• Registered: 2009-08-28
  • Posts: 606

Topic: How many races on your Lemon??

I decided to post this because of the Altamont thread AND because so many people asked us about our Camaro at the last Gingerman race.

I know there are a lot of older and more experienced cars in the series, but a lot of people have taken notice of how long and far our car "Frankie"  has been around.  So far he has done.

2009:
The Lamest Day (first race with the Camaro, we did Toledo in 2008 with an Escort we finished!)
2010:
Chicago (finished)
American Irony (finished but we had to swap out a transmission which took about 4 hours)
2011:
Showroom Schlock shootout  (finished)
American Irony (Ball joint failed with only 2 hours to go...our first DNF)
2012:
American Irony  (finished)
Showroom Schlock shootout (finished)
2013:
Doing time in Joliet  (finished)
Chubba Cheddar enduro (finished...ALMOST won B class as well)
2014:
Doing time in Jollet:  (Car overheated during the night the electric fan had issues, our 2nd DNF)
The Cure for gingvitis:  (finished)
2015:
Doing Time in Joliet (finished)
Were the Elite meet to cheat (finished)
2016 (so far!)
The cure for gingervitius  (finished....diff blew up RIGHT at the end but we still made it)

So....looks like the car has done 14 Lemons races, and finished 11 of them.   Add to that 2 chumpcar races AND some SCCA events as well I think 8??   so yea that's a lot of time on the track. 

So...how many races has your lemon done?

And for those who are wondering....the car is on its 3rd transmission, 2nd engine, and will soon be on its 2nd diff.

Not bad for a lemon...amazing for a Lemons Camaro.

Team Sucker Punch: Winner Class B Doing Time at Joliet 2023 Autobahn ,Winner Org Choice award Were the Elite Meet to Cheat 2015
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Chevy Corvette 1984......and still racing!
  • From: Merrick, NY
  • Registered: 2009-05-13
  • Posts: 2,155

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

I think I have 16 races on the Fox, 5 engines, and 6 transmissions (more coming)

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
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3 Reply by Team Infinniti (edited by Team Infinniti 2016-05-01 12:31 PM)

  • From: WPB Fl.
  • Registered: 2010-10-27
  • Posts: 1,571

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

2010 to current.
Between here and the other series, 28 race weekends, now on second body shell after destroying the first early in our "career"  2 DNF for auto transmission fail, a couple more trackside transmission stumbles, second engine only because more cyls.

Sorry so boring, Nissan makes one hell of a reliable powerplant!

Homestead Chump 5th-Sebring 6th-PBIR Lemons 9th - Charlotte Chump  CrashnBurn 9th
Sebring 6th again -NOLA Chump 1st -PBIR Chump Trans Fail 16th
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Daytona 13th - Charlotte 9th - Sebring 2nd-Charlotte 25th broken brakes - Road Atlanta 14 10th-Daytona 14  58th- Humid TT 19th Judges' Choice!
  • From: Buxton NC or Truckee CA
  • Registered: 2013-03-25
  • Posts: 836

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

2013
CMP, IOE, drove to track, not enough tires/brakes to drive home
2014
Barber, brake lights failed 20min before checker
CMP, finished, don't remember if we drove out towed
Sebring, won C, towed to FL from SC then drove it home
CMP, finished, drove to and from track
2015
Barber, finished, towed to and from
CMP, finished, cheated by towing car to track
CMP, finished, drove to and from track

Planet Express
"IOE" "C Win" 4834.701 Race Miles and counting
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  • From: Plymouth, MA
  • Registered: 2013-06-07
  • Posts: 787

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

Wow, this is great information.
I purchased a 1987 Honda Prelude that some guys fixed up and used for Circle track races (I don't know how many races; but probably a few since it was fairly banged up). Then it did one non-Lemons endurance race, before I purchased it.  Then:
2014 Loudon: finished
2015: NJ (finished), Thompson (terminal axle failure on Sunday), Loudon ("windowed"= connecting rod put hole in engine on Sunday)

Not sure how many races on the first engine, but approx. 5-10?

I got a "new" engine from a salvage car with 120K miles on it, and "refreshed" it a bit....just put it in and will bring it to NJ....and I am hoping I don't have to replace it any time soon....that was alot of work, never having done it in the past....

z

MarioKart Driving School: 1987 Honda Prelude Si (Opus #28) 
Loudon, NH 2014 - Millville, NJ, Lightening 2019 (RIP)
New and improved: 1987 Honda Prelude Si (Opus #11) Pittsburgh, PA 2021 - ??
and finally won something, Class C Win: Loudon, NH 2022
  • Type44
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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

Counting the 1-day race at Sonoma in 2013, the Benz has entered 10 races and finished 9 of them. The 140th place finish at Sonoma 2015 due to PS pressure hose blowing didn't exactly cover us in glory, though it did cover us in ATF. We are on engine #2, and transmission #2 also, trans got rebuilt but the current engine has never been opened up and has approx 220,000 miles, several thousand of which are track miles.

