24 Hours of Lemons - Team Rotary Republic

[Senator]

After spending the last 3 years recovering from a kick in the health shorts, and finishing up my football coaching career on a high note with my son, I needed a new challenge.

I decided to do something I always really wanted to do. It seemed now was the time to do it.

Ever since watching Speed Racer as a 5 year old, I have been enamored with road racing, endurance especially. Nascar bored me, but Lemans, F1, I loved those.

I actively was a Senna fan from Day 1, but when he wrecked, the spark seemed to go away.

But, racing has become a bit less expensive, I say a bit, it's still silly stupid expensive.

I have 3 areas I am going to concentrate on. Especially the Texas races.

1) 24 Hours of Lemons - RX7
2) Chumps World Series - RX7
3) NASA, WRL - Miata Spec

[Senator]

The blame must be given to Clay Sauncy.

While casually waiting on a late Thursday afternoon, for a meeting with upper management, I asked Clay what he was doing for the weekend. He said he was racing a car in Houston. I expected something like, "going to Home Depot with the wife", or "seeing another TCU football game", but I wasn't quite expecting what he told me.

I immediately started peppering him with questions. My other co-workers were looking at me with a "focus man, we are about to go into this meeting" look, but the more I asked, the cooler it sounded.

He and some friends had been working for months prepping a BMW to run in the 24 Hours of Lemons in Houston. I hadn't heard of it before. I was an F1 fan until my hero, Aryton Senna was killed in a race at Imola in 1994. I lost heart, and went on to other things. But before that, at age 6 and up, my favorite cartoon was Speed Racer. I loved the parts where they showed him in the drivers seat, with total concentration, willing this make believe car to do what he wanted. Aryton Senna was the real life embodiment of Speed Racer to me.

I spent that entire weekend researching everything I could about the 24 Hours of Lemons. Where were the races? What were the best cars to use? How much was this going to realistically cost? When the family went to sleep, I went to work.

When Clay returned to work Monday, I pestered him all day to come debrief me on the race. He was sore and tired, but he did have a big smile on his bearded face. He was young, I knew he could bounce back from that. I wasn't so sure about me.

His team had done well, but by showing up in a BMW, they were penalized 100 laps and spent the entire 2 days making up for it. They have something called a BS Tech Inspection and it's meant to even the playing field. So much for buying a BMW to enter.

I asked him tons of questions, and he said, "I ran this race and you seem to know more about it than I do." One of my thousand quirks. My family calls me the research king, and I don't think it's a compliment.

So, after conferring, ie. begging my wife to let me buy a $500 dollar race car, I began my search. Question one. Do I buy a car, gut it, and make it a race car? Or do I buy a car already setup to race?
Question two. How much was this really going to cost me?

[Senator]

I began searching Dallas/Ft. Worth Craiglist, Ebay, and racing sites for cars for sale. I immediately found a Toyota MR2 in Arlington, Texas for $2,800. It had never been raced and needed to prep work. I was thinking I could get it for $2k if I haggled enough, but first I went into research mode. It seems the MR2's have a very bad reliability rating for endurance rating. I guess I can confess here that I am not talented in any form at mechanical repair. My dad would spent countless hours under the tree by the light of the moon and my shaky flashlight holding, and I spaced out dreaming about girls and slapping mosquitoes. I learned nothing, as he proclaimed.

My hope would be three fold. One, I am older now. I learn fast. If I want to do something, I am still pretty decent at learning it. If I have a bug, the bug is fed. Two, I would get a team of young guns who liked to get their hands greasy. They wouldn't be afraid to dig in, and I could learn from them. Third, get a car decent on reliability and avoid as much pit repair as possible.

That put the MR2 in the, doubt it category.

Next I found a 1993 Infiniti in Dallas that a poor guy really had high ambitions for. He really tricked it out. Did alot of imaginative but unproven things to cool the engine, and had it gutted. No roll cage, which is the big expense on these cars. I felt uncomfortable dealing with purchase and setup of the cage. He wanted $2250 for it, and really took good care of it. I knew I would be putting twice as much to get it safety rated, and it would no doubt get BS laps attached. I bargained with the guy and he said he would take 2k without the seat, and I said no deal. He came back and said he would take 2k. I told him to give me the weekend to think it over.

