rounds. Twelve hours into the race, the car voted People's Choice (for best concept and prep) is called in and awarded a cash prize. Simultaneously, the car voted People's Curse (for being driven by the biggest jerks) is called in and summarily destroyed. At the end of 24 hours, a gala awards ceremony plies the survivors with trophies, plaques, and four-figure purses paid with canvas bags full of nickels.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/ind...omotive/15637520.htm (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/industries/automotive/15637520.htm)


I helped out some of my buddies from work with their "Black Iron Racing" BMW 535i this weekend, a handful of FSAE'ers on the team.

Here's a link to our pictures. Just a gallery for now, I'll probably revamp it to include some back story and build details in a few days.

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/

Here are a few highlight photos. A before and after of our car...
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_0974.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1280.jpg

Things started off pretty well for us. There wasn't any qualifying, so the starting order was just the order you lined up in the pits. We were 2nd by lap 10, took the lead a few laps later, and then opened up a bit of a gap until our first pit stop around lap 60. Turned out the front swaybar had ripped loose, no more bushings in sight. We wasted some time removing it carefully incase we wanted to reinstall it with some new bushings later. Back down to mid pack again they fought back up the pack, but were sidelined again after a disagreement with one of those huge 6' tractor tires out there...
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1077.jpg

Some experimenting with the new steering geometry got us pointed strait again, but we were now way off the pace. A couple of blown tires didn't help...

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1078.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1174.jpg

By the end of the first day, I think we were back up to ~7th, about 50-60 laps behind the leader. Check out the tire smoke, one wheel peel FTW...

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1082.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1096.jpg

Sunday morning started off with a nice bang, in the form of 4 burlap bags filled with nickles!

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1195.jpg

$1000 prize for the People's Choice award. Thanks everyone, this was REALLY not expected, and a great feeling! The best feeling was finding out that we weren't stuck with the People's Curse. It didn't turn out to be as crippling as it looked, the car started right up and race the entire rest of the day...

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1193.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1197.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1199.jpg

Racing on Sunday was very uneventful. We focused on just piling up the laps, trying to close on the leaders. The first driver was out for almost 3 hours, stopping only for a spin of the "wheel of misfortune". We landed on "train in vain" which equates to a pair of training wheels welded to the car...

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1238.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1247.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1252.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1263.jpg

This kind of stuff really set the event apart. Trying for the win was really only an afterthought, just getting out there and having fun was all that mattered.

We were into our 3rd and final driver for the day when disaster struck. With about 90 minutes remaining, the car inexplicably stalled out, and wouldn't even turn over. Still don't have a conclusive autopsy report, but the biggest factors were a cut auto trans cooler line, spilling all the vital fluid, and an engine that won't turn over, either with a starter or a wrench on the crank. My limited knowledge of auto transmissions tells me that even if it was seized up and shot, it shouldn't keep the engine from turning. So I suspect its something in the bottom end, probably a spun bearing or two from a low oil level and the negative G's over some of the bumps and jumps letting the oil pump suck air.

Here she is after about 10 hours of hard-fought racing...
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1276.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1278.jpg

Before it broke, we had snuck up to 5th, a lap down on 4th, and on pace for what would have been a 3rd place finish. Up from I believe a low position of 17th late on Saturday. So we were really happy with the car's performance, and can't really fault it for letting go after blasting through ~10 hours of hard racing action at this point in its life! The things friggin 20 years old!

Again, we had a great time at the event, and can't wait for next year. I started looking for prospects this morning.

Here are some random action shots from throughout the race...

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/

http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1066.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1072.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1081.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1213.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1215.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1217.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1219.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1221.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1225.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1229.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1233.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1282.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1283.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1286.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1291.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1309.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1310.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1311.jpg
http://evilengineering.com/lemons/images/img_1319.jpg

[Dan G]

Here's a trio of videos...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5803009999296283047

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3341500719813445757

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8137035901018406386

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

sweet, ever find out what was wrong with your engine?

[Big Bird]

How cool! Looks like a heap of fun. Never mind the Indy 500, I reckon LeMons is THE must-see motorsport event for the next US trip.

Car quality reminds me of the first ever Oz FSAE event..... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Cheers

[Ehsan]

Dan G, I'll be seeing you there for next year's event. Found out about it too late to prepare anything for 2006. Looked like all the fun I figured it would be. Just hope it doesn't get too huge.

[Mike Flitcraft]

Looks like an absolute blast.

That orange GM looks like it threw it's weight around a little bit

[Big Poppa]

Where did the event take place at???? I have a few old beaters that would be perfect

[Dan G]

The race was at a circle track just east of SanFran. I wasn't an actual team member, as I just moved out here about a month before the race. My contributions were the first day's race tires, pit crew member, and photographer.

I have a ton of ideas for my own entry to next year's competition, but I have to wait and see what if any rule changes come about. I can see some areas of the rules either getting much tighter, or else teams will be exploiting the loopholes a lot more next year.

[kwancho]

If I would have known it were so close, I would have done it!

[Flexicoker]

The official website says...


Entry: $500 per car + $100 per driver + $75 for non-drivers. (Each team must have 4-6 drivers.)

Is that $500 the price of the car? Or is that in addition to the car?

[Dan G]

No, its $500 entry fee, plus $100 per driver. So a four driver team (minimum required) costs $900 in entry fees, and then another ~$500 for the car. Add in the safety equip and tires, along with transport/hotel costs, and its about a $3k weekend spread across 4 people. But thats still a great value for the amount of seat time, about 3-4 hours per driver.

[Flexicoker]

thanks! ok, one more question and I'll shut up...
How does fuel/refueling work? If we chose something other than gasoline would we have to bring our own fuel? Can we even do that?

[Dan G]

Fuel/refueling is DIY in the pits. You can run biodiesel if you wanted. Or 110 octane. Or strait alcohol.

Here's this board's own "turbo twig" refueling our beast, while I change the RR tire.

http://www.cdglobal.net/nizam/Running-of-LeMons/BMW-pits.jpg

5 mph limit in the pits, so it does drop you out of the action for a good while (figure about 3/4 mile of driving, at least a few minutes), but the "lap" that you do in the pits does count.

[Flexicoker]

Awesome, thanks, I really want to do this

[Mexellent]

What cars were the top ten guys driving? Do you need alot of hp or do you need a tough car?

[Biggy72]

I've run some stuff kinda like this up here at a local track. Our races were much shorter, but when I bought my first car they had scheduled an endurance race alot like this that I was planning on running in.

From my experience you need a tough car and a good smart driver in order to do well. Fast cars are great, but not necessarily needed. I had a few really good runs with a 90 Tercel when I was running against some DOHC Integras. Integras and early 90's Escorts were really popular up here for this sort of thing, but I saw quite a few Escorts blow up... including one I borrowed one night.