Topic: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

I've been reading and researching 24HOL for a while now. I used to race a good bit when I was younger. Dirt bikes, muscle car drags, local stock car circle track, dirt circle tracks, and one rally race. I've just been missing racing very badly lately, but unfortunately I have actual financial responsibilities. In the search for a cure to those maladies, I found 24HOL! smile

We're planing to attend the Atlanta race here in a few weeks as spectators and check it out. I've already got an eye peeled for a car.

I will try to get an A&D spot at some point before I build a car. (Or not, who knows.)

The problem I had last time I tried to build a car and a team (for the local stock car / circle track where I used to live) was actually not the money, it was getting people to show up and participate, especially on wrench fest days.

If (when) I proceed with this I will be much more selective of whom I allow on the team.

In the mean time I just wanted to say "HI".

Oh... and... BTW - WTH doesn't this forum seem to have a search function?!

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

Finding people to wrench is the eternal problem for a lot of teams.  The main difference between the rest of what you've done and Lemons is that instead of them wrenching away on the car only to see you hop in and screw it up, they get to wrench away on it and then hop in themselves to screw it up.  Big selling point.

"Search" button is up below the form header.  Crude but it works.

1990 RX7 "Mazdarita"  1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless)  1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

If you're having trouble building a team w/those willing to wrench,
I'd suggest buying a built car for your first outings. That'll keep the
"wrenching" to a minimum while you build a team. Then you can figure
out who is dedicated, who has $$ but little time, and who has time but little $$,
before you build a car from scratch.

Seat time is what entices drivers to become team members.

Capt. Delinquent Racing
RUST-TITE XR4Ti - '21 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA  I Got Screwed
The One & Only Taurus V8 SHO #31(now moved on to another OG Delinquent)
'17 Vodden the Hell - (No) Hope for the Future Award, '08 AMP Survivor, '08 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA Mega-Cheater

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

Feel free to stop by car #85 at Atlanta and ask as many dumb questions as you like.

Apocalyptic Racing - Occupy Pit Lane racing
Racing the "Toylet" Toyota Celica powered by Chevrolet Ecotec.
24x Loser with the Celica. 16x loser in other fine machines
Overall winner Gingerman 2019

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

Yes, I am hoping that being able to tell the wrench turners that they will get seat time proportionate to their wrenching input will make a big difference.

Thanks - I don't know how I overlooked the search button.

I've been considering a built car, but the building is a big part of the fun for me. Still thinking...

Due to recent events I don't know if I'll be able to make it to ATL after all. A long time friend and co-worker just passed away and the family has tentatively scheduled the memorial service for Dec 9th.

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

NotURMailman wrote:

I've been considering a built car, but the building is a big part of the fun for me. Still thinking...

As it has been for most of my teams. However, their are a lot of teething pains that go along with a new build.
If your potential teammates would rather DRIVE! you could easily lose some of them to the building process.
My 2¢

My condolences for your loss.

Capt. Delinquent Racing
RUST-TITE XR4Ti - '21 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA  I Got Screwed
The One & Only Taurus V8 SHO #31(now moved on to another OG Delinquent)
'17 Vodden the Hell - (No) Hope for the Future Award, '08 AMP Survivor, '08 ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA Mega-Cheater

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

3 rules for team management 101:

Make sure you know why you are doing Lemons and all the team members are in agreement.  If you going out for the joy of hanging out with a bunch of like-minded idiots and driving a stupid car on a racetrack....a super competitive team member is not going to fit in and could make everyone else miserable but at the least will leave.

Make sure everyone has realistic expectations of what this is going to cost in time, money and relationships with significant others   A good number to use for discussions is $4500 to get the car to the first race and $1000 each driver for gear and consumables...It can be done cheaper but not often for first time teams.  New car time spent if you do it all yourself....500 manhours if you order a pre-bent cage is a good estimate.  Closer to $250 if you pay to have cage and seat install done (but then the $4500 is less likely).  If you have five team members...at least one at any given time will be in hot water with their significant other over their time or money spent on Lemons.

There usually has to be a single point of accountability for most teams...you need a benevolent dictator to break ties and settle arguments by pure might of  "I said so".  My team has little of this anymore but it was me...it is a sucky job to have but it needs to exist.  Other important roles are crew chief, team mom and Logistical expoert (often the guy with the trailer but needs to be the obsessive list writer in your group).

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

OnkelUdo wrote:

3 rules for team management 101:

Make sure you know why you are doing Lemons and all the team members are in agreement. 

Make sure everyone has realistic expectations of what this is going to cost in time, money and relationships with significant others

New car time spent if you do it all yourself....500 manhours if you order a pre-bent cage is a good estimate.

Just wanted to highlight and concur - these are so "on", especially the first one!

I estimate we spent about 600 hours (with some "un-crashing/straightening" the car first), and total cost of all car things was $3900 for car, all fixes, all safety gear (including 1 new cobra seat, new harness, tires, brake pads, cage materials). We were somewhat thrifty, but car turned out nicely.

If anyone in CO sees this and is thinking about building a car, I'd gladly walk you through ours...

Cheers
f

9 (edited by VKZ24 2017-12-01 06:55 AM)

Re: Just wanted to pop my head up... and see what gets thrown at it!

In my experience, every team dynamic is different, but most problems can be equated to an inequality of two things...TIME and MONEY.  If your teammates can't share in each, then (IMO) they need to provide more of one than the other.  If you don't have as much money, you invest more time on the wrenches.  If you have more money, you can pay more to cover the time of the other guys doing the wrenching.  Sure, having it all be equal would be best, but that's a pipe dream, so forget about that ever happening.

Another thing to discuss with teammates, assuming you are friends, is to have CLEAR understanding of what this is all about.  For instance me and my teammates have all been friends for many years prior to Lemons.  We decided our team needed a few goals before moving forward with a build.

1. Friends first, EVERYTHING else comes second.  No fighting over money or time.  If either of these becomes a problem, we could lose being friends, and it's just not worth it.  Good friends are hard to find.

2. Be prepared.  We do NOT like to wrench at the track, therefore we'll spend whatever time is needed prior to race to be sure we can drive at the race, and wrench in the shop.  We are usually ready 3 or 4 weeks before the race, sometimes sooner.

3. Have fun.  Sure, winning would be great, but having fun is more important.  If we don't meet goals #1 and #2 above, this won't happen.

4. Share ALL expenses equally.  Our team uses a Google spreadsheet to track all the costs, and it's updated anytime a dime is spent.  After each event we "settle up", so we are even before the next race.  Having friends owe you money is a quick way to lose the #1 goal above.

5.  Have a clear understanding when something bad happens like the engine goes boom, or the car gets balled up.  On our team, the cost associated with any 'racing incident', which was no fault of the driver, is covered equally by the team.  If it's your fault, you pay and help fix it.  For instance if you miss a shift and the engine goes boom, you fork over the cash for the repair and help repair it.  If the engine goes boom just because of racing, we all share the expense and labor for the fix.  If a driver crashes because he made a stupid move/mistake, he pays.  If you think he would he lie to avoid blame, he doesn't need to be on the team period.

Captain
Team Super Westerfield Bros.
'93 Acura Integra - No VTEC Yo!