Next I found a 1992 Honda Accord in Hudson Oaks for $2800, race ready, names the Affordable Car Act, painted puke brown, with a very unflattering blow up doll of Obama attached to the roof. When I asked him what Class the car ran, A,B, or C, he responded strangely,
"They put us in class A probably they are a bunch of Democrats and didn't like the Affordable Car Act and the blow up doll of Obama we had on top of car. It should be a class B car with the way the transmission ratios are.They said modern car with modern suspension Class A".

I noticed he didn't finish alot of races, and the best of 38 out of 64. For a Class A, it didn't seem like a car I wanted, too pricey, and quite frankly, if the judges hated him, I wasn't about to inherit his crimes.

Next up, I found listed on EBAY, a no reserve auction for 2 RX-7's as part of a racing team sell off. Listed as 1983, they looked like newer models, but getting details from the owner was difficult because he wanted to list them and avoid all the idiot questions from the bidders. The current bid was $1550 with 3 days to go. He indicated they had been sitting for a year, but ran, and had run many races, getting 13th in the infamous Cuba North in Miami. Apparently, it was a Vintage Motorsports company that did this as a supplemental service for rich clients. Pay $2500 dollars and show up and drive for a couple of days. This made me believe they had to keep the cars in good condition to keep clients happy. And they were race ready. And I would get two of them. But... these things were in Florida. I couldn't see them or drive them. An act of faith based on a pro versus con situation. I decided to bid on them.

[Senator]

On December 1st, 2015, I submitted a bid for $3000 dollars as my maximum bid. It slowly built over the next two days, as noon on December 3rd was the end of the auction. I felt pretty comfortable that I would not raise my bid. What destiny had planned, I would follow suit.

Around lunchtime on the 3rd, I sat watching the auction with co-workers who had volunteered to be pit crew if I pulled this off. A mad dash by two bidders drove the price dangerously close to my max bid, but as time expired, I had won the possession of two RX-7s from Florida, and I immediately had a wave of "what the heck did I just do?" as I had no idea how I was getting 2 cars that are not street legal to my home in Texas.

How it went down:

[Senator]

So, I have just won 2 racing cars, and now I have to decide in short order, how to get them here, and what to do with them when they arrive. Do I have an empty garage to set them up in? My wife stared at me with the questions dancing over her head. I acted busy to avoid answering,

My first step was contacting the seller in Florida. He was a bit unresponsive and I could tell he wanted to get these loaded and out the door and to be done with them. Not exactly the feel good moment I had hoped for. I sent the auction money to him overnight, which was a Thursday. I filled out an online splash request for shipping quotes. I had never done this before and I learned a few things.

One, you will get hammered with about a thousand different brokers whose sole job is to inundate you with phone calls, texts, and emails all claiming they are 5 star rated and the other guys will hit me with hidden costs. I eventually picked one that seemed most reasonable, and gave them the sellers name in Florida for Monday pickup.

I noticed on Monday, it was noon before the buyer signed for the check at the post office. Then around noon, I got a call from the shipping company.

"Sir, did you know that the cars would not start? It will cost extra to wench the cars onto the trailer."

I called the seller. I said, "I understand these have not been run in a race for over a year, but the ad stated they are running, and I need them to be able to get on the trailer."

He replied, "You are right, the racing team is at Sebring all this week, but we can have them running next Monday for pickup."

I said, fine, as I still had to figure where I would keep them, as my first option, a fellow drivers offer to keep them at his place, fell through.

I set up the next pickup date and waited. I read everything I could about rotary engines, RX7 racing, and effective road racing. I was getting mentally prepared for a long awaited challenge.

On December 14th, the cars were driven onto a trailer in Florida, and was told they would arrive on Friday. Merry Christmas to me.

[Vince, Pt. II]

This is awesome. My roommate races Lemons as well - it will be interesting to see your perspective as a newbie to the process. I've always thought it looks like a ton of fun, but it's crazy expensive and I have enough of those hobbies (golf, music) already. So I live vicariously through them.

[Senator]

It is stupid expensive, but I'm not getting any younger and my bucket list demands it. To race at Texas Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen, Daytona - what a trip that will be.

[Senator]

I received a call from the driver at 11am on Thursday morning, saying he was making good time, was in Louisiana, and asked if he could deliver the cars at 9pm.

I said sure, despite the fact that we would be in the dark and a little more than inconvenient, My brother was over to help, but by 10pm, he had faded and left. I got a text from the driver saying he had traffic issues, he would arrive at 11,

11 came and went. A cold front moved in. It got below freezing. I was getting sleepy. Another text saying he had fuel issues and was on the side of the road about an hour out. He called a service, and I went to bed.

