New rules, read them and weep

RULE CHANGES FOR 2011
Since Carolina's deadline is tomorrow (and Houston's the week after that), we figured it was high time to show you the updated 2011 LeMons Rulebook.

Not much has changed; mostly, it's just clarifications of existing rules and policies. There are a few substantive differences, tho, probably these ones the biggest:

• People's Curse voting gets re-thought again. It used to be too easy to get cursed; lately, it's been too hard. The 2011 system ought to fall right in between. 
• Minimum helmet standards are going up--it'll be SA2005, rather than SA2000.
• Seatbelt life gets extended--belts are now good for 5 years, not 4.
• Shoulder harnesses can't be further apart at their mounting points than at their seat-entry points. (A minor, easy tweak that can give big gains in safety.)
• Cars will need all of their doors, and OE hoods.
• Shortened (aka "cut-down") cars will be exceedingly unlikely to pass tech.
• Nomex socks become mandatory.
• No more fuel rigs, dry brakes, fuel-transfer pumps, etc: For 2011, you can fuel from the track pumps or hand-held, 5-gallon-or-smaller jugs only.

That's the important stuff, but make sure to check out the full 2011 Rulebook here and the 2010-vs-2011 strikeout version here. These links are also up now on the regular LeMons Rules Page.

Best regards & see you at the track--JL

Claus had this to say...

It took us 2 years to figure out fast fueling is a good idea. It took more out of Doug's wallet that Ruby is worth to realize 30 sec refueling times. And one quick e mail from the chief perpetrator to dash it all to Hell.  Back to the drawing board...

Lugnut

Lemons Write-up in "The Truth about Cars"

I would like to say we were featured in this article, but we show up un-named in the penalty section. Good shot of a couple of terrorist though.

arse-freeze-a-palooza-day-one Writeup by The Truth About Cars

And then there is another from Murilee on the TSA penalty .

Security Theater For LeMons: The Totally Sketchy Administration Penalty!

And the car is home in 1 piece

Race done

Claus brought it home to the checker. We finished in 41st place!
It is a little hard to see in this picture, but the last row in the 1st column is car 96, with 250 laps in 41st place.

10 minutes to go

Claus had a little fender to fender action, but he is out again. We have climbed to 44th with a couple more spots within reach.  Rain is working in our favor.

Rain time

Wipers are working and Claus is running circles in the rain. Lots of spins (on other teams) but Claus is clean. We are thinking one hour to go.

Next shift

Tony had a great run with the exception of a black flag scare early on. He came in but the flag was for someone else. After that it was mostly clear sailing but as the day wears on and attrition takes it's toll the speeds are getting higher and everyone is putting in their crazy drivers.

We just switched out to Claus and depending on when they call the race tonight we'll either put Doug back in or let Claus run out the clock.

The car is doing well but the transmission leak must be taking it's toll as 4th gear is getting harder and harder to get to.

We've had sun all day, but the clouds have started rolling in and we've got drops now. We've been running in the 50's for some hours, sometimes higher and sometimes lower. At the end of 12 hours we are in 54th.

Still running

Doug was in and out a couple of times at the end of his shift. They wanted him out and back to check the fuel, then the transponder folks wanted him out and back to test the transponder. Once we sorted that out I got into the car.

I had a nice and uneventful shift and we have just fueled up and sent Tony out on the track.

Time for lunch.

Doug in for a technical

Doug has been having a great drive but they black flagged him for a technical. Doug is leaking gas. Our penalty is to fix and head back to penalty box to verify.

Turned out the gas cap was loose and it was sloshing out.  We had to go out to test and then bring it back a lap later.  If not fixed, we are done.

Driver change

After the accident thing have gone smooth. Kirsten drive out her stint in the car and now we have a new tank of gas and Doug is in the car running laps.

Ouch

Another car ran into the back of Kirsten on the straight. We got called in to have the car checked for damage. None for us, but the tow hook on our car lanced the radiator of the car that hit us and they are done. She is back on the track with no damage.

Green flag, race is on

Kirsten is in the car and we are on the track on green flag. We are running the track backwards today so everyone has got to find new lines. At least there is no rain...

Hard to take a photo of a race car with low light on the iphone, but that is the only way I can post the pictures for now and this is the best "action" shot I got.

Race day 2

We had a nice sunrise today. Especially nice since we could see the sun before it hid behind the high clouds. Looks like a clear but cold day.

We are getting the pits up and now and setting up for day 2.

We finished day 1 in 50th place out 173 cars and were as high as 45th. We have 117 laps while the leader has 145.

That will need to be Fixed Later

After two days with the car on track a list of "That will need to be Fixed Later" has developed. These items are things that are not to bad, but will need to be looked at.

Here is the list of repair items.

• Rear left drive shaft boot
• transmission drive train seal
• roll bar repair
• Box driver side support
• Added overhead bar.
• Front Right Fender
• Rear Differential
• Radio Head Sets
• Nut Behind the wheel (Work on tank slapping avoidance)

Day 1 complete

Tony fished the day and brought the car in. We stopped in the HQ to see what the deal with Claus was and they sent us on our way. Spent a lot of time on the track. I'll check when they post the results in a while where we stand.

