Rust Belt GP '20 Results

I wish our weekend went better in the fabulous 67 Ford Fairlane. It really ended up in sweating, swearing, getting dirty, being angry, being frustrated, and generally desirous of the glorious release of chemical enhancements to my already sparkling personality.

I didn't have a timing light at home so I planned to set the timing at the track on Friday.  Easy, right?  Nope.  No pointer=no timing reference=best guess timing.

We couldn't get timing right on Friday so we never made it on the track for practice. 

With help from several teams and individuals, we were able to get the timing fairly close, according to Matt's trained ear, by the end of the day Friday. 

We started Saturday with a renewed sense of FoMoCo DOMINATION.  Matt went out first, with my warning that the previous owners of this car had trouble with it overheating during its only race in 2018.  Matt gets 8 or 9 laps in to his stint and comes in because the temp gauge is over 230.  We cool the car down and Matt goes back out.  Matt comes back in after about 8 laps because the temp gauge is over 230.  We cool the car down.  Matt goes back out...you can guess the rest.  We spent the rest of the day Saturday cycling through 3 drivers going out for 8 laps at a time and coming in to cool the car down.  While all this is happening, I'm scrambling to find solutions to the problem and driving an hour each way to Grand Rapids to get a new radiator to replace the crappy brass one that's in the car.

We made it through Saturday in this fashion and, although we were at the bottom of the field, we were still beating Owen. 

We installed the new radiator on Saturday night and buttoned up everything except for the hoses because the inlet and outlet were different sizes from the old radiator.  We do a little research and find that we can get reducers at O'Reilly (that are in stock) to get the hoses correctly sized on each end and we'll install everything in the morning before Green.  O'Reilly doesn't have the reducers we need in stock, even though their site says they do, so we have to improvise and use exhaust system reducers to make it work.  Buy a few reducers and some appropriately sized hoses and we'll get it done.  No problem.  We get it all put together thanks to Matt's freakishly strong hands and I get in the seat for the first time all weekend and for the first time in this new (to me) car that I love like a third child.

Temps are looking good!  Fuck yes!  We're going to kick ass today.  About 6 laps in, the transmission feels like it's slipping and laboring to shift.  I look at the gauges and temp is holding steady.  Oil pressure is good but something's wrong so I'm heading in.  Then I can see faint whisps of smoke in my rearview and I coast the back straight because I'm concerned that something major is wrong with the transmission.  As I get to hot pit, smoke gets worse.  As I get to the top of the hot pit and turn left, she dies.  We open the hood at the paddock space and note that the top radiator hose has come disconnected and that the engine is really fucking hot and there's a (new) sheen of oil under the hood.

Cool the car down.  Put some water in it and try to start it so we can figure out what's wrong with the transmission.  When the water came out of the radiator cap like a fountain at the Bellagio, we knew we were done.  Fuck.

So, there's at least a gasket that's met it's maker and probably a head too.

I was thinking about converting it to a manual T10 anyway and I guess I can how get a roller cam version of the 5.0 instead  =  LeMons->LeMonade

That's part of it though, especially with a new (ish) build.  Shit breaks.  Don't even get me started on the wiring in this car...

Thanks for the war stories, please keep them coming. Knowing that some folks are getting to have a typical Lemons weekend somewhere out there... It helps.

We were the Invader Zim green Mazda RX7 #5. New team with a car that has never raced before.  First off, lots of thanks to go around. Jay for putting up with me in tech. I'm hard of hearing and read lips a fair amount. I also appreciate how everyone wore their masks, now you get the idea why tech was a struggle. Our fellow competitors while we learned the track and struggled with minor fuel delivery problems.

     I really missed the social part where we were able to go around and talk with the other teams. The Gremlin, 77 Celica, Opel GT and a 300ZX come to mind right away. Thanks for bringing some really fun cars. We might have done some more walking around, but there were only two of us, so it was either drive or get ready for the next time you drive.  Thankfully our car performed really well. We got passed a lot, but we were able to pass many cars too. I appreciate everyone who gave us room to learn even though they might have been much faster. Managed a best lap of 2:01. That's going to keep me going all week.     