My phone rings at 2am. The driver is on my street. I am furious, but decide to get the damn cars and be done with this part of the process.

I walk outside, and no truck. I call him back, he is tired and frustrated as well.. He tells me he is at my address, I ask him the address. Address correct, zip code not. He is an hour away.

I go back asleep . At 3:30am, he says he is 15 minutes out according to his GPS. I tell him I will flash my lights from my truck at the correct house. The whole thing feels sketchy, and like the beginning of a crummy horror movie.

I sit shivering in my slow warming truck until 4:15am when the big lumbering truck comes down my street, There are 24 cars on this immense trailer, and it looks like Moby Dick sitting among my neighbors homes. The diesel idled loudly. I could already hear my neighbors complaints.

It took him 45 minutes to unhook the trailer and back out the other cars in the lower level. My cars were right in the middle. I shivered and tried to assist. At about 5:15, he got t0 my first RX7. He crawled into the racing seat, and the car turned over and over, but wouldn't start. He looked at me with exhaustion. At this point, I was in a surreal atmosphere. I told him I would tow the thing out with my truck. We hooked it up, I gunned the truck to get it out of the trailer, and the neighbors lights popped on.

Then we pushed the car to my long driveway until the incline became too much. I then got my truck and attempted to push it with my truck, but I immediately heard crunching and stopped. Drove through my yard, and hooked it back up to tow up as far as possible. Then we pushed it to the far corner of my driveway. It was 6am and I had a dead RX7 in my driveway stuffed with who knew what? Exhausted, we walked to the other to unchain. And then miracle of miracles, it started. It sounded like a million popping chainsaws echoing through my quiet neighborhood. Then after warming up, and the sound not lowering, we backed up. Only to slip the tires off the trailer and into the middle. He gunned and gunned and louder and louder until I talked him back onto the trailer and backed off. It was now almost 7am. Parked it next to the other RX7 and paid the man.

I walked into the house, apologized to my wife, asked her to apologize to the neighbors until I could, took a shower, and fell headlong into bed for the next few hours.

[Senator]

The next day, I looked out my balcony to the sight of 2 RX7 race cars sitting in my driveway. I went down and looked at them. Painted to look like the Mazda Lemans 1991 victory cars, they did look pretty cool. The delivery driver said that every time he stopped, people would come up and ask him about them,.

I have already decided to paint over the cars, and give them a new livery personality. Because these are so identified by the famous rotary engine, we decided to tie the name to that, and call the team Rotary Republic. Some people have said, "how clever, like notary public", or "rotary republic - is that like an offshoot society of the Galactic Republic?"

I don't know. I just needed a team name.

Sauncy came over about noon, and we did a cursory dig through the parts, tires, and wheels that came with them. Lots to inventory. I have at least 2 1/2 extra sets of wheels and tires that look race ready, with the exception of one tire with a flat spot from a spin out. Lots of gaskets, bearings, brake pads, and even a full transmission. I was told these were 1983 engines, but Sauncy and I were not seeing what I expected to see on the engine based on my trusty Haynes Automotive Repair Manual.

We started up the running RX7 - I will call #89 from now on, and let it warm up. The tachometer worked, so did the temp and water gauges, I got inside. I am 6'3 and weigh 215 pounds, It was a tight fit on the butt and hips. The seat was on a slider, and I was able to have plenty of room for my legs. The immediate question was the roll cage. Did it pass inspection, and was my head room at least 2 inches from the top? I backed it up into the street and took it for a spin around the block. Third gear seemed a little to enter, and the stick was a bit mushy, but this thing was the loudest, race car thing I ever heard. I drove back in the driveway, and Sauncy took a spin. Wow, it was loud. He said he had 4 different old men come out of the homes to give him the skunk eye,

But it ran, and that was something. The other would turn over but not start. Bummer. Clay said he would come over tomorrow with another team member I had yet to meet, named Matt. 4 man teams are the minimum, so we still needed one more.

I talked with another co-worker who seemed over the moon, named Clay Clifton. Another Clay. But, it turned out he is on vacation during the race in April, and cannot attend. Matt emailed me he had another guy who might want to join, and was a good wrench. Would be nice to get a solid team.