Bummed to have lost 1 car but happy to have had one run the whole day fairly clean.

Another driver switch

Claus ran into another car, but didn't get a black flag so we sent him back out again. He ran for an hour and we just brought him in to switch drivers to give Tony a shot at today.

We are hoping to finish the day with Tony driving.

Round and round we go

Right after Tony went out, he got a black flag. He got a TSA penalty so Doug and Tony dressed up as terrorist and the rest of the team had to scramble and get boarding passes written up from other teams and then they had to get a pile of band items to try to get through the "TSA" screening process.

Once we finished that I hopped into the car and drove till the gas tank was empty. I'm now sitting down to lunch while Claus is out putting down laps and we have been moving up the standings.

Rich's car is down for the count. Another head gasket :-(

Lunch time

Doug ran till noon without any further mishaps. We brought him into the pits, fueled up and changes drivers to Tony who is now back on track turning circles.
Rich has a blown turbo, so we are waiting for the parts to cool enough and then we'll pull the turbo and send him out.
Until then we are having a pulled pork lunch. Yum.

Bad news on 102

Doug spun but they haven't black flagged him so we leaving him out for now.

The bad news is Rich is getting a tow in after a big black cloud.

The car is going on the jack stands and but there is no oil in it. More in a bit.

Black flag #1

Kirsten spun at the turn before the hot pits and ended up in the mud. Doug is heading on track as driver #2 as we decided to do mandatory driver pulls when you pick up a black flag as we have had too many double offenders in the past.

Rich's car wasn't reading the temps an given the history of blown head gaskets he wisely came in to get the sensor fixed and he has just rolled out on the track.

Green flag

Everyone is up to full speed. Rich has just come back to the pits and 96 is running laps.

Race on

The clouds have raised so we have light but still a little drizzle. As the only driver with rain practice, we have Kirsten in the 96 car as the first driver.

Rich is getting suited up and hopefully the 102 car to hit the track soon too.

Cindy rocks!

Breakfast of champions today. Hot off the stove, sausage sandwiches.

Race day 1

The crew is starting to show up, the coffee is brewed and and race day is here.

Both cars are ready to go this morning (mostly) and the evening wasn't too late last might so we shouldn't have too many sleep deprived drivers today.

This big challenge is the weather. I don't know whether to call it fog or rain but it is a grey and dreary day at the track. Visibility is good enough that we don't need to mount lights to the car but we'll see how the day progresses.

Practice Day Summary

All-in-all a good day.  Doug's car is in group B (sucks but might finish the race) with 0 BS laps.  Rich's car ended up in group A (possible contender) also with 0 BS laps.

We got Rich into tech just as they were closing and Jay went through the car and gave them a small list of things to clean up before racing tomorrow.  Given the engine landed in the car at 11:00 am this morning for the first time, this is a great accomplishment.

We had a fabulous sausage fest dinner, and wrapped up early-ish.  The work on both cars is pretty much done, so we'll get to the track early, sort out driver orders, go to the driver's meeting and then get on the track for real.

Claus is the current hot-shoe from the test laps today.  The lap time to beat is 2:16.

Car 2 has arrived.

We've been turning laps all afternoon. A list of things to do tonight, but since things are running we are happy.
The second car has just arrived. The engine made it in this morning and we are pulling it out of the trailer and sending it off to tech inspection, hopefully before it closes.

Out testing the track and car.

We flew through tech and BS inspection once we finally got here...
The electrical gremlins that stopped the trailer followed up with more when we couldn't get the RV generator running. We sent Doug out to start the day while I fixed the RV. Success on both fronts.
Claus and I have gone out as well and Tony has the car out now. Overall it is a very fast track with a lot of time on 4th gear and occasional trips to 5th. We have more laps in now then some past races so that's good.
We do have a check list for tonight. One exhaust pipe has smoke every time we start up, there is some oil on the ground an the safety folks would like a new pipe added to the top.
We have seen the second car yet but the did called in when they were leaving LA.

Still haven't left home :-(

Well, we got up early, but as soon as we started driving we realized we were dragging at the trailer hitch.
We wanted to flip the ball an raise the trailer but the nut is stuck. After running around a bit, home depot opened at 7:00, we built up a new hitch and should be on the road soon. Looks level and we are trying to leave again.

We hit the road and realized that we had no lights, and even worse, no brakes.  15 minutes on the side of the road to figure out that the cable adapter had no ground wire and we were getting a ground through the hitch and that wasn't working with the new painted (and thus insulated) hitch.  Good thing all the wiring tools were in my car.  On the road again...

Packed up and ready to go

It is time for bed as tomorrow starts very early, but the RV and trailer are packed and we drove the car into the trailer so it will at least run that far.  I got this in a good luck email earlier today and felt I should share it, flat tire racing is ready to Christmas season.  I hope Santa doesn't end up giving us too much coal this year...

Email notifications

There have been many requests to get email notifications of changes like we had on the old site. I've added a feebburner link over on the right side of the screen, you should just have to add your email address and then once a day you'll get any updates to the site delivered to your inbox. And if we don't post anything, no spam. Try it out and let me know what you think in the comments.

Over the race weekend, we'll be able to post updates via SMS messages, so we should have lots of updates as interesting events unfold.