Many of you said a twin-engined Toyota race car would never work, but the Doublesuck MR2/Corolla combo (automatic transmission in the back, manual in the front) went out onto the Reno-Fernley Raceway track for some practice laps today and did just fine!
West Coast teams tend to come up with the best (or, in this case, most disturbing) themes for their race cars.
Since this is Nevada, many of the teams decided they’d pack heat to the race. Sorry, guys, no shooting each other in the paddock!
White Trash Barbie And Ken brought their matching pink P71 Crown Vics, which picked up some BS laps due to their 3:90 gears and 5-speed transmissions. They’d have done worse, had their CHP costumes not been so great.
Matt Farah was there with Adam Carolla and an unnamed NBA player, shooting some sort of TV thing for Speed. Yes, a 7-foot-tall guy can fit in a caged 300ZX. More info on the show when I learn more.
The Dust-n-Debris Dodge Shadow got destroyed when it bashed the wall at Infineon a couple months back, so the team swapped the running gear over to a 90s Plymouth Duster. This will be a true 24-hour race: green flag at 10:30 AM Saturday, checkered flag at 10:30 AM Sunday. How many of the 80 entrants will be running by Sunday morning? Who can say?
To get an idea of what find racin’ machines passed through the hands of the LeMons Supreme Court today, here’s a video showing seven hours of inspections in a couple of minutes.
Music: Bennie Krueger, “Don’t Bring Lulu”, 1925
I trust that Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce will consume the first eight hours working off its BS laps. Just kidding, I’m sure it got a pass with an engine presentation that shames vintage raced Alfas that change hands for seventy times the LeMons ‘spending limit.’
There’s one of those laid up in my local junkyard. I’m entirely willing to believe that a runner can be had for lemons money.
That doesn’t say much for your judgement. You would have a hard time finding one of the carburetors in use on that car for $500.
That MR2 will be a handful trying to keep the two drivetrains in sync especially with one a stick. They should get a special driver’s award if they finish or an award for the most spin-outs! Which ever way it works.
I bet that type 1 VW with the type 3 engine will be toast in the first two hours.
The unshrouded fan will be sucking in exiting hot air from the engine cooling system & hot exhaust heat back into the engine cooling system. It will get progressively hotter & hotter like an out of control nuclear reactor. Start salvaging some metal ducting and fabricate a quick fresh air duct to that type 3 fan.
I want to see one of the Fords from the malaise era win. Mustang II FTW! These are from the motherlode of $500 “ready to run” cars.
Love the fender vents on the Mercedes. This one you could really call a Merc (ury) with the Ford drivetrain. I wonder if the old school turbo system will ping the motor to death?
I predict the wild Audi UR-something as the winner if they didn’t piss off the Audi gods.
Evil Genuis #2.
We shall see.
Well, since the rear engine has an automatic, it’ll keep itself in sync.
FYI,,, unnamed NBA player is John Salley. Used to play for the Pistons. :o)
Weird. I just read a pretty cool tweet from Mr. Salley.
http://twitter.com/#!/thejohnsalley/status/68866643786346496
Some the photos seem to show “cars” that do not have headlights… do they just not expect to make it until dark?
I think a lot of them use a system like the Rally and Baja cars: a handful of lights bolted to a removable cross bar that can go on or off in a matter of a few minutes. Since everybody will have to stop several times before dark anyway for fuel and driver changes, the extra few minutes you spend plugging in a few lights and tightening a few bolts don’t amount to much of a time waste.
Woah! A Simca 1204?!? I thought those went the way of the Dodo decades ago! Be interesting to see how long it lasts. Where the !@#$ does one find parts for such a thing?
lotta crazy sh*t!!! How’d these guys escape from teh asylum???
Easily one of the worst photos ever tAken of me. Still awesome being there. Thanks Phil!
I want to see more of the MR2olla!
Adam Carolla’s show on Speed is called the Car Show and it will be great to see him back on TV after NBC botched American Top Gear. Get it on, got to get it on, ain’t got no choice but to get it on!