I drove around later today to continue my search for storage buildings. Late Friday, I found a place close to my house where I could store both cars, and had lights and electricity. 160 a month, and my cost just increased. As expected.

Bought about 500 dollars worth of tools, compressors, jacks, jack stands, creepers, race fuel jugs - ect ect.

Then I took some photos of the roll cage and sent it to LeMons tech for verification.

[Senator]

On Saturday, Clay and Matt came over to inspect the cars and help me move them to the new location. My wife was extremely happy. All the neighbors had already come by and thought they were the coolest things in the world. I was forgiven for my Thursday night noise bombing.

Matt was a big guy, about my height and maybe weighed a little more than me. He would be a tight fit as well. I am worried I might have to buy another wider seat for the car. Our 6 point harness is good until June of 2016. Also, the rules changed on the cage. I am one bar short on the passenger side. I got an email from the main tech guy saying.

"Hey:
Thanks for the pix. For starters, it absolutely would not pass without two door bars on each side per LeMons Rules (all the cage stuff is covered in section 3.E.1).

That said, these photos really aren't clear enough or well lit enough to see what else is going on with the cage--I'm not able to see what's going on with the spreader plates, for example, or the joints between main members, or the bends. All of those are important, and they'll all get checked during the physical inspection.

While it's impossible to say definitively that something will pass just from a photo, it's often pretty easy to spot what will NOT pass. Definitely the best, easiest things you can do at this point are: A) download the How Not to Fail Tech PDF print it out, and walk all around the car with the document in one hand comparing it to what you've got. B) Do the same with the Tech Sheet C) Take good, clear, well-lit pix showing the cage in relation to the rest of the car overall, and also in its particulars--the spreader plates, the bends, and all the main joints--and send those to me and John Pagel (cc'd above) to eyeball. We're happy to .
John "Jay" Lamm, Chief Perpetrator"




Well crap. I hope this is a simple weld one more bar, but I need to check the spreader plates as well as the joints and bends.

We drove over #89 with no trouble, I let it accelerate a little on the main road, and it takes off really well. Hopefully, we just need to do some flushing out of the oil, gas, and change belts and maybe brake pads, repaint it, and race this thing. Maybe.

The other car, I think I am going to sell. #25, we had to tow to the place, and was thinking we would try to get it up and running on Jan 9th. That's only 3 months to have the other one ready to run. The cost are adding up.

I signed us up for the April 9th-10th race called the North Dallas Hooptie, and $1300 dollars later, we are #89 for the big race.

[Vince, Pt. II]

My roommate is 6'2" (I think?) and used to race Miatas. He removed the seat from his and put in a Lotus seat that sits much closer to the floor and gave him the room he needed. I don't know how it would work in Lemons, but it's definitely not out of the question (or even that difficult). Whether it's cost prohibitive or not...I don't know. But he's not exactly rich.

[Senator]

I have been looking at the track we will race in April.

It's called Eagles Canyon. 11 turns, a few long straightaways that can get you over 100mph pretty easily, and a high bank in turn 7 and 8. If you are running anything close to a 2 minute lap, you are screaming around the track.

[Senator]

To be fair to others who might be interested in doing this, I have the breakdown cost so far before I have run a race,

2 RX7's - year 1987 - $2,751
Shipping from Florida - $1,100
Storage - $180 a month x 12
Tools so far - $500
Entry Fee - $1300
Racing Suit - $300
Haans Neck Device - $350
Helmet SA2015- $500
Gloves, Balaclava,Shoes $150
TOTAL $9,111


Still to go possibly:

New Cage $1500
Cage Welded $1000
New Seat $1000
Paint $200
Decals $150
Numbers $100
Communications $250
Fuel Jugs $150
Overlay Software $2000
Additional Parts $1000

[Vince, Pt. II]

Woof, you weren't kidding about those costs. Jeez.

[Senator]

I was asked to show a pic of the suit I am wearing and what books I have been reading.

G-FORCE Racing Gear SFI 3.2a/5 545 Nomex driving suit in semigloss Black 1 piece

I won't have to wear any special underclothes for fire hazards, and this is a very comfortable suit.

This one is an XL.

[Senator]

The book I a been thumbing through for a week.
The book I will be reading for the next year of life.

[Senator]

I have been told if you are a rookie driver or experienced, this is the bible for training. Some have said it is better than any driving school they have attended.

This is a book that already has had me go, "oh, I get it", and even though I never use a highlighter in a book - I have begun using one on this one.

