24hrs of Lemons at Nelson Ledges ***Pics added
09-29-2009, 09:15 AM
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24hrs of Lemons at Nelson Ledges ***Pics added
Our team is Charlie Foxtrot racing. Look for car #68. We have an 87 BMW 325i with about 250k on the clock. The slowest lap times will probably be me behind the wheel.
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10-05-2009, 05:34 AM
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Kick ass weekend!
We arrived late Thursday and got our paddock setup in the dark. Good thing, because it rained all day Friday. We unloaded the car and setup everything on Friday.
We got a free practice on Friday night, in the rain, fog and a very dark track. One of the other drivers and myself have not driven this car so we both took it out. We both were surprised by how poorly the car handled and suspected something was broken. Considering all of the time, prep work, planning, logistics we put into this, we were very concerned. The car was not safe. We brought it in and started looking over suspension bits, tires, etc. Our team BMW expert took it out for a few laps and agreed something was wrong. We decided to put on a new set of wheels/tires and go back out again. As we started to pull off the rear wheels, we noticed all of the lugs were loose and one was missing. We had forgotten to torque the lugs! Something so simple could have caused a catastophic result (and I was pushing this thing to triple digit speeds!).
The wheels were a bit chewed up, so we retired them for the weekend. The new set was perfect.
On staurday, the green flag flew at 12:05pm. I can sum up the next 24 hours like this: AWESOME! We had no problems, no penalties, used only one set of tires, 2 qts of oil, 5 radio batteries, 20 pots of coffee, and a case of Redbull. Our mileage was terrible and we ran out of fuel and had to find a gas station at 5:30am. In the end, we are very happy with the result:
1st in Class 1, 2nd place overall. We were 3 laps behind the overall winner, which we attribute to a fueling process that took 10x as long as it should have.
Personally I drove for just under 4 hours over two stints in the car. In day-light this was a blast. At night, it was more like a Mad Max movie where you are fighting for your life at high speed.
The car was perfect. I will stop bad-mouthing BMWs. Ultimate Driving Machine is fitting--especially for a 23 car and motor with 230k+ miles--we don't know for sure, but the last 1,500 put on it were not easy ones. We hve an after market ECU and our guess is the old 2.5 liter is making about 180hp. The power was just right and I could put the car right where I wanted--forget the racing line. In this event, you run where there is space and hopefully some grip.
I last drove Nelson Ledges about 15 years ago at a HPDE. The track is fast and a very fun design. Aside from speed, it is not as techinical as Mid-Ohio. The backstretch is bumpy and at 120 mph I was nailing the bump stops hard. I don't want to run my daily driver at Nelson unless they repave it.
Lemons racing is great if you want door-to-door racing for very little cash. Make no mistake, you want your car to be safe and you are permitted to spend as much as you want for that. The experience is the second most fun I have ever had.
My friend Wendy took lots of pics and she needs a few days to get them sorted out. Wendy took pics last year at the rain inspired Indycar race at Mid-Ohio--she is a pro.
We arrived late Thursday and got our paddock setup in the dark. Good thing, because it rained all day Friday. We unloaded the car and setup everything on Friday.
We got a free practice on Friday night, in the rain, fog and a very dark track. One of the other drivers and myself have not driven this car so we both took it out. We both were surprised by how poorly the car handled and suspected something was broken. Considering all of the time, prep work, planning, logistics we put into this, we were very concerned. The car was not safe. We brought it in and started looking over suspension bits, tires, etc. Our team BMW expert took it out for a few laps and agreed something was wrong. We decided to put on a new set of wheels/tires and go back out again. As we started to pull off the rear wheels, we noticed all of the lugs were loose and one was missing. We had forgotten to torque the lugs! Something so simple could have caused a catastophic result (and I was pushing this thing to triple digit speeds!).
The wheels were a bit chewed up, so we retired them for the weekend. The new set was perfect.
On staurday, the green flag flew at 12:05pm. I can sum up the next 24 hours like this: AWESOME! We had no problems, no penalties, used only one set of tires, 2 qts of oil, 5 radio batteries, 20 pots of coffee, and a case of Redbull. Our mileage was terrible and we ran out of fuel and had to find a gas station at 5:30am. In the end, we are very happy with the result:
1st in Class 1, 2nd place overall. We were 3 laps behind the overall winner, which we attribute to a fueling process that took 10x as long as it should have.
Personally I drove for just under 4 hours over two stints in the car. In day-light this was a blast. At night, it was more like a Mad Max movie where you are fighting for your life at high speed.
The car was perfect. I will stop bad-mouthing BMWs. Ultimate Driving Machine is fitting--especially for a 23 car and motor with 230k+ miles--we don't know for sure, but the last 1,500 put on it were not easy ones. We hve an after market ECU and our guess is the old 2.5 liter is making about 180hp. The power was just right and I could put the car right where I wanted--forget the racing line. In this event, you run where there is space and hopefully some grip.
I last drove Nelson Ledges about 15 years ago at a HPDE. The track is fast and a very fun design. Aside from speed, it is not as techinical as Mid-Ohio. The backstretch is bumpy and at 120 mph I was nailing the bump stops hard. I don't want to run my daily driver at Nelson unless they repave it.
Lemons racing is great if you want door-to-door racing for very little cash. Make no mistake, you want your car to be safe and you are permitted to spend as much as you want for that. The experience is the second most fun I have ever had.
My friend Wendy took lots of pics and she needs a few days to get them sorted out. Wendy took pics last year at the rain inspired Indycar race at Mid-Ohio--she is a pro.
