Penalty box

The D has been flawlessly turning circles from the start of the day. Brandon took the car out first and then we put Kirsten in at the first driver change. We have moved up from 42nd last night to 37th at last check.

I started the day in the Z. We got off to a rough start as the alternator wasn't charging again. We swapped the alternator and then got onto the track.

From there I had a great run and was all set to get my cookie since that is the no-black-flag award. We fueled up, topped off the radiator and sent Claus out on the track.

A couple of laps later and he was in the penalty box. The infraction was speeding in the pits. 20 mph and the limit is 10. But since it was at pit exit, it was my speeding ticket on the way out, not Claus. One hour in the box :-(

So here I sit... No cookie for me.

The Z is out for the day

Tony had a nice run and with the new throttle cable the car is much better. So much better that Claus cooked a turn and spun. That is our third flag for the day and we have a 3 hour penalty. Since we are about an hour and half from the end, the Z is done for the day.


The D is running smooth and Rod is coming for a driver change.

2 hours to go...

And Kirsten was hit coming in to the second to last corner before her pit stop and switching drivers.

A quick trip through the penalty box and counter to the general all-fault rules (also known as this is lemons and we all suck rule) they let us drive through and sent us to the pits to check for damage.

The hit was to the rear quarter panel and it spun Kirsten around. She manage to save it and kept the car on the track and there was no damage beyond replacing some tie wraps and some new paint we'll need to apply. Claus was on the track in less than 10 minutes.

We are now in 21st place with 5 or so cars within 5 laps ahead of us so we may yet move up to a top-twenty finish.

Go Claus.

Race update

Doug ran a very long stint after we let him back on the track and got into no more trouble.

Tony hopped in the car at 3:00 and immediately picked up our first black flag for passing under yellow. The penalty was a stop and go and he is back on the track and I'm sitting on deck.

Tech update and practice

Tech went smooth today. We only have 2 items to clean up, move the fire extinguisher and fix the holes in the floor.

BS tech went less smooth. There was a regular team in Texas the showed up to a lot of races an then finally won one. All the mods from the last 5 races came under scrutiny and we had a lot of explaining to do. The engine from the z32 was the worst part of the grilling. In the end the put us is the A class (a first for us) which means they think we might have a chance of winning. We are choosing to focus on that as a big victory for us. In the end we ended up with 3 penalty laps which is survivable. I bit my tongue and almost asked for 31 to match the car type but didn't luckily.

Doug is out spinning practice laps and I go in next.

Coffee time

Tony ran the chicane straight and we got blacked flagged. When we got to the penalty box they told us the control room enter coffee and we can go when they get coffee.

So... We ran the coffee pot, water, cups, sugar, cream and carrot cake from last night up to the control room and got Tony sprung from the box.

The control room was very happy and so a big thanks to Cindy and Michelle for the coffee and cakes.

Claus is in the car now and has an hour and 30 to the checker flag.

More crime and punishment

The KiaPet car was in the box and a few minutes later back again. Now the driver gets to rest on the roof while the patrol they pits explaining what bad drivers they are.

I hope I drive clean...  It is certainly a good deterrent.

Penalties

No more for us so far, but while the rain is away they have moved the penalties to pit row.

Lots an lots of crowd involvement as they think of ways to make the teams perform.

Criminal scum

Apparently we are criminal scum. We had a long yellow while they cleaned up a mess on the track and then shortly after green Kristen spun while too enthusiastic coming out of a chicane.

Our penalty was to parade her around the pits while dressed in pink criminal scum outfits.

After that we switched drivers to Doug and it is zoom-zoom time.

Something completely different

The Lemon's organizers just posted this link on their facebook page and pointed out that indeed this Car and Driver team is the same as the Lemon's Car and Driver team.  

Made me wonder if they have some new penalties in store for the next race.   It would be fun if they dolled out having to do the parking space 180 over and over until you get it right or the Sumo-wrestling for car-to-car contact resolution.

Rental-Car-Olymics YouTube video

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!

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.

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 :-(

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.