[Senator]

This Grand Prix Who's Who has every single driver who has ever raced even one qualifying heat in the history of F1.

This 800 page mammoth book is hard to hold because of the weight, but hard to put down as history pours out of each page, and the statistics are as deep as you care to go.

[Lord Letto]

Very Interesting, I'm thinking of saving some money to maybe start Racing in the Following years (if not 2017 then maybe 2018), Maybe buy a Cheap Beater Local for $250-500 and turn it into a Race Car that can be used at a Local Paved Oval (1/3 or 1/4 mi) and If Possible maybe Run a Chumpcar Race at CTMP/Mosport.

[Senator]

The last 3 months have consisted of some cold weather work. We have had to replace quite a bit on the car but all stock stuff. The car was in worse shape than expected. The springs are not even springs, but glorified paper clips.

I have remade the livery to a Mishima inspired theme. We have to work on the roll cage on the passenger side, and touch up some stuff, but it's almost go time for the race.

[Senator]

We were car #89 - the 87 RX7. We had a car that last ran in South Florida in 2010. Bought it off eBay and tried to keep it as close to current condition as possible in the vain hopes we wouldn't be class A. This was one of a million rookie mistakes. Failed to pass tech on 3-4 items and was told to fix it and come back early Saturday.
Then onto the BS inspection. I do not know the judges by name, and there seemed a lot of them in the BS barn. I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting the aggressive anger coming from most of them. It felt like I was a little kid being yelled at for showing up. While I was under the impression this was all in good fun, the judge with the soul patch was in no mood for our rx7 rolling in there. Even my case of Texas Shiner Bock as a bribe/Texas welcome was ignored. I have a pretty thick skin and understand the need to put the fear of God into our knuckleheads, but I was wondering, "I thought they wanted people to race?", instead of looking for reasons to drive you away.
After working through Friday, we passed tech at 9 on Saturday, and I took the first turn. When we finally went green, everybody zoomed past me. I sputtered around the track for 4 laps and came in. We took the fuel filter off, and mud and rust came out. We got a new filter and pump at O Reilly's and took the fuel tank to a car wash and cleaned it out. The new fuel pump did not come with a sock so we cleaned the other as best we could. We lost 3 1/2 hours of track time.

But back on the track after the rain, we were suddenly fast. Not #555 or Iroc Maiden fast but our times were in the 2:20 range. We finished the day in the low 40's.
Sunday we had a much better time running with the exception of leaking fuel and finding a new gas cap to fit, as the judge with the soul patch told us once again we had one chance to fix it or he'd send us home. (Seemed like a really knowledgeable guy, but he had zero interest in us having fun. I think his concern is keeping people safe and being aggressive and gruff is probably the best way to do it. I still dreaded having to interact with him, though)

We received 2 black flags. Both were spin outs from trying to race with the big boys. My finest and worst moment was running a 2 lap duel with #555 300 ZX car and the #14 Beamer where we were all together and not running off from each other. Turns were a battle and straightaways were neck in neck. It was so fun. But that dip into turn 10 with curly-q fries springs and original suspension was no match and I spun out.

They wanted to tape me to the roof, but instead someone complained our numbers were too small, and we needed to stencil them larger, and you get one chance, then you go home.

We managed to pass inspection, go out and finish the race 38th. Total race time off the track was almost 7 hours.

Impressions:
1) immediately was impressed with how friendly everyone was. Constantly vets came up and introduced themselves and were really nice people. This was on display all weekend.
2) i wished that I had been better prepared for the judge/driver relationship. I think it's a pretty thankless job, and keeping that whole scene safe is an incredible accomplishment. Tough love is very appropriate but I wasn't quite expecting it.
3) the only trouble we had after we sorted the car was trying to beat the lap time of the lap previous and keeping up with the #555 or #111 or about a dozen others. Trying to be Senna is pretty dumb in an endurance race. Lesson learned in backing off and putting laps in. While the thrill of the battle with those guys is great, sitting in the black flag area tells you all you need to know.

4) felt like a rookie, was treated like a rookie, drove like a rookie, but we saw the checkered flag and was still running. Learned so much from what was a pretty intimidating beginning to this adventure.

[digamma]

Congrats! Sounds like an incredible experience.

[MacroGuru]

How did I miss this initially...damn this is awesome!

[Vince, Pt. II]

That's fantastic, nice work Senator!

[Senator]

A few photos: