It is 3:30 AM here in Knoxville, and I just got back from the bar to find an email pointing me to this thread. I'm not tired, so read this brief synopsis if you can deal with the errors brought on by my current state of mind.
I am the guy responsible for the terrible SVX.
It all started innocent enough:
A friend and I were talking about doing Lemons racing, which later became a serious consideration when Jay announced the first CMP race (we were based ( and I still live) in Knoxville, TN). After finding a repo'd SVX with stolen cats and a busted ignition (start with screwdriver style) on craigslist for $500, I promptly bought it and the long, downward spiral began.
The car was bought north of Knoxville on the famous Thunder road, so Team Thunder Road was born.
The build was easy enough - the car ran, so all we did was strip the interior, mount the fire extinguisher stolen from under my apartment's sink, and do an oil change. Having absolutely no idea what I was doing (and being a broke college kid), I hired a Ukrainian (spoke limited English) welder that was building a fence on campus to put the cage in the car. The cage... was awful. Your head stuck above the Halo when driving, and it was made out of almost-straight sections of pipe. While driving to CMP, I stop near Chattanooga to bum ONE RACE SUIT THAT WE WOULD ALL SHARE and a helmet from a friend. Then, we go to the Summit Racing store in Georgia, and I buy a harness for the seat.
After arriving in Columbia, SC around 10PM ON FRIDAY we decide to shake-down the car for the first time, in the UPS Depot parking lot near the airport. We were promptly halted by a nice-enough security guard that had somehow heard of the Lemons race on the radio and wished us luck, while telling us to scram.
We arrive at CMP early in the morning on Saturday (race day) and promptly go to late tech inspection. While somehow the cage was easily passed, we were schooled on how to PROPERLY install a harness - and the Snell M rating on my borrowed helmet was not going to cut the mustard. I then bought a blemished S2005 Bell from the vendor at the race for an ass-scalding $500 (but hey, you have to race) - that I still use to this day.
After taking the green flag in a car that had not been tested, we lose 3rd and 4th gear on lap number two. Then on lap 6 the steering shaft disconnects itself from the rack, and I take a trip to the sand pit. Apparently the car had been in an accident and suffered some pretty serious undercarriage damage, which was completely unchecked by a bunch of stupid college kids that were going turd racing.
After being towed to the pits, we examine the damage and spend the next 22 hrs devising different ways to repair the subframe and rack mount. These included a series of worm-gear clamps, and arc welding some combination wrench braces to everything, among other things - none of which worked.
While we took turns wasting efforts on the car, the team members that weren't in a pool of sweat enjoyed meeting other people, watching the race, and answering the "Yes, as a matter of fact it IS an SVX" questions.
Late in the race on Sunday, Jay and Phil came by and asked why our car had not been out on track. We deliriously smiled and told him it was because we were idiots and suck at life, but we made sure to let him know how appreciative we were for the good time. This is why we were awarded the "I got Screwed" award .... Jay said we screwed ourselves. Honestly, if we had not gotten that award, I would have not returned to another Lemons race (its your fault, Jay).
Other fun facts I remember from this race - this summer was a huge price bubble for Gas and Diesel, we filled up the duramax several times paying almost $6 a gallon... yikes! Also, the naive west-coast Lemons crew may have underestimated how terribly hot and humid it was going to be. I remember seeing Jay, Phil, and the others often spending quite a bit of time inside cars with the A/C blasting.
As stated in an above post - we then ran the first New Orleans race, with a much better grasp on Lemons and racing in general. We also had a new team name: Living Waters Church of Subaru; Beauty of All Wheel Drive Tent Revival - and if you saw us before tech inspection, we were all dressed as evangelists. After we horribly failed the because of the cage, we were dressed a sweaty jerks.
We had manual trans swapped the SVX using Legacy parts, however the brake light switch on the bootleg pedal set was applying the slightest amount of pressure to the brake pedal at all times. We cooked pads all weekend - and raced as long as we could until we ran out of auto parts stores with pads in stock within an hour of the track.
At the New Orleans race, we won the "Should've brought a Swamp Buggy or at least a V8 award". Lemons trophy count: 2
As an aside, that first New Orleans race had the best atmosphere of any of the Lemons race I took part in. Everyone there was awesome and VERY hospitable... we even met Troy, and he was OK!
The last race for the SVX was a CMP race when the car was painted like a white Lacoste shirt (Team Subabros). We actually turned a decent amount of laps, but one of the guys rear-ended a E28 early on sunday, and we lost the unobtanium SVX-specific radiator. Also, I won first-place in the Chili cookoff - Lemons trophy count: 3
The Lemons SVX was sold in as-raced condition to a guy in Huntsville, AL (minus the hood, hanging on my wall) and the current whereabouts are unknown.
The team went-on to field a 1995 200sx in two CMP races, another new Orleans race, and the two chumpcar races in Nashville. The sentra ran well, and led our class in CMP for about a third of the race until we lost a clutch, more clutch problems in New Orleans, and finished third in the first (flood-shortened) chumcar Nashville & fourth in the second chumpcar Nashville. Lemons trophy count: 3 Chumpcar count: 1 (I didn't own the sentra, so the empty wine bottle is my third-place trophy)
The Lemons Sentra lives on in NASA Southeast racing, the owner being an old teammate.
I haven't gone Lemons racing in several years as life has gotten in the way more than a few times...
.... however, I've started thinking again...
..and drinking again...
