Better, Faster, Stronger (Team LOL Volvo 122 Build Thread) (Page 2 of 2)

What a great race weekend!  Friday started off a bit rough. We live 20 minutes from the track but rolled in around 3pm. What were we doing? Thursdays test run around the block resulted in the center support bearing literally falling off the driveshaft. The solution involved a shaft collar, some old exhaust pipe and a tin can. (see pic below).

The car went through tech ok. John made us come back because we had not yet installed rear-view mirrors! The car ran great for most of the weekend. All of us felt that this car was more fun to drive than the 1800.  The biggest difference between the two cars is the visibility. The 1800 has none. The 122 was easy to see out of, which makes driving a slower car in Lemons tolerable. We have to drive in our rear view mirrors a lot to avoid all those BMWs! We ended the first day with no penalties and in second place in class C. The engine didn't sound so happy on day 2. Oil consumption went from a 1/2 quart every 3-4 hours to a quart an hour! Midway through the day, it started spewing rusty water over the engine compartment and the windshield. Water level was dropping and engine temps were on the rise. 

With our final driver in for the last hour and a half, things really started to go south. The engine continued to puke water and we couldn't get the temp to drop. With about 30 minutes of the race left, the temp hit 250 degrees, and it would barely stay running. We decided to bring it in rather than hand grenade the whole thing.  Considering this engine has run 3.5 Lemons races and literally came out of a junkyard, It did great.

We were all surprised and thrilled to receive the IOE award at the end of the race. Is this a new Lemons record? Our little old B20 engine and transmission have won two IOE awards!