My co-driver had done track days but had never seen real competition. He was blow away. He felt slow and a little guilty even though I told him the great Lemons community will understand. I'm 53 and it's great I can still do this. It will take me a few days to get back to normal, but yes I can do this. Well worth all the work and money. We'll be back to another race for sure, Gingerman if we can. It's 5.5 hrs for us, as compared to 1 for Nelson, less than that for Mid-Ohio, and 2 to PittRace.   

Thanks again to All

David Dies and Mark Yost
83 Mazda RX7
Invader Zim Racing

I talked to one of you about your setup, it was cool to see a 13b powered car there. There's a rotary builder very close to me called Defined Autoworks https://www.definedautoworks.com/ that runs a 4-rotor monster at mid-ohio.

If you ever need another driver for Pitt (or if Lemons ever goes back to Nelsons Ledges) let me know!

I, too, will add on to Blake's post because I like all of these stories to be in one place:

Background
For those previously unfamiliar with the Quantum, a quick Google search will reveal that it is certifiably among the greatest Lemons cars of all time

2009: built by the Chicken & Waffles Racing Team
2010-11: wins IOE, C, & B victories (at Gingerman)
2012: ??
2013: Purchased by me. 10v NA motor blows up at first race, swap in first 20v turbo (Audi "AAN" #1)
2014-2015: I race the car at a few events and finally get it to go fast. Car is sold to Judge Steve
2016: Steve enters the car in Decade of Disappointment, plastic coolant elbow breaks, nukes AAN #1.
2017: Steve buys AAN #2 and I help him put it in. We bring the car to Kentucky, and nuke AAN #2. Quantum gets parked in Chad's storage lot.
2018-2019: <<<entropy, atrophy, apathy>>>
Feb 2019: Owen crashes Chad's Escort
Oct 2019: I bring the Quantum home and begin putting AAN #3 in
June 2020: Back on the race track for the first time in 3 years!

Friday was mostly spent getting the car ready for tech inspection (fire system install, numbers R hard, wiring rats nest, etc - new guy was really proving his worth and installed the whole fire system pretty much unsupervised!) While driving the car over to its 1:30pm appointment at the scrutineering tent, a brand new (and exceptionally violent) thumping sound began shaking the entire chassis as I cruised along at 5mph. Further inspection revealed that we had smashed the exhaust into the rear driveshaft center support bearing while driving the car on/off the trailer and bent everything about an inch upward, causing it to bang against the tunnel with every rotation of the driveline. (An aside: two days of the previous week were entirely consumed PERFECTING this exhaust. I was gifted a complete stock stainless steel exhaust from an Evo IX that my friend Claude & I had meticulously cut apart and TIG'd back together). Seeing the nicest thing on the car ruined and knowing that it broke other things along the way really had killed my morale and what little excitement I had left. Fortunately, JP noticed my mounting frustration, and he and Andrew (new guy) were able to remove the driveshaft, bend the bearing and body brackets back into some semblance of normal shape, and then realign it all on 3 axes with washers. By now, it was 4:30pm so we sent Andrew out for some test laps. Everything seemed fine and we were ready for race day.

Saturday saw me behind the wheel for the 10am race start. During my stint, the car was running a bit erratically-- it would pull hard, then shut off momentarily, only to surge forward again. This condition could be managed by gentle throttle inputs so I drove around it for about 90 minutes until it died completely and would not restart, resulting in me returning to the pits on a tow truck. I got out to perform some cursory diagnosis and we belted JP in. The car eventually restarted after several minutes -- I had checked grounds, 12v supplies, fuses, and wiggled a couple of connectors but ultimately found nothing to explain issues I experienced, nor anything to attribute the lack of restarting to.

We sent JP on his way, however he was back on the tow truck not too long later. Over the next several hours a pattern would develop: the car would run fine for 45-60 or so minutes, then shut off completely, unable to restart for 2-10 minutes - but would always eventually do so without *any* intervention elsewhere. Since the car appeared fine mechanically, I had only the electrical system to suspect. I would wiggle connectors, check fuses, ground, etc... but nothing seemed out of place. Eventually I stopped doing anything when the car got towed in and just waited it out. Maybe something was getting hot and needed to cool off? I sort of lost count on how many times we came in on the hook on Saturday, but it had to be at least 7 times. During one of the first few occurrences, I forgot to put the hood pins in, resulting in the hood smashing the windshield while entering the track. Can't help but laugh at shit like that - I'm just glad we didn't nuke another AAN. JP eventually completed his stint around 2:00, Andrew had 2:15-4:30 (with at least 2 trips on the wrecker with a car that wouldn't restart) and we put Chris in the car to finish out the day for us. Regretfully, Chris probably had the worst experience in the car among all of us. Not only was the cool suit pump broken at this point (less than 5 hours of use...), but the car was on its worst behavior, shutting off after a mere 15-20 minutes of driving. When it last came in on the hook at 5:40 or so we decided against sending it out again, since we were pretty sure we were well beyond the "endearing" stage of failure and rapidly approaching the "annoying AND dangerous" stage. However. other than annoying the tow truck drivers (and having an embarrassing self inflicted broken windshield black eye), we finished the day with 160 laps and a respectable lap time of 1:54.9 (thanks to Chris's incredible ability to adapt to such a terrible car), and a car that would still run the following day without needing any wrenching. not_bad.gif

Did I have some spare sensors that I could have thrown at the car in hopes the issues cleared up? Of course, but I said fuck it (and JP concurred), and the only thing we decided to do was put fresh water in it (I spent $3 on 3 gallons of distilled water and goddamnit I was going to use it!)

Sunday, as you now likely know, splits the 6 remaining hours of the race between a 2h session from 9-11, a quiet $DEITY hour, followed by 4 more hours of racing. We put our 5th driver, Alex, in for the morning session since he had not had his stint yet (and since he was also racing with Owen who had already BTFU by then, we were his only hope). Wagon must have been running well because he shaved off another second and a half to run a 1:53.5! In doing so, he totally fucking destroyed the brakes (and tires) --- consuming the same amount of pads in less than 2 hours than we did the previous 8, and some of the driver's front caliper piston as well.  I rummaged through the unsorted bins of shit that I brought and miraculously discovered that I actually had the correct spare brake caliper on hand, and some half-spent pads too! Andrew & JP replaced it during the quiet hour. They finished the final 4 hours driving laps mostly in the 2:00-2:20 range trying not to tax the car or burn out what was left of the used pads we installed. Interestingly, the erratic shutdown issue that plagued us the prior day had totally vanished - and remains undiagnosed

Conclusion
Car #420 completed 240 racing laps in 14 hours of racing. Going in to the weekend, I had set a personal goal of 250 laps - so I wasn't too far off on my expectations or my ability to meet them. With only about 150 road miles on the wagon since a complete ground up rebuild, my biggest concerns were mostly mechanical. While we did have a few things to sort out with wrenches, I am just happy to bring the car home in one piece for the first time in over 5 years.

Shout-outs:

• JP for taking control of the situation when I start to lose it

• Andrew for being an awesome team member at his first race - welcome to Lemons!

• Chris for slumming with TWC - thank you for the feedback on the car and showing me what it is capable of! Sorry you got the short end of the stint stick, and that I gave your t-shirt away... I'll make both of these up to you at a future event

• Alex for pushing the car and finding the next weak link before I do - also for your hilariously YOLO attitude that lead to your first foray into Midwest Lemoms being with us *and* Owen

• Owen, for being Owen.

• Save the Ta-Tas for letting us run a 120vac extension cord from your motorhome all weekend

• all the cars that did less total laps or a slower fastest lap than the Quantum - thanks for making our 33 year old station wagon look good & fast

• Jay, Eric, and the rest of the Lemons crew for putting up with our shit

Allow me to add on my experiences:

Friday: we sucked

Saturday: we sucked

Sunday: we sucked

That's pretty much it in a nutshell...

You should have came by to visit us with the Celica, its nothing special but we like to talk about it. Everyone was being safe in our pits when we did have a visitor.

We were at A6 in the Paddock, or the first hot pit area coming off track. and yes a 22r will bolt right in for the most part.

Our destination race weekend started out with some complications.  My brother and I were going to tow to the race from Colorado, but my wife went into labor early the day before we left, so I had quite a different weekend than planned.  Lots more stress and even less sleep than a race weekend, but everything went great.  My brother drove to Michigan solo and met the rest of the team there.

About 2 hours into the Friday test session, a valve spring retainer cracked in half on the previously indestructible Caddy 4.9.  Looked like it was due to valve float, probably from a mechanical over-rev due to a missed downshift since we have the rev limit set pretty low.  The valve had contacted piston and cracked the head around the valve guide, but the piston seemed fine.

There were no 4.9 cadillacs to be found in any nearby Michigan junkyards for some reason, so the team was in a bit of a predicament.  Back in Colorado, we had another motor sitting in the garage with good heads, so at first we had planned on trying to overnight ship a head to the track in Michigan.  At that time, our last team member who was flying in from Colorado called and said his flight was being delayed until that evening, so he could fly a head out with him.  Back in business!!  Another friend packed up a couple heads and some other parts and drove to the airport to drop it off.  All the while I'm in the hospital with my newborn kid and wife trying to arrange all of this, glad I have a very understanding partner!!

Another issue was that we couldn't find anyone with headgaskets locally.  When the heads came off the garage motor, they looked to be in great shape, so the decision was made to run the motor with USED headgaskets with some copper headgasket spray and hope for the best.

Anyway, the team in Michigan got everything prepped by Friday evening and went to bed early, planning to get up in the middle of the night when the heads arrived and start working, attempting to make the green flag.  Heads arrived at 4am, work was started about 20 minutes later.  Everything went together smoothly, but they missed the green flag by about 45 minutes, oh well...

Somehow, the coolant and oil were staying separate and it never overheated for the whole weekend, again, with USED HEADGASKETS.  We were all impressed.

Unfortunately, something was wrong with the tune at low elevation and they couldn't get it figured out.  Once you gave it some throttle, it would bog and seemed to only run ok at about 1/4 throttle.  The car was probably only making about 50-75 hp.  We're running a stock Cadillac computer and modifying the tune using some 1998 software and a chip burner on an old Dell laptop from probably 2003, and BOTH of the people experienced with tuning the car were 1000 miles away.  GM had about 50 different tables that effect the tune in some way, so it takes a long time to get a good understanding of what the hell is going on.  Eventually, they decided to just get the tune safe, run it as is and have fun.  Most of the team were newbies, so having a low powered good handling car was probably beneficial.  It was confirmed to be a tuning issue when we got it out of the trailer here in Colorado at 8000' and it ripped just fine.

All in all, the team had a ton of fun and we introduced a bunch of our family (our newbie drivers) to Lemons and they're now hooked on racing and wanting to build a car of their own.  They ended up driving around 200 laps, which isn't too bad considering...

I agree all too often I notice drivers "banging shifters" through gears. Not many have the mentality of it being a marathon not a sprint. Something I discussed with my now teammate, but back when he said it we were racing in two different teams, he said "If your having people not being gentle of the transmission, get a shift knob that is extremely uncomfortable to shift like the Fast and Furious movies. It fixed our issue"

Ever since he said that I always check out each shift knob in everyone's car. When I see one that is "uncomfortable" I always give the car owner a, I understand look.

Even in a Sprint you shouldn't be beating the hell out of the shifter. You wanna shift faster? Dog box, otherwise slow down and you be faster.