The Truth About Cars has long had an explicit editorial policy and tradition of not covering motorsports.
However, nobody ever said that we couldn’t go racing ourselves. For the first time in the site’s history, TTAC will be fielding a race team. And because we love our readers, we’re having a T-shirt made to commemorate the disaster occasion, and we will be giving those T-shirts away to our commenters.
The rules are simple. Comment in this thread — even if your comment is “I HOPE U GUISE WRECK IN TURN UNO” — and you’ll be entered to win one of five commemorative TTAC Team R107 event shirts. If you don’t win this time, don’t start “cutting” just yet, because we’ll have more to give away.
We will also give T-shirts to the first five TTAC readers who arrive to the race this Saturday, find a team member, and say The Phrase That Pays:
“TTAC 107 plays the hits 24/7 with No Shibari Rope Bondage!”
Doesn’t have to be exact. We want to give these shirts away so we don’t have to fly them home. We’ll also be testing a new TTAC logo at the race. Let us know if you like it or hate it.
The event itself is the Gator-O-Rama at MSR Houston. It’s a true 24-hour race running from 3pm Sat to 3pm Sun.
Our race car will be the one you see above — a lightly-dented Mercedes-Benz 450SLC. Prepared and operated by the pros at FEIND Motorsports, the R107 will feature state-of-the-art telemetry via the RaceCapture/Pro from AutoSport Labs. You’ll be able to watch our lap times and other car vitals live at http://www.race-capture.com. According to the folks at AutoSport Labs, “RaceCapture/Pro brings high tech, real-time race car telemetry to grassroots racers everywhere-something normally reserved for high buck Pro Race teams.” Now, let’s meet our team:
- Derek Kreindler is a LeMons rookie who is making his wheel-to-wheel debut with TTAC Team R107. In the past, he has done a fair amount of karting and has been coached on-track by some of Toronto’s finest racers, or at least people who said they were Toronto’s finest racers. In his spare time, Derek likes beating the “TTAC Staff” robot with a sand-filled rubber hose.
- Mark Baruth is an experienced National-level SCCA autocrosser who is making his wheel-to-wheel debut with TTAC Team R107. A recent graduate of the BOSS Track Attack, Mark likes playing the saxophone, gambling irresponsibly large sums of money, and meeting new people.
- Marc Pfannenschmidt is a multiple SCCA National Champion autocrosser who is, you guessed it, making his wheel-to-wheel debut with TTAC Team R107. Known for his quick temper and fast hands, Marc is likely to be the most interesting driver to watch. Marc’s hobbies include P90X and beating people up.
- Phillip Thomas is our crew chief and reserve driver. A mainstay of the Texas Rally Sport scene, Philip has won plenty of rallycross events, built a variety of cars, and crewed for both Brianne Corn and Dave Carapetyan at Pikes Peak. His current projects are mostly Subaru-based but we’re going to make him learn the R107. Philip is just 22 years old and is the team member most likely to be awake at 2am.
- Jack Baruth has won both 24 Hours of LeMons (Flat Rock ’07) and ChumpCar (Buttonwillow ’13). He co-drove with Murilee Martin and the rest of the Jalopbik V8olvo team for the infamous Altamont ’08 event. He’s currently recovering from the world’s longest case of chronic pneumonia and might not drive the car at all. If he does, you’d better clear the lane, beeeeeeeeyatch.
- The FEIND 450SLC is making its racing debut at this event. It will have no performance modifications, but we are hoping it will run steady and true for all twenty-four hours. It has as many as 180 horsepower to move about 3800 pounds with cage and safety equipment, making it about as quick as a Ford Fiesta. Read more about the R107 SLC and its history here.
That’s all, folks! Hope to see some of you at the race. I’d like to predict an overall victory, but my only prediction is that at some point some Baruth will lose his temper and throw something at another Baruth, at which point both of them will commence to internecine punching. You don’t want to miss that!
