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 Wannabe Racers Wanted: Anyone Welcome

 Created by: Spank
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 Posted: Jan 9, 2020 02:26PM
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About to send PM. Yes I go to the Sonoma one a few times as that is my local track and have been looking for a team to participate with!

 Posted: Jan 9, 2020 12:55PM
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CA
Damn....sounds like a blast.  Have not been able to drive 'racy" since we lost our venue for autocross.
Can;t afford the time off work....or I'd throw my hat in !

 

"Everybody should own a MINI at some point, or you are incomplete as a human being" - James May

"WET COOPER", Partsguy1 (Terry Snell of Penticton BC ) - Could you send the money for the unpaid parts and court fees.
Ordered so by a Judge

 

 

 

 Posted: Jan 9, 2020 12:05PM
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Well, that's one indication of interest!

Shoot me a pm (my email is in my profile) and we can chat more off the board and I can address your questions.

This is always my favorite link to share when talking about racing the mini in Lemons... So Glad Dennis put it together. (and this is with a 998 in it)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVLJblRZNLE


Track at Inde won't be nearly as crowded. That Sonoma race in the video was 147 cars...
https://jalopnik.com/the-top-147-lemons-of-the-sears-pointless-24-hours-of-l-5491672

 Posted: Jan 8, 2020 03:04PM
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OK, I think I am in! Quite a bit of track experience, albeit in a Caterham lol...

 Posted: Jan 5, 2020 07:35PM
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Very fun track and very low car count for a Lemons race in the West.

 Posted: Jan 5, 2020 03:21PM
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I think it was the Marcel (also known as Chichm) that Spank refers that said LeMons is the most fun you can have with your cloths on. I agreed with this sentiment until I tried winter-time TSD rallying.

 Posted: Jan 4, 2020 11:08PM
 Edited:  Jan 4, 2020 11:11PM
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I've offered this up before. The first to bite were the Racine family, who went on to win their class their very first time out...

Mur and Marcel and even CupCake gave it a whirl.  TurboDave came and wrenched but eventually has gotten behind the wheel at a few events himself.

10 years ago, members of the San Diego Minis club built a 62-ish mini in to a $500 racecar. It's won the top award more than twice, and has earned 3 class wins each time with a different engine displacement.

On Feb 29-Mar 1, 2020 24 Hours of Lemons is running at Inde Motorsports Park in Wilcox, AZ. https://24hoursoflemons.com/race/?id=258 It's a fun track (especially if they run the full course again) and will likely be sparsely attended with maybe 40 teams there, tops. for this reason, I feel comfortable bringing out / offering up seats for folks to come drive the mini at that Lemons event. No experience necessary. You can learn as you do. You only need a valid drivers license. I have some loaner race gear, including the required H&N restraint, a couple different fire suits, and a large helmet. You'll need your own socks, and possibly gloves and possibly shoes. A full kit can be rented from racesuitrental.com if you'd prefer to go that route.

I'll need 4 people willing to share the operating costs of the weekend to make this happen. I'm willing to pick you up from the airport in San Diego, put you up a night or two in basic accommodations (first come first served), have you ride out to the track with me Thursday evening Feb 27 and I can get you back to San Diego in time for a mid Monday flight out. Or someone can likely be tagged to help you get to/from the Phoenix airport.

Entry fees are $1380 which includes the team reg plus 4 drivers. That's $345 per person and all of that goes straight to Lemons. You will likely need to get a "competition membership" which means just pay an additional $75. Other expenses include 4-6 yokohama A008 tires (that track eats tires, unfortunately), 6 qts of oil and a filter, a set of ebc red metro front brake pads, a qt of motul 600 brake fluid, plus about 3.5gph of premium pump gas for the racecar, and 100 gallons of diesel fuel for the tow rig, and then some odds and sods like paper towels, brake clean, rtv and the like.   What it boils down to is about $400-ish per person which theoretically would get you about 2 hrs of seat time on Saturday and about 1-1/2 hrs on Sunday. Grand total about $745 per person depending on how oil / gas prices fluctuate and if someone out there wants to throw a bunch of a008 tires at us to use (and include mounting).

This isn't a business for me nor is it a money-making venture. I've raced the mini a bunch of times and it's always fun. I've 'retired" it multiple times. But for low car count events like this, everyone seems to be fairly polite and it gives people a chance to drive a mini "in anger" and flick it around a track. I'll tend to the car and prep it as I do --which is to say, don't expect a vintage race car spec mini. This is still a $500 mini and it'll have a warmed-over 998 in it for this go-round so it gets classed in Class C, hopefully, and you'll have something to feel like you are racing for. Your main competition will be a Borgward Isabella Coupe and a porche 924 with some non-turbo volvo diesel engine grafted into it.

If nobody wants to do it, it's fine. I just didn't want to feel guilty for NOT offering it to the mini community and letting the mini just sit and collect prairie dust for another year while I'm out at the track in a different car.

[edit: I guess I should add that I need to know by the end of January. Registration has already opened, but I'm pretty sure I can let people drag their feet until 4 weeks out at that time I'll need to lock things down]