Topic: Real 24hour races
Hi,
Doing a 24h our race would be awesome. Most races are 8+8 or something like that.
How often are the 24h races, is there a predefined algorithm for when a 24h race occur?
1980 Datsun 280ZX NA
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → Real 24hour races
Hi,
Doing a 24h our race would be awesome. Most races are 8+8 or something like that.
How often are the 24h races, is there a predefined algorithm for when a 24h race occur?
Recently, seems like every other year. People are divided on how awesome they are. I think the majority prefer the 2 day format. Last year, Joliet had a 24 hour race. Turnout was lower than the year before. 24 hour races are hard for the organizers because you almost have to have twice the staff.
No
At the whims of Jay and track willingness
considering that my crap car can barely do 8 hrs and needs fixing up to do next day.
24hr is not for me.
Recently, seems like every other year. People are divided on how awesome they are. I think the majority prefer the 2 day format. Last year, Joliet had a 24 hour race. Turnout was lower than the year before. 24 hour races are hard for the organizers because you have to have three times the staff.
FTFY
I would be all about doing a true 24. I know it has been done. I would be willing to fly out of where I am at to join a A&D team for it. I also believe though that a true 24 would already have a team set in place with minimal A&D oppurtunity unfortunately. :-(
I would be all about doing a true 24. I know it has been done. I would be willing to fly out of where I am at to join a A&D team for it. I also believe though that a true 24 would already have a team set in place with minimal A&D oppurtunity unfortunately. :-(
Almost every team that did the Joliet true 24 needed supplemental drivers.
If my team does another, they will also need a team captain because all I will be doing is sitting in a lawn chair with a cooler of beer and laughing at them.
Somebody wrote:I would be all about doing a true 24. I know it has been done. I would be willing to fly out of where I am at to join a A&D team for it. I also believe though that a true 24 would already have a team set in place with minimal A&D oppurtunity unfortunately. :-(
Almost every team that did the Joliet true 24 needed supplemental drivers.
If my team does another, they will also need a team captain because all I will be doing is sitting in a lawn chair with a cooler of beer and laughing at them.
Make that NA beer! No drinking in the paddock during a race! LOL!
Count me as one of the few who really appreciate the opportunity to challenge oneself with a 24 hour race.
I'm a Lemons diehard through and through, but I jumped ship to do a race with another series (in a car I had no business bringing to that series) just so I could do a 24hr event.
No Ragrets
OnkelUdo wrote:Somebody wrote:I would be all about doing a true 24. I know it has been done. I would be willing to fly out of where I am at to join a A&D team for it. I also believe though that a true 24 would already have a team set in place with minimal A&D oppurtunity unfortunately. :-(
Almost every team that did the Joliet true 24 needed supplemental drivers.
If my team does another, they will also need a team captain because all I will be doing is sitting in a lawn chair with a cooler of beer and laughing at them.
Make that NA beer! No drinking in the paddock during a race! LOL!
He'll be on the other side of the fence. Making them extra jealous.
My first race was The Lamest Day 2009 and I said I would never do one again! I did the 24 at Autobahn 2015 and I'll never do another one!
Count me as one of the few who really appreciate the opportunity to challenge oneself with a 24 hour race.
I'm a Lemons diehard through and through, but I jumped ship to do a race with another series (in a car I had no business bringing to that series) just so I could do a 24hr event.
No Ragrets
I'm with Spank on this. I did the last 24 at Joliet - drove all the way from Boston to do it. I've also jumped ship and run 24hr events with other sanctioning bodies just to get my fix...
My first race was The Lamest Day 2009 and I said I would never do one again! I did the 24 at Autobahn 2015 and I'll never do another one!
Preach! My team keeps thinking I will change my mind...they are wrong. We endured (together! and you guys rocked) but it was just that...endurance. I love Lemons for the Community and I was too tired to enjoy it even when it was there.
Personally I think they need to offer a 24 every year or two and move it to different regions so everyone gets a chance to do a 24, and then regret it and never want to do it again. And then do it again once one rotates by them again.
Then again I really enjoyed night racing and enjoyed the 24 format, but I think I was one of 2 of the 5 drivers on my team that felt they could get back in the car at the end.
I liked the day night race, Saturday 10 am to midnight.
It allows those who want to run in the dark to get their fix and we still get the party after and all day Sunday to get home.
The day night race was fun too, as long as they never convert the track midway through the race again. The hour it took to do that while the cars ran as a full caution was brutal. I think the drivers out there would have prefered having the course go red for however long it took.
Good point, that time would be better spent checking cars over and changing driver etc.
If I understand the rules at Autobahn correctly a single day race could run the full course, which is a really fun configuration, although probably still a tough sell for a weekend day.
Spank wrote:Count me as one of the few who really appreciate the opportunity to challenge oneself with a 24 hour race.
I'm a Lemons diehard through and through, but I jumped ship to do a race with another series (in a car I had no business bringing to that series) just so I could do a 24hr event.
No Ragrets
I'm with Spank on this. I did the last 24 at Joliet - drove all the way from Boston to do it. I've also jumped ship and run 24hr events with other sanctioning bodies just to get my fix...
Yep, we drove 29 hours to race against Spank in an equally unsuitable car, raced for 24 hours (on my birthday), and drove 29 hours home.
Best birthday ever
While it looked link a photo finish, Spank was well ahead of us on laps...
zebrabeefj40 wrote:Spank wrote:Count me as one of the few who really appreciate the opportunity to challenge oneself with a 24 hour race.
I'm a Lemons diehard through and through, but I jumped ship to do a race with another series (in a car I had no business bringing to that series) just so I could do a 24hr event.
No Ragrets
I'm with Spank on this. I did the last 24 at Joliet - drove all the way from Boston to do it. I've also jumped ship and run 24hr events with other sanctioning bodies just to get my fix...
Yep, we drove 29 hours to race against Spank in an equally unsuitable car, raced for 24 hours (on my birthday), and drove 29 hours home.
Best birthday everWhile it looked link a photo finish, Spank was well ahead of us on laps...
Yeah, and here's what i looked like at 2am that race. It took a while to get both eyes to point in the same direction. That was fun.
I too love the 24's. Driving at night at the first one just kicked my ass. I had to do it again just to prove it to myself I could. Have done a couple since and just love 24's
Hahaha, I think we all looked like that at 2am!
I thought I had done a great job during the day at really memorizing the track during the day, so when I went out at midnight for my first night driving stint, Imagine my surprise as I was driving off into the desert with no real idea as to which direction the track might be. Thank goodness I saw some headlights off in the distance, and headed towards them...
Hahaha, I think we all looked like that at 2am!
I thought I had done a great job during the day at really memorizing the track during the day, so when I went out at midnight for my first night driving stint, Imagine my surprise as I was driving off into the desert with no real idea as to which direction the track might be. Thank goodness I saw some headlights off in the distance, and headed towards them...
I have to admit that i shortened a chicane using a previously unused dirt section on my first true 24. Ahh the memories. I will gladly do another true 24, but just as a captain or in my car. The 14-16 hour straight format in Joliet a few years back was really fun however!
FWIW,
Hamsa
Our regular Lemons team + a driver from another Lemons team just did the WRL 24@5280 24 hour race at High Plains Raceway. While it was pretty challenging at times, it was a blast and we all had a great time. We started out in great shape, as our MR2 was running well and our best driver was keeping up with the Spec Miatas. Things were rolling along pretty well until our exhaust came apart under the car about 8 hours in. After 30 minutes of hooptie-grade repair work it went out, then broke and we just took the entire muffler off and ran without for sixteen hours. As loud as it was, it was quieter than many of the Boxsters and Miatas, just quite a bit slower. The car was down on power and our lap times dropped by 5-10 seconds a lap on average, but we kept it rolling long enough to take second in class to...the Lemonata Miata.
The WRL is very compatible with Lemons racers, especially if you are fairly competitive. There were a few people with "real racer" attitudes, but far more friendly and helpful folks in the pits and the driving was very clean for the most part. We've done two Lemons and two WRL races this year, and all have been a blast.
Cons for 24 Hour Races:
- They are car killers. Our transmission was pretty much done after the race. Although 30 cars out of 43 finished, there was a lot of work going on in the pits. One corvette team did an LS swap in the pits to get back in before the finish.
- Sleep is a questionable activity. The loud noise and adrenaline makes for lots of insomnia. Bring earplugs or just leave the track to rest.
- Night racing takes some adjustments. Stuff happens a lot faster in the dark, and you get really dependent on the reflective markers in the corners and at the apexes
- After dark it seems like everything is twice as loud.
- Sunrise and Sunset both throwing blinding light at you at different points in the race.
Pros for 24 Hour Races:
-Driving at night is really cool - literally it is much cooler temperature wise than driving during the day. Plus there are a lot fewer distractions - it is very easy to focus on the space in your headlights and that is a very comforting zen sort of thing for me.
-Driving just before dawn with the sun coming up and the landscape slowly revealing itself is awesome, especially after you've been driving for hours at night with nothing else to look at. HPR is kind of amazing this way anyway, but it was still really cool.
-If you can keep things together, you get your second and third wind even if you have gotten minimal rest.
-Something that pushes you a little beyond your regular limits can be a good thing.
-They don't happen very often!
We had a good time, but we were pretty beat at the end. I slept well last night.
Here are some pictures:
Sleeping Dogs
Sunrise on Pit Lane
2 for the MR2
Matt
I want a full 24. I got hosed out of doing the one in Texas, so do one in 2017, dagnabbit.
Our team has done two 24 hour events. We received the IOE at the first one and spent lots of time working on a broken race car at the second one. We did it with three drivers...what a beating. I would do it again, but not drive out of my way.
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