Wish I was in Houston! Go TTAC Team R107!
Sounds like a great time! Hopefully the Merc will survive the entire 24 hours without any disasters… but if so, it should make an interesting read for later. Best of luck!
Destroying an old Benz by going racing with it? Noooooooooh. Say it isn’t so!
It’s already destroyed, isn’t it?
I mean, it’s a Lemons car. It’s definitionally ready-for-the-shredder already.
A 450 SLC isn’t useful for anything else, honestly – and I say this as someone who loves old Mercs.
Still, I find it very sad. I am old enough to remember how desirable they were when new. Now the poor thing is just banger racing fodder. Ah well, I gues there are plenty of others left. At least this one will go out with a bang and not a whimper. It may even have an illustrious career ahead of it, hehehe.
Did someone say free t-shirt?
Drive to win!
Sounds like fun! what year and how many miles are on that creampuff?
For one – am I crazy, or does that fixed-roof body style make it a C107?
For two – no rope bondage? Booooring.
For three – man, I wish I could make it down. I’ll be at Hooptiefest, but I know Loudon is up in a backwoods corner of the country, and for that matter the continent.
You’re right, it’s technically a C107.
I don’t think there are any differences apart from the roof, much like the W114 and W115 are identical outside of the engine compartment (and nigh identical inside it*.)
(“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.”)
+1 Just for quoting Groucho Marx.
Ummm, “break a leg” ?
>> break a leg
and slap a piston, blow a gasket, and pop a wheelie. Good luck guys.
Obligatory: “I HOPE U GUISE WRECK IN TURN UNO”
Also, don’t accelerate into any concrete barriers, at least not ones that are in front of any bodies of water.
That stellar lineup is sure to make it well beyond turn 2. But hey, accidents happen…
How funny, a white 560 SL just randomly appeared at the local mechanic shop today…way nicer shape than Team TTAC’s though, and with those chrome 80s M-B wheels. R107s sure aren’t very common any more though, not nearly as reliable as W124s, W126s, or W140s I guess.
Just as reliable, just a LOT more rare in the first place. They come out to play in the summertime here, saw a lovely red 560SL just yesterday.
In for the free T-shirt win! Hope you have some in size ‘fat bastard’.
And I hope you are on the mend Jack, I had a bought of pneumonia over Christmas/New Years last year – no fun AT ALL.
Gotta love how a car can be made for 17 years straight and still somehow be rare.
“R107s sure aren’t very common any more though, not nearly as reliable as W124s, W126s, or W140s I guess.”
Naw, like krhodes said, just less common.
W124s were, after all, E-classes, quite common.
Even the W126 and W140 S-classes were more common than the SLs.
Combine that with the W140 outlasting them in production (being newer), and it’s no surprise.
Everything I know about the matter says the R/C107s are rock-solid reliable (ceteris paribus; they’re also mostly older, especially the 450s, and thus getting unreliable from sheer age); they’re really built like tanks.
The W140 is not aging as well, thanks to a biodegradable engine wiring harness, while the W126 is similar to the R/C107 in longevity.
The W124 E-classes seem to last forever. I’ve seen some rather rough examples that I continue to see driving around because I guess they just refuse to die.
I just bought an R107 560SL, about which more will be writen after the weekend….
This should be a fun story.
Excellent choice, Jack. I drove a W126 560SEL for years-was my first car, in fact. Surprised more than a few people-including a poor SOB in a TL Type S-with that thing.
I’d consider picking up a R107 for myself at some point but they’re not very comfortable for me.
Bit of advice: Ditch the stock exhaust system. If you can get a set of euro manifolds for it (ebay.de), do so, but even if you can’t, just ditch the stock cat/muffler/resonator setup.
With the euro spec manifolds you’ll pick up the better part of 50hp, just getting some less restrictive mufflers on it should be good for 25ish or so based on my experience with my 126. It makes a world of difference to throttle response, too; the stock exhaust on these things is awful.
