Topic: Some people will never get "it".
On an Opel forum I make near daily posts of race preparations and follow that up with a race recap. I thought most people knew what this was all about but apparently not.
I'm speechless. I didn't realize this whole "Lemons" thing was jalopy racing.
Sorry, I'm way to old to appreciate that stuff.
I replied, showing pics of some outstanding cars and included a note about the racing itself being serious in a non-serious way. (No prestige), and included a link to the Über Gallery where he could see even more wonders. Some do get "it".
"Jalopy racing" way understates what this is.
It's racing because racing is fun, not serious, therefore it must be cheap, because it is just for fun. And since it is for fun, there are no limits on taste, irreverence, or technological development. Our as the director of Sonoma Raceway put it in the driver's meeting, when he applauded us for our creativity, ingenuity, and complete lack of a sense of shame.
Some cars are sincere tributes, for instance, the Parnelli Galaxie (pic), some are funny as heck (pic: Speedcop's camper), Some are pretty disturbing, at first glance (pic: Speedcops's UDC, I just grabbed easy-to-find photos), some are simply fantastic (Studebaker), and naturally there are desecrations (pic: Dave Morrows' Opel GT body panels on a BMW chassis, trying to look like a Banshee).
Other notables - a FWD Toyota grafted onto a RWD Toyota (two engines, 4 driven wheels), an MR2 powered by a 5-cylinder radial airplane engine, a full-sized limo themed as the Titanic and escorted by a Honda tug and a Honda iceberg, a genuine Hudson Hornet powered by a genuine flathead motor, and so much more. So, "jalopy" doesn't even come close to capturing what this is about.
By the way, the racing itself is no joke.
Much more, 10's of thousands of photos, here - 24 Hours of Lemons Über Galleries
And of course, there is the book: K Street Studio - How On Fire Are We?
Some people get it.
Mike, those are too cool, one could walk around all weekend just taking in the sites & people show. That aspect makes it even more fun for everyone. by far not jalopies, creative engineering more like it
But Bruce is still not buying it.
Do all the clowns have to ride in the circus cars at the same time?
I'm pissed that I spent time reading this entire thread, mentally cheering on someone preparing an OpelGT for serious endurance racing on a shoestring budget, only to find out the whole thing is some kind of sick joke.
Sigh. If he had bought a car I don't think he would have made it to Sunday.
What's your definition of "serious"?
This is genuine endurance road racing, for people who do not take themselves seriously. "Serious" tends to get booted from these races. In fact I think 10-15 teams were sent home early last Saturday for being overly serious. Dive bombing, door slamming, lots of crap driving = gone. We got quite a good speech on this on Sunday, reminding us that if anyone wanted that kind of racing that every other race series in the world offers that, and that is not what Lemons is about. In Lemons, the working concept is, we take it seriously, without taking ourselves seriously. Penalties are designed to get you back into that spirit. Shame, humiliation, whatever it takes to get people back into the spirit. And there's very little prestige in winning. To remind us of that the cash awards are often paid in nickels and the trophies are made from discarded car parts. Still, both are prized by the racers.
This is real endurance road racing. The quickest cars turn some very good lap times and cars that run the whole race typically cover 600 - 800 miles. We covered over 1,000 miles in one race, and last weekend we were tuning laps as quick as 2:13, which is not bad at all.
24 Hours of Lemons on Vimeo, Team Tinyvette on Facebook, Team Tinyvette
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