Mr.Yuck wrote:Spank wrote:AXC1 wrote:I get it, there is a lot to do. ... With that being said, I consider a theme to be just as important as getting the car ready, since it helps to determine eligibility, and is a nice fun way to blow off steam.
I'd also like to say that having fun is a priority for me and my team here. If this turns into yet another stressor in my life, I'll find something else to do with my time.
Give this man a trophy already!
People can race reliable cars in any number of other series designed for reliable cars. A series with "Lemons" right in the friggin' name kinda makes it pretty damned clear what this series is supposed to embrace, if ya ask me.
Welcome aboard and keep focusing on what is FUN for YOU!
it is no fun fixing/working on a car all weekend that you dropped thousands into. You can have the best theme in the pits but unless you get it on the track that theme is worthless.
Disagree. Just because a trophy is Priceless doesn't mean it is Worthless
https://youtu.be/B7KUrzUM0LY?t=459
All depends on what you are there for. You there for the party or you there or the driving?
Go ahead and tell your friends and coworkers a story about how awesome your 2-hour driving stint was and describe in detail how your car ran flawlessly and what it was like passing all kinds of cars and put a camera on them and let's see how they react to your tales of finishing 26th overall and 8th in class. Then I'll tell them a story about the idiots next to you who were wrenching all weekend dressed as Milli Vanilli and who kept stopping every 2 hours for a choreographed lip-synced dance break and then fed the paddock Milli Vanilla ice-cream sandwiches and who were cheered by a deafening crowd when they went up to collect their trophy at the awards ceremony.
I'll say again: there are plenty of series and events that you can go drive your racecar fast in, whether it be in a parking lot or a racetrack and it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. But if you go ahead and show up at your Alphabet Soup Race themed up with a giant blimp on your roof, you'll get a reaction that makes it pretty clear that You-Who-Are-Themed-Up are pretty disillusioned if you think that is the place or that. I think the exact same-but-opposite thing should be true for those who show up at Lemons events with little-to-no theme and overly-prepped "$500 My Ass" cars.
I kinda liken it to seeing a bunch of high schoolers descend on a elementary school playground during their recess and tell the toddlers, who are having a grand old time, how they are playing on the equipment all wrong and then show them how to do it "right" . Start explaining to the kid in the sandbox the principles of structural analysis and why they should build their sand castles THIS way and not THAT way, and to the kid on the swing why jumping off the swing at THIS point of the arc versus THAT part of the arc is BETTER because they will fly further and faster...
If that's what you really want to do with your time-- turn laps for hours on end and see how many seconds you can shave off each lap time and see if you can get them to add up and squeeze out an extra 3/4 of a lap during your stint-- then awesome. But I argue that that really isn't the point. If it were, more of those types of efforts would be celebrated and rewarded by the organizers. Instead, the organizers choose to highlight, focus on, and reward the efforts that take place OFF of the racetrack.
Imagine spending days and weeks and months preparing the most well-prepared, most perfect car you can that you are SURE is going to be awesomely reliable and run like a train all weekend (but you of course ran out of time to theme it so you just paint it flat black and call it something like, oh I dunno, "RickyRacer" And then some IDIOT in a 1968 Olds Toronado with drum brakes all around doesn't slow down as quickly for a turn as one of your drivers thinks he SHOULD have been able to slow down and then cuts in at the apex to take the perfect line but basically pit maneuvers himself, spins out and slams into the concrete barrier at turn 7 in hour 4 of the race and bends the car all up so it can't get back out on track... Do you sit around the rest of the weekend eating your neighbors' ice cream sandwiches? Do you prepare to tell stories about the AWESOME 4 hours of passing you got to do? Do you tell people your tales of woe about how your super-prepped car track-lapping weekend was "RUNED" by some idiot in a matador outfit who thought it was ok to bring a drum-braked 1960's car to a Lemons event?
Wow, I ran on too long on that...
Point is, don't try to tell the guy who WANTS advice on what costume to wear to a costume party that he should instead worry most about doing enough cardio workouts before hand so he has the stamina to last the entire party.