First ever blog entry...
On this Saturday, I'll be driving in the 24 Hours of Lemons race at Thunderhill raceway in Willows, CA. At least, I hope I'll get to drive. The concept behind the Lemons race is that teams bring old cars and try to make them last through the entire race, in this case about 18 hours of driving over two days. Our team has six drivers. I don't know yet if I'll be driving first or last. If I don't drive first, then there's no guarantee that I'll drive at all. Old cars aren't expected to be predictable!
I was recruited by Bryce Nash to join his Team Festivus. Bryce was a friend of a friend, and was pretty much willing to take anyone. I don't know anyone else on the team, which consists of Bryce's brother (Wyatt), Bryce's girlfriend (Jessica), Erik (husband of someone who works at the same company as Bryce), and Wade, a guy who has raced at Thunderhill before and who was found on a forum by Bryce. 
Wade has some wheel-to-wheel experience. I have some rally experience. Bryce has done demolition derbies. Sounds like a perfect team for an endurance race on a road circuit!
But that's the beauty of the Lemons race. You have to apply to get in, and the organizers don't want the best racers in the world. They want guys who are going to show up and have fun, and get along with others.
The race has several awards, including the People's Choice, and the People's Curse. Win the People's Choice, and get a check for $1500. Win the People's Curse, and your car is destroyed on the spot.
Our car is a 1995 Subaru Impreza Wagon. It has 300,000 miles, and was bought for $300. The team stripped it of all interior pieces and extraneous glass. A simple roll bar was welded in, and a nice racing seat and harness were installed. The car is lightweight! Only weighs 2350 pounds.
A couple of back-country driving lights were installed on the hood (where they won't get crushed), and some new taillights were installed (where they won't get crushed).
I've included a couple pictures of the Team Festivus Heap.
We're looking forward to a fun race and I'll update the blog with our results.
Here's a link to the official 24 Hours of Lemons website.
What is Festivus?
Backwoods driving lights? Sheesh, and here I thought I paid for some ECE compliant post-mount, steel cased, H4 accepting, glass light housing, Euro-sold Hella lights when I got them. ;) Those weren't no KC Daylighters there Doug! Just goes to show you, looks can be deceiving.
ReplyDeleteBryce