Can’t believe you picked the 450SLC for less than $500. Where can I find one for that much?
It’s not hard, really. Under LeMons budgeting rules, if you’re a bit over, but sell, say, most of the interior and other unnecessary trim bits to recover the overage + give you some budget for repairs/mods, it still counts. But you’d better bring documentation to prove it to the LeMons Supreme Court.
Horrible R107s are available cheap these days, though, so it’s not too hard to find one that can be bludgeoned into running condition for LeMons money.
Hell, someone had a ’95 S600 out at Lemons a few years back with a radioactive title due to some diplomatic and drug asset seizure connection. A clapped out 30 year old Merc barely registers on the high-dollar Lemons racer scale.
Professor Plum: I work for UNO, the United Nations Organization.
Colonel Mustard: Another politician. Jesus!
Professor Plum: No, I work for a branch of UNO. W.H.O., the World Health Organization.
About every 6 months I get the urge to cruise craigslist for one, and then I remember you couldn’t get one optioned with a manual in the USofA.
As much as I love TTAC, I may have to take Jack to task on the “tradition” of not covering motorsports. I think this is a bendy rule at best considering we just had a story about Napa and Michael Waltrip Racing.
See you at the track Saturday morning. Save me a 3XL. I’m still bigger than the average bear.
Jack Baruth sucks at guitar.
WELCOME TO BANVILLE
POPULATION: ONE F-PRODUCTION AUTOCROSSER
Ketel One is rebranded UV.
doesn’t seem very nice of you to ban my cousin for something I said.
We punish the whole family.
So if your brother gets pissed at you and logs in and says your a wimp for having the sniffles and maybe not driving the policy would have him banned as well as you?? Just asking.
Seems unlikely.
a waste of a good car or good parts car!
There are more than enough R107s out there that a few can be sacrificed in the name of fun without any consequences. The SLCs aren’t nearly as common as the SLs, but there’s at least one or two on the local craigslist at any given time.
How is taking a sports car and using it for motorsports a waste?
Actually, it’s using it for its purpose, finally!
I just hope they do better than my team does.
Hopefully Sajeev and Sanjeev will make appearences.
Have you ever noticed that you never see Sajeev and Sanjeev in the same place at the same time?
Like Batman and Bruce Wayne
Sajeev and his evil twin are doing Supreme Court Justice duty this weekend, but that doesn’t preclude a stint behind the wheel of something… :)
Wouldn’t TTAC have to trade in the Merc and get a Panther if they were there?
Paint Merc brown, ???, PROFIT!
Ur teem will eat a fart in your turdcedes.
I never post comments like that. I just didn’t want to miss an opportunity.
Real question: How closely aligned are the Lemons and Chump car rules? I have a sweet minivan that I’m considering caging and running.
They’re very, very similar–especially in cage rules. Chump requires window nets and next year, they’re requiring fire suppression systems, so check the rules, but it’s not hard to compare the two cage rules and get something together that’ll work for both. LeMons is more strict on cages–you need to preserve factory crumple zones, so they don’t like any rollcage bars sticking out past any of the four wheels.
BRING IT! To everything!
Comedy gold!
What happened to Baruth’s F1 commentaries from the beginning of this season? I loves me some F1 and I enjoyed Baruth’s take.
Let me know when you need my address for that t-shirt. I need a small, though. I am not a large man.
What did I win?
Congratulations! Nice car, and with some rallying heritage too. Mercedes, under the guidance of engineer Erich Waxenberger, himself an accomplished racing driver, rallied SLC’s in the late 70’s up to an unlikely fourth place in the 1980 World Rally Championship
Is your car D-Jetronic or K-Jetronic equipped?
Good Luck! Might the mighty M117 V8 never miss a beat.
Given the Mercedes tie-in through your choice of cars, shouldn’t one of you adopt the “Lewis Hamilton” moniker and another be “