Awesome! I wanted to come see the Lemons this weekend but the wife wanted to go to the beach. Same distance from the house. Guess who won? I tried to argue that it isn't every day you get to see a slant six racing, but she mumbled something about sleeping on the sofa and that was that.

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If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

We can all relate to that! Gotta have yer priorities straight.

It was a great weekend with lots of track time. We had a couple minor issues to deal with as you would expect (brakes, carb, alternator), but no major issues and we were out on track all day both days.

Jason loaded all that gear back into it Sunday night and drove it home.

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Thanks to Brett and Brad Padgett and Norm Foster for coming to support and watch Team 225!

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Not knowing lemons racing, is it better to finish first or last? Not being disrespectful, just what is the best outcome?

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Hyper_pak

The Lemons "Thing" is all about the slower, struggling, may not make it kinda racer...

With that being said, if you offer this kind of actual road course racing at a truly entry level price, you're gonna get a bunch of those beady-eyed racer types wanting track time.

You are still trying to win the race, no matter what. It's just that trying to win the race in something like the Valiant versus some of those really fast cars gets you way more kudos and respect.

Class C is for those cars like the Valiant (and much worse) that aren't even necessarily expected to finish the race.

Class B is for those cars that are expected to actually finish the race.

Class A is for those cars that have a chance of winning the race.

The Index of Effluency (IOE) award we won last year is the highest award given by Lemons. It is given to the car that really is NOT expected to finish the race, much less actually do well. It has the coolest trophy, biggest cash award (by $1 over Class C), and you get a free entry for your team to run another race. Class B gets a smaller trophy and award, Class A gets a courtesy clap and comments of, "Yeah,... So. You SHOULD have won it. Duh!"

That's basically the culture.

Here is a screenshot of the winners. It's the Overall winner, B Class Winner and the top 8 C Class winners.

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Here’s how we did and how we stacked up against some of the competition this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL.

The car we drove this year was the same ’64 Plymouth Valiant Signet owned by Jason Ernst from around Athens, GA. He actually DROVE the car 200 miles to the race packed to the gills with race gear. We pounded on it the entire weekend, racking up well over 750 seriously hard race miles before Jason loaded it back up and DROVE it 200 miles home.

We had a couple small issues with a leaky valve cover gasket, rear brakes wearing out really fast (cheapy parts store shoes), the carb flooding (dirt in the needle/seat?), and the alternator case wanting to come apart. Those minor issues were all easily dealt with and we spent almost the entire weekend on track where we were supposed to be.

We completed 314 laps around the 2.38 mile road course to finish 48th out of 100 overall and 7th in C Class. The team that won C Class were the “Old Dudes” driving a ’65 Ford Ranchero. They have been trying to win a race for over 5 years and finally got it, finishing 16th overall with 362 laps. They won the “Heroic Fix” last year by swapping engines 2 or 3 times over the weekend. We were closely matched with them last year on speed, but whatever new engine they put in is working well. Their best lap time was 1:55.8 compared to our best of 2:03.6. Their best speed was 73.99 MPH to our 69.31 MPH.

So who won…? We ALL did, ‘cuz we wuz racin’ cars! Duh! 1st place overall was TMMI Motorsports in… something fast and reliable… They went 395 laps with a best lap of 1:43.9 and 82.43 MPH. B Class winner was Loose Lugnut Racing with 385 laps and best of 1:47.7 and 79.54 MPH.

The fastest lap of the weekend was the car that finished 3rd overall at 1:42.505. The team that spent the most time on track was Duff Beer, a Class C car with a best lap time of 2:05.6 and best speed of 68.21 MPH. The only team finishing ahead of us that was actually slower. Slow and steady, steady and slow…

I ran our team stats just a bit. Here’s how it went down:

The run order each day was Lou, Adam, Rob, Jason.