Audi was campaigned extensively in 2010-11, but went through 4 engines in 5 races, and a transmission or 3. As soon as I understand how the crank woodruff key got eaten, it may come out again in the fall.

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  • From: Austin
  • Registered: 2010-09-13
  • Posts: 1,478

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

Mine's kinda new.
2014 Eagles Canyon
2014 MSR-Houston
2015 Chump at Harris Hill

Some buttloads of track time, too.

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8 Reply by TheEngineer (edited by TheEngineer 2016-05-02 04:59 AM)

  • From: NH
  • Registered: 2010-01-20
  • Posts: 3,299

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

The daytona had 12 races.
It saw the checkered in 9 of those.
It ran "full" races (stopped for less than a couple hours) probably 7 of those


My parts killed list is too long to recall this morning. Many engines, turbos, axles, but never any transmissions.

20+ Time Loser FutilityMotorsport
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  • From: Columbia, SC
  • Registered: 2010-05-17
  • Posts: 267

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

15 races starting it 2012.  Two of those where chump races.  Finished all but two Lemons races.  Some with engines that could blow at any moment. I've gone thru 8 engines and 2 tranmissions.  I wish I knew how many tires and brake pads, but never any rear brakes.

Mock Grass Racing                                                                     Slower Traffic, Keep Right
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2015 - 4 Races, finished all; 2014 - Barber, Blew 2 Engines; CMP, Class C winner
2013 - CMP, Blew engine; CMP, Engine Overheated 2012 - CMP, FInished; CMP, Blew Engine
  • From: Vermont
  • Registered: 2012-04-19
  • Posts: 301

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

20 races on our Firebird so far, with 3 more scheduled for this year.

Gone through several engines, but only have broken one T5 transmission in all that time, which is amazing considering the general internet consensus is that they're made of glass.

Sorry For Party Racing! - 1985 Pontiac Firebird - Car #35

A race car exists only in two states: broken or in the process of becoming that way.
  • m610
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  • Registered: 2009-12-12
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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

20 races, plus two DNSs and only two DNFs.

Best finish: 16th place overall
C-Class, 2 class C wins
B-Class: third in class is our best
A-Class: Jay put us in there once

Momentum is a terrible thing to waste.
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  • bshorey
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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

I believe we have 38 races on our Milano.  I think we've finished all but two or three.  We just installed motor #3 a couple of races ago, we got 25,000 Lemons miles out of motor #2, which was a 150,000 mile oil burner when we installed it (and it stopped burning oil and blowing smoke after we started hammering on it in Lemons).

We have one overall victory back east, by what I think may be the largest margin of victory in Lemons - almost a full hour.  Not because we are fast, just because that was a brutally hot and humid east coast race and al the fast guys broke.  Now we race out west, and we are not even remotely competitive.

Last time we checked, we were tied with Eyesore for the most races.  We were sad to see them get crunched at Sonoma a few months back, and were very happy to see them back in the game with a repaired car.  I'm sure they'll end up way ahead of us, as we are trying to retire the poor Milano.

When we showed up at Stafford in 2008, Jay laughed at us, threw is in Class C (which at the time was 'The Ugly', and told us we'd be lucky to make 3 laps.  Hence our theme, "A reliable Italian car", which should be the most outrageous theme in Lemons.  (We won Class C that first race, and Class B the next year).

bs

  • From: Danville CA
  • Registered: 2011-04-24
  • Posts: 556

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

Pretty sure Bert the Volvo has 20 races on him. Only on his 2nd engine, too. The "Cow" Volvo wagon before him had 7 races on it before it crashed out. Ernie the west coast car has 3 races on it with us as the owners and I believe 2 or 3 back in 2010 & 2011.

Pretty sure B. Shorey's Alfa Romeo in California has more Lemons races on it than any other chassis out there (35?). Frames develop stress cracks over time that can be hard to detect until something goes horribly wrong.

Bert One - 1981 Volvo 262c Bertone | Ernie - 1990 Nissan 240SX
  • Registered: 2009-07-19
  • Posts: 1,585

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

The Duff Beer car since 2009:

20 Lemons races
3 Chump races
24 HPDE's
2 autocrosses

Unknown number of engines, but more than 10
Not sure about transmissions, probably 5 or 6

Everybody grab your brooms, it's shenanigans!
  • From: Auburn, NorCal
  • Registered: 2013-04-13
  • Posts: 247

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

#19 Thunderchicken V-6 SC 5 spd. has done the following:


14- Arizona D-Bags    Mar 19, 2016 Inde Motorsports Ranch, finished
13-Sears Pointless    Feb 13, 2016 Sonoma Raceway, finished
12-Arse-Freeze-Apalooza      Dec 5, 2015 Sonoma Raceway, finished
11-Return of the LeMonites    Oct 3, 2015    Miller Motorsports Park, finished, but melted the engine doing it. Installed engine #2 after that one.
10-Vodden the Hell Are We Doing?    Sep 12, 2015 Thunderhill Raceway, finished
9-Pacific Northworst GP    Jul 11, 2015    The Ridge, finished
8-Sears Pointless    Mar 21, 2015 Sonoma Raceway, finished
7-Good Effort Grand Prix    Jan 18, 2015    Sonoma Raceway,, finished
6-Arse-Freeze-Apalooza    Dec 6, 2014    Sonoma Raceway, finished
5-Vodden the Hell Are We Doing?    Sep 13, 2014 Thunderhill Raceway, finished
4-Return of the LeMonites    May 31, 2014 Miller Motorsports Park, finished
3-Sears Pointless    Mar 22, 2014 Sonoma Raceway, finished
2-NASA, We Have a Problem 2-Hour Sprint    Feb 15, 2014 Sonoma Raceway, DNF Braking issues
1-Vodden the Hell Are We Doing    Sep 14, 2013 Thunderhill Raceway, finished.
Still using the original m5r2 5 speed, but we used up lots of tires.
Best overall finish 19th, best class B finish, 7th
Next up, Vodden whatever, this month

M45 Racing,
#45 '08 Subaru WRX,Winner class A The Ridge, 2022
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  • Greg S
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  • From: Huntington NY
  • Registered: 2009-05-29
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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

26 races on the Alfa Milano (Angelina) . About 18,000 race miles. It was on the original engine until last year when it was downshifted to 2nd at over 80 MPH multiple times until it cracked a piston. (8800 RPM)

Greg

1987 Alfa Milano (Bellissima since 2008), Racing since 2008 Stafford Springs,  2nd overall 2011 NJMP, 4th at NHMS 2011, 2nd at Summit 2011, Into the wall hard at Stafford Springs 2011, 2nd at Monticello 2013, 3rd at NHMS 2013, 2nd at NHMS 2016. 2nd at NJMP 2018

25,000 racing miles in 32 races in 10 years. Yes its the same motor. Tell me again how Alfas suck? Update: Big moneyshift = new motor
  • From: SF BayArea/Land of Enchantment
  • Registered: 2012-01-22
  • Posts: 901

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

Greg S wrote:

.......... it was downshifted to 2nd at over 80 MPH multiple times until it cracked a piston.

....Multiple Times?????????  yikes

45+x Loser.....You'd think I would learn......
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  • From: Portlandia
  • Registered: 2014-08-08
  • Posts: 1,035

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

3

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  • From: Victoria, BC
  • Registered: 2012-06-18
  • Posts: 439

Re: How many races on your Lemon??

The Mini has done 4 races at the ridge, 1 race at Miller, and a 24hour at Buttonwillow.
We have taken chequered at all the races, but have switched engines on Saturday on two occasions...

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  • VKZ24
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  • From: Wilson, NC
  • Registered: 2009-05-20
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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

Our current car has done 5 races and has had no issues yet.

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  • bshorey
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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

BigBird wrote:
Greg S wrote:

.......... it was downshifted to 2nd at over 80 MPH multiple times until it cracked a piston.

....Multiple Times?????????  yikes

Those guys drive that car hard.

bs

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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

One race at Barber 2016 ha ha ha and one Auto cross.

At Barber we had no issues during racing .  We did have issues on the practice day.

" the only good thing hipsters have brought about is the canning of non crappy beers"
  • Greg S
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  • From: Huntington NY
  • Registered: 2009-05-29
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Re: How many races on your Lemon??

bshorey wrote:
BigBird wrote:
Greg S wrote:

.......... it was downshifted to 2nd at over 80 MPH multiple times until it cracked a piston.

....Multiple Times?????????  yikes

Those guys drive that car hard.

bs

True Dat.
The over rev thing was a big mistake at the Thompson SCCA bracket enduro.

Greg

1987 Alfa Milano (Bellissima since 2008), Racing since 2008 Stafford Springs,  2nd overall 2011 NJMP, 4th at NHMS 2011, 2nd at Summit 2011, Into the wall hard at Stafford Springs 2011, 2nd at Monticello 2013, 3rd at NHMS 2013, 2nd at NHMS 2016. 2nd at NJMP 2018

25,000 racing miles in 32 races in 10 years. Yes its the same motor. Tell me again how Alfas suck? Update: Big moneyshift = new motor