<VV> EM wins? 24 hours of LeMons

Mon Jul 13 18:12:17 EDT 2009

Hi all, I had the fortunate opportunity to be one of the 7 drivers of the
New England 24 Hours of LeMons. For those of you that don't know, the LeMons
series is a group of endurance races held around the country for cars that
cost no more than $500.00 plus the cost of safety equipment and tires. You
know that all racers cheat and when caught you know you must pay off the
judges or the penalties - you decide; read about that on the 24 Hours of
Lemons website.

We drove a 63 em that was rescued from a Vermont field after a 16 year
hiatus. Purchased for $400.00 it didn't run but was trailered out of the
state to Connecticut last November. New fuel pump, fuel lines, carbs
rebuilt, points/condenser,belt, fuel cell and rebuilt brake pieces.  Car
started almost immediately.

Saturday morning; 70 entries, 55 starting. We clear tech and by the sad
looks of the car we instantly clear the BS committee that confirms that our
car could not cost more than $500.00.  Cars are classified by their
 probable performance factors ie. 3 and 5 series BMW's, Miata's, Alfa
Romeos, Vtec cars are called the Good; Volvos, other Mazda's,  and other
Japanese cars and some domestics are called the Bad and the remaining are
called the Ugly. The ugly included the Peugeot 505 and 604, the Chevy
Citation, Impalas and Taurus's, Saab'sand cars so hogged out that you
pay the junkyard to accept it. Our 63 Corvair was included with the Ugly.

2 pace laps and the race was on, so to speak.  55 cars starting on a half
mile track with an infield transition means that the first ten cars were
around the track before the next 40 cars moved. Eventually things got moving
and we were in it, except that the nimble Miata's, Vtec's, Civic's and
Alfa's(3 of them) were orbiting around the track like we were a joke. The
car was typical EM; quirky handling, not enough power being belted out from
the 80ish hp engine and the awful brakes even though we used fresh metallic
shoes but we were in it and we were excited. Our car looked cosmetically
horrible by any definition buts its skin was really solid with NO rust
through. As the cars flew past us I saw that our size and stoutness was
recognized by most and they actually seemed to stay away from us in the
turns (who knows where we were heading?)

It was truly hard work to drive the car and more fun than should be allowed.
It is unlike any other motorsports that I have been in; much bigger field,
much more primitive entry than most competitors and much , much longer
running time. Continuous concentration on the car and environment for longer
periods but intense excitement at the same time.

Teams came prepared to replace engines, transmissions, rear ends, ecu's etc.
It was amazing  - people blowing up engines and then driving back to their
garages or out to Maine (from Connecticut, 300 miles round trip) to replace
major hardware. At the 5 lap point a Saturn was out with a blown bottom end
and without the ability to repair it, team members went from Stafford
Springs Ct. to Poughkeepsie NY and replaced the engine from another
donor. Our Corvair just hummed at idle and hummed a little louder all day
long. We had a small failure, a right side front wheel locked up and after
disassembly in the pits it was discovered that the brake shoe friction
material had separated from the shoe and needed to be replaced. 20 minutes
later and we were back on the track. 16 hours of spirited driving consumed
the belt but that was no big deal either. Replaced and we were back in
action.
This car was a testament to the awesome reliability of an ordinary car.  The
preparation was perfect with no special hi performance parts but oil.

So how did we do? We won our class "The Ugly" by 117 laps over the 2nd place
car in our group. We came in 22nd overall about 300+/-  laps down from "the
Good" a Civic that consistently went 8-10 seconds per lap faster than us.
They had no mechanical problems. They had no penalties (We had nearly 2
hours of driving infractions for spinning the car or driving off road). The
Index of Effluency (IOE) award is considered the Grand prize of the 24 Hours
of Lemons. It is based on the fact that you run a car that by most
definitions does not belong there, it is outclassed and out powered and is
the presumed underdog. We took the Index of Effluency award with a $1000.00
cash payout. The 63 Corvair was the oldest car Ever to run in any of the 24
Hours of Lemons. Our team was the only team ever to win its class and the
IOE at the same event.

If a 24 Hours of Lemons is within your geographical reach, do what you can
to build or join a team, especially with a Corvair. I know that I will do it
again and if I don't I will remember as a lifetime experience. The amazing
thing to me was that we accomplished something big ( Winning an endurance
race) with something so austere - a throwaway junkyard bound 46 year old
basic engine faded brake POS sedan against serious budget teams). Most of us
had not even met each other or seen this car in person before last
Wednesday.

If you would like to read more, do a search within Jalopnik at the top of
the page,
www.Jalopnik.com <http://www.jalopnik.com/> and at www.cardomain.com.
Pictures cheerfully sent.

Andy   '
65 Identical Cousins
P.S.  The pace car on the second day was my 65 455 motivated Coupe driven by
my first born!
On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 10:41 PM, <AeroNed at aol.com> wrote:

> _
> http://jalopnik.com/5313022/and-the-real-lemons-winner-is-udmans-team-trail
> ing-throttle-oversteer-corvair_
> (
> http://jalopnik.com/5313022/and-the-real-lemons-winner-is-udmans-team-trailing-throttle-oversteer-corvair
> )
>
> Read the drivers comments below the article, pretty funny stuff...
>
> Ned
> **************Summer concert season is here! Find your favorite artists on
> tour at TourTracker.com.
> (http://www.tourtracker.com/?ncid=emlcntusmusi00000006)
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