When Lou took the track Saturday morning we began in 92nd place. He got us up to 63rd place after turning 42 laps with a best lap time of 2:08.567

Adam ran laps 43-79, starting in the 79th spot (we spent some time in the pits, so lost some places). He got us back up to 66th place after turning 37 laps with a best time of 2:12.490.

Kentucky Poser took the wheel from lap 80-116, starting in 69th place and bumping us up to 64th with a best time of 2:09.751.

Jason finished up Saturday, running laps 117-162 and taking us from 64th to 56th place with a best of 2:09.726.

Sunday morning we replaced the rear brake shoes and fought the carb flooding issue to get on track just a couple minutes late.

Lou started off in 63rd place on lap 163 and got us back down to 59th by lap 199 with the fastest lap time of the weekend at 2:03.618.

Adam took over after the lunch break and ran from 200 to 225 (Cool, huh? ), starting off in 60th place and getting us down to 58th with his personal best of 2:07.836.

We did a quick driver switch with no re-fuel to give it over to the Kentucky Poser who ran 226 to 275. He got us from 58th down to 52nd with a best of 2:08.025.

Jason took us to the checkered flag, getting us down to 48th place and a total of 314 laps with his best being 2:03.949.

Total lap count for our team:

Lou = 79
Adam = 63
Poser = 87
Jason = 85

That’s Lemons in a Nutshell! 

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Wow, great report, Rob! It is great to see the placing and details and lap times. By my count, we were off the track for just about 60 min, not counting pit stops. That's roughly 25 laps at our average lap speeds. So that means even if we had made perfect pit stops and no hiccups, we would have been well behind Class C winner. It was a TOUGH field this time, with lots of fast cars and good teams in Class C.

I think we can make this car (or Toadracer) go roughly 1:55 laps on this track without tons of effort, but some substantial investments in hard parts (engine, brakes, wheels+tires, lower weight). Then do some testing, testing, testing to make sure it is durable, and then we win everything!

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

And only cost $500 right!!

I'm glad you guys enjoy it and I'm sure it is a lot of fun, but it takes an awful lot of money to make a $500 car a lemons car!

I think it is most impressive that Jason drove the car 200 miles each way to race!! That is pretty impressive!
Congratulations guys!

PS. That there Lou fellar must be a pretty decent driver!!

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Figure $4-6000 for a basic car, and the winners have $10k and up. The unlimited "safety" equipment, including tires/wheels, brakes, gauges, electrical, rollcage, etc, is the expensive part.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Great write up KY Poser! Lol
It's difficult to remember such things after a while. Im glad we have a good written record now.

Lou, you think we'll be able to turn 1:55s @ Barber in Toadracer?! Talk dirty to me! Oooo weee

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"I live my life one apex at a time."
-Vin Gasoline (actor from the lesser known The Slow and The Irritated franchise.)

Jason’s Signet is a pretty solid car as far as handling. Even the stock brakes are adequate when we have everything set right.

Imagine a car that is at least a couple hundred or more pounds lighter with about 50 more horsepower...

ToadRacer to the front!

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Brett and I were there Saturday. We had a great time, watching, learning and helping just a little bit. The guys did great moving up all day long with a near stock engine, driving cleanly and staying out of trouble while in some pretty serious traffic at times and yeah, I'd say Lou is a pretty good wheel man.
Good times.

Toad Racer sounds promising.

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“Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
― Hunter S. Thompson

I am stewing engine combos and brakes...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

It was very cool having you guys and Norm hanging out with us Saturday.

I really liked Brad's advice, "Most of the carburetor issues you have are electrical."

The Off-Kilter Racing team is fired up after having such a good weekend at Barber. We are planning and scheming...

Meanwhile,... Back at the ranch... I have to do a couple things to the Challenger to be ready for dragstrips when they open. (See,... I didn't forget. )

This ToadRacer build and Lemons racing is the most fun I have ever had doing car stuff (just behind the GodsRods kids in Georgia )

Thank you, gentlemen, for your friendship and comradery!

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

How about THIS for a Slant 6 Valiant Lemons theme!

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser