Loren's report from 24 hours of lemons detroit

[treekiller]

They are going into the night shift currently in 18th place (about 40 laps out of top 10)

They are experiencing a transmission problem that has them stuck in 2nd gear on a track that needs 3rd.. they have a spare transmission ready to go in, but we know from experience even a FAST swap of 1.5 hours will put them down 100+ laps. so they are going to run the car in 2nd until it breaks for good.

other then a few small issues with a corroding fuel cell and a vacuum nipple failing, they are doing quite well.

it really gets interesting during the overnight runs at these small ovals. I wish those guys the best of luck.

[bam2002]

I called and left him a VM
the manuals are usually strong and start popping out of gear when worn out.

I am betting its the linkage or mounting. We replaced all that stuff on our car. He could cut an access hole on the passenger side of the trans tunnel. Start at the shifter and go about 4 inches forward. this way he could see the linkage. If the car will not go into 3rd or 4th Im guessing the shift rod isnt able to pivot. IF it can go into 4th but not 3rd then Yea its the trans..

B

[gritt]

hehe, you said "nipple"

dammit, can`t wait for the next race....

[Loren]

Thanks for the tips, Barry. A couple of these guys seemed to know their BMW's, so I didn't bother trying to assist them with diagnosis. They did cut a hole in the tunnel to inspect the linkage and determined that it was either simply a stuck linkage (broken or dropped pin or something) or a shattered synchro gumming up the works. Given that I had NO trouble shifting into 2nd in the first hour, I don't think that synchros were the problem. And I don't think the trans would have lasted another 22 hours with broken metal bits floating around in it. So it was probably just a stuck/broken linkage.

We pulled a trans from someone's DD and had it on stand-by, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the time penalty of at least 90 minutes (180+ laps) to fix a problem that was only costing us about 6 seconds per lap over the fastest cars.

After 22 hours of almost constant running at 5000 rpm, a few other odd mechanical problems, and about 45 minutes in the penalty box... we finished a happy 19th overall.

[3dglasses]

Congrats on the finish....

[jaball77]

...and about 45 minutes in the penalty box... we finished a happy 19th overall.

lol. Penalty box? What did you do?

Did you get anything welded to the car? :lol:

[TAJRacing45]

Congrats on the finish Loren! If you had the chance to do it again (meaning the Detroit bull ring) would ya?

[Loren]

Penalties:

1) I got flagged for creaming a barrel. I got one of those rare clean shots at the chicane and simply came into it too hot... not giving much thought to the bump in the middle, which really didn't help with the whole late-braking thing. Slid straight through the row of barrels on the other side. That would have been a 10-minute penalty, but Jay gave us a freebie because we loaned them our welder for the Arc Angel. This was our FIRST flag, and it was over 6 hours into the race... not bad at all.
2) In the wee hours of the morning, one of our guys got flagged for "aggressive driving", 30 minutes. (they didn't do any of the silly stuff after dark, probably to keep the noise down) It was my fault. Because we were running 2nd gear and had no speed, a lot of the guys were running an "autocross line". Very tight, shortest distance. Smart, but in one place it was making it FAR too easy for the cars that were passing to the outside. So, I told them to "make the car wider" in that place. Travel just far enough off of the inside to not give them enough room to pass on the inside, just to make them work a little harder for the pass. Well, he took it further than that and was diving in on people in the turns... not good. Oh, well. He learned.
3) Somebody spun when the handling started to fade Sunday morning, 15 minutes. It was our only spin of the entire race. The shocks went to complete shit about half-way through the race. When the front shocks gave up, the oversteer took a little more care to keep in check.

