Topic: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/Size_Matters-600px.jpg

You see this car? The 1967 Fury III's original shipping weight was 3,615 pounds. It was by far the biggest car on the track at the Goin' For Broken race. It has torsion bar front suspension, leaf spring rear suspension, a solid rear axle, and a hood the size of a tennis court (well, if it had a hood, at any rate). It was considered big and unwieldy even in its own time. And yet... this freakin' dreadnaught did not get black-flagged even once all weekend.

How? Well, motivation was part of it; the Size Matters guys have deeply held religious beliefs that preclude the application of Fiat branding on a Mopar product... which is exactly what was going to happen to them if they showed up in the Penalty Box (we Lemons officials are aggressively atheist when it comes to the whole "sacred marque" business, be it Plymouth or Ferrari).

But the main reason they didn't hit anybody and/or go pinwheeling off into the tumbleweeds is that they didn't take chances. They didn't let themselves get put into a position where some racing noob with delusions of grandeur and/or a 79-alarm emergency clanging in his or her head could force them into a metal-on-metal situation. Even if it meant that they had to wait an extra 90 seconds to pass some parts-shedding sluggard, they didn't slice their margins of error thinner than Neon sheet metal.

So, all you racers who screamed at the Lemons Supreme Court about how contact was "unavoidable," just contemplate the USS Size Matters next time you see it drop anchor near you.

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

It can be done. I ran my stints contact free by waving clearly faster cars through then having a ball trying to catch them..I spent a lot of time at our Fiero's lamentable cornering limits and unless I didn't notice I don't think I upset anybody...in fact after some clean hammer and tongs racing, a sort of mutual respect seems to develop...unlike my short track stock experience where somebody's mistake is carte blanche to drop kick them into the weeds...the British roadster teams were professional in the extreme....We had a mutual apology-fest in our pit as one of our drivers tried to apologise for a move that the other team's driver had approached us for to apologise for HIS involvement...and it's not as if anybody's laying down out there. I'll race with these guys any day.

Jim "Endo" Anderton
Team Pontihack @ Reno-Fernley 09

Jim "Endo" Anderton
30 years of racing and still not Brambilla.....

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

#36 Killer Bees MGB made it through unscathed! We were particularly afraid for our rear bumper smile This is different from T-Hill where we got T-boned under a yellow ...

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

I was pulling for the MG for IoE!  Nice work guys, I've never seen someone work that hard to keep their car RUNNING at every pit stop.  I must have seen this team tune the carbs every hour!

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

They were making that whale of a car move impressively fast. Fast and clean is even harder. Excellent driving guys!

To finish first, first you must finish. -Rick Mears
Pandamonium Racing

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

FreeRange wrote:

I was pulling for the MG for IoE!  Nice work guys, I've never seen someone work that hard to keep their car RUNNING at every pit stop.  I must have seen this team tune the carbs every hour!

I just grabbed handfuls of wrenches and started whacking parts at random.  ANYTHING to help make the car go faster. Most of the time we were just a mobile chicane.

We came to the conclusion we were the drone of the race.

"Real ZomBees prefer Bacon"
IOE(x2) MGB/SAAB 96, Judge's Choice, Class C Win, & 2011 Hooniverse Car of the Year!
MRolla, Stick Figure/Animal House, Free Range MR2, SAAB Sonett, "The Death Flip"
2008 Exoskeleton Jag Fiasco, Concours d Lemons - Rue Britannia, worse British car.

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

After watching the heroics of the MG team in the pit next to us, I think the whole Free Range Team was pulling for the Killer Bees for IoE.  On Friday they couldn't pull even three casual laps without over heating, and the conclusion was 'well, it's probably that head gasket'.  I'm not sure what they did, but I think it involved tightening the head bolts a whole bunch, doing some super secret valve adjustments every few hours, and pouring water into a boiling radiator. 

In reality, I"m sure I heard the lead MG guy (Sparky) say he would sometimes adjust his valves on the daily driver before he went to the grocery store.  Heroics as daily routine!

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

My Slow ass street legal couldnt go right because the engine would die walked away without a scatch all weekend. I just want to say thanks for putting up with our rolling chicane on the track. Your patience was most appreciated. Tim at ZZ Uber Das Driver.

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

The MG was certainly an IoE finalist. Unfortunately, the Reno field was so strong, it was hard to reward everyone who deserved it. The MG and the World Talent Force went award-less this time--either one could have scored big at another venue.

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

Thanks for the kind words Murilee.  It is hard to keep clean for an entire race but we managed to do it this time.  Maybe it was from the thought that we would have had the entire car painted the green, white and orange of the Italian Flag.  We went from 5 black flags in Toledo to zero at Fernley, our drivers are finally learning.

The race weight of the Fury is 4000 pounds, might be time to swap in a small block to save 100 pounds.  We might be the only car on the track that has to add weight to the rear end of our car to make it handle decent.

Team Oly Express
Current car - 1964.5 Plymouth Barracuda, Former car - Size Does Matter 1967 Plymouth Fury
07 IOE Winner Thunderhill, 12 IOE Winner Sears Pointless
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Team- … 4609354407

11 (edited by TEAM RRT JOKER 2009-08-07 08:22 AM)

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

the redneck caddy had a 35 x10.50x15 tire and wheel filled with H20 bolted and chained in the trunk for weight bias...after removin all the sound deadner, cushy seats and glass we needed something to compensate for the fwd v8. We also had zero contact that we know of, and were able to drive the caddy back on the trailer under its own power. The IoE field was tight, we were not expecting it for sure. Thanks again to everyone for a great weekend of Lemons we'll cya in Reno again next year!!!

12 (edited by FreeRange 2009-05-27 08:02 AM)

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

TEAM RRT JOKER wrote:

Thanks again to everyone for a great weekend of Lemons we'll cya in Reno again next year!!!

I thought you said the motor was going in a rock crawler??  You thinkin a new theme for next year?

BTW... Thunderhill is only 200 miles from you guys in Willows CA

P.S.  Anyone that brings THIS to a Lemons race.. has my vote

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3299/3567083816_64fdd85b1d.jpg?v=0

Thanks for the tour smile

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

FreeRange wrote:
TEAM RRT JOKER wrote:

Thanks again to everyone for a great weekend of Lemons we'll cya in Reno again next year!!!

I thought you said the motor was going in a rock crawler??  You thinkin a new theme for next year?

BTW... Thunderhill is only 200 miles from you guys in Willows CA

P.S.  Anyone that brings THIS to a Lemons race.. has my vote

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3299/356 … 1d.jpg?v=0

Thanks for the tour smile

...lol...it WAS for a rockcrawler!!!We had too much fun, were still debating on re-running or go even bigger and uglier for the next round. Oh and you can bet the rock crawlers will come again...half of the drivers are still near reno rock crawlin at moon rocks...As for button willow I think its more like 9-10 hours from us...not sure we'll make that one...dont rule us out yet though.

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

I never got a chance to get a close look at that 'crawler. Appears to be an FJ40?

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

yeah it s a fj40 body...with hp sbc 4 linked front and buggy sprung rear fully locked on 42" Iroks ..Really ugly, and very capable....we were gonna use it as our back-up if the caddy crapped out....lol

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

Its quite obvious who the original AMP cars RE !
Lemon Demo car and  My caltrans/grinch/frogger car only straight part was the roof till we all jumped on it for team picture . Which can be an advantage when you hit or get hit you can't tell and the judges can't either .
During my 3 hrs of driving I only got hit a couple times but it was lemon demo car .

super clean driving this time.

Pit Crew Revenge Racing   Rolling chicanelimo,95Lamdspeeder,Gimp Pimp Cadi,300zx Car show kaboom!! 90 Wagovan, mazda v8 Lemons LOGO TATTOO!  Aces 84 Cadi Eldo Briattz I O E WINNER
Class C win with LemonOdy Cannonball Run Whambulance !EX K Captain
Lemons Trophy Truck ShaGuar Baby!

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

rocketresto wrote:

We might be the only car on the track that has to add weight to the rear end of our car to make it handle decent.

Try a reciever hitch!  We also considered filling the tailgate with concrete but didn't go that far.

Congrats on a clean run.  We had a problem with the nuts behind the wheel and spun twice with no contact. We'll  do better next time.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

Yeah its pretty easy to spot the original AMP cars. They are usually riddled with dents. However our Black rabbit took the most brutal hit on the drivers side at 3:10 in Reno. Probably inches from being a gonner. We missed bending the front strut tower and unibody by about an inch. Very lucky. It will be a sad day when we take the original ZZ Uber black Gti off too car car heaven.  She didn't get her nickname "That poor little car" for nothing. Cars been rolled once and doesn't have an inch of straight body work. The only other car that I know is worse is the red Alpha. BTW that thing was hauling ass last weekend. Nice run guy's, nice run.

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

I heard the Alpha is splitting at ever seam like my car  So these AMP cars are going to be extinct soon .

I'm going to raise my car 50 FT in the air and drop it from my buddies crane .

Pit Crew Revenge Racing   Rolling chicanelimo,95Lamdspeeder,Gimp Pimp Cadi,300zx Car show kaboom!! 90 Wagovan, mazda v8 Lemons LOGO TATTOO!  Aces 84 Cadi Eldo Briattz I O E WINNER
Class C win with LemonOdy Cannonball Run Whambulance !EX K Captain
Lemons Trophy Truck ShaGuar Baby!

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

after i take all the good parts off

Pit Crew Revenge Racing   Rolling chicanelimo,95Lamdspeeder,Gimp Pimp Cadi,300zx Car show kaboom!! 90 Wagovan, mazda v8 Lemons LOGO TATTOO!  Aces 84 Cadi Eldo Briattz I O E WINNER
Class C win with LemonOdy Cannonball Run Whambulance !EX K Captain
Lemons Trophy Truck ShaGuar Baby!

Re: You say it's impossible to avoid contact?

We had a great weekend as well.  this video is our first timer, never before been on a track.  The left front tire unseats from the rim someplace in turn one.  Nice in-camera view.
Our team all had a great weekend.  Thanks to everyone for their part in that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqqMRWG0hJQ