What really killed us in this race (take note... I can't preach this enough... and so many people don't seem to "get it") was reliability. An hour to try to diagnose and fix the transmission problem when the team captain KNEW there were issues with the transmission and had opted to not replace it before the race. 20 minutes blown on tracking down a coolant leak at the waterpump because the team captain didn't have a proper gasket and opted to use sealant instead. (stop-leak fixed it, fortunately) 10 minutes blown tracking down a bolt to replace the lower alternator bracket bolt that was lost because "it's a pain to get to" and wasn't tightened properly. At least two extra stops made for oil due to leaks that were known, but not fixed. 15 minutes fixing a crippling vacuum leak from a cracked rubber cap on the intake manifold. 15 minutes unplugging the fuel pump from loose foam in the fuel cell. One black flag and several 5-minute blocks wasted due to the fuel tank vent/overflow tank being poorly designed and needing to be emptied.

If we'd had a truly reliable car, with a functional 3rd gear... even with 5/6 of our drivers being completely inexperienced, we could have finished top-5 with that car. So, one more time, my advice to aspiring LeMons racers: Forget "fast", settle for "not painfully slow" if necessary. Concentrate on RELIABILITY, then on good handling and good brakes.

Would I do Toledo again? Yeah. For such a simple little track, it was really fun. And the LeMons format has become really good, too. For the most part, everyone drives with "respect" for other drivers. Nobody's trying to punt you around, even the big cars. And if they are, they don't last long... just stay out of their way. 24 hours is a long, long time to be racing.

I need to get in with a team that really "gets it", though. If I wasn't already committed to driving with these BMW guys from Ohio, the team in the Orange Plymouth Fury was looking for a driver at the last minute... THAT would have been a fun team to be on. Helluva big car, but it's well set up and stayed on track.

[Loren]

Oh, yeah... and we got flagged TWICE for being too loud! That cost us at least 30 minutes of fix-it time.

Stupid, stupid stuff that could have been avoided.

I just looked, and another BMW team finished 6th... and their car didn't handle nearly as well as ours did. I can't tell you how many times I flew around that car on track! But, "slow and steady wins the race". They had broken engine mounts is part of why they were driving so slow. But, they kept the car out there... and they finished 6th!

[bam2002]

well, i think we learned that the stuff you cant see you fix.. its insurance.. So clutch shift linkage etc..
Getting a check list written down and having all the items assigned to personal is another way to make sure everything is completed.
Or even paying som BS Laps at the begining to make sure the car is dependable.

But there also is alot to be said for having a somewhat quick fun car to drive.
VS getting a Volvo or a Checker cab and doing the slow thing..

Figuring out how to pass some one and working on the blocking or using the pacment of other cars to your advantage was 1/2 the fun.

There is suppose to be 2 events at CMP next year.. We will have the bugs all worked out. Funny how an E30 has never won. But they are always in the top 10. There were the e12? 5 series that had won the earlier smash them up race.


B

[TAJRacing45]

10-4 on the reliability issues...that's basically all we did with the Escort. That's what endurance racing is all about.
Sounds like the team captain on your team Loren got a little lazy with the Alternator bolt being a pain to reach so he didn't tighten it. UGH! Must have been freaking frusterating to be behind the wall with avoidable issues!

The LeMons guys were talking about two races at CMP and possibly one more in either Georgia or Florida if the dates work out. There was a post on the message board about the 2009 schedule and Jay said it would be out towards the end of this year or early 2009. He has to wait for tracks with returning events to schedule all their repeat events before he can choose a date at a new track.

[gritt]

yup. reliability. make sure your gas cans are clean (that fucked us for 2 hours, clogged fuel filters, my fault. all I had to do was look in the can when i grabbed it) so we got a new clutch (brand new), and she`s getting a turbo motor, shhhhhh. besides that and upgrading the brakes (and a non-gay paint job) that`s all we`re gonna do.

[bam2002]

So Loren I see there was a 5 series running, was it fast? Its pretty low in the finish so Im guessing it had issues?

[Loren]

Yeah, I think it was fast, but suffered an engine problem pretty early on. Never heard the story on it, but I've seen a lot of photos and video of it smoking pretty badly.

[RX007CYM]

Oh what fun! And it was a true 24hrs too! 19th place, sweet!

~James

[treekiller]

hey rx007cym I still have your cooler.. we, NEED to get together for a beer :-)

[RX007CYM]

ohhh yeah. I will ring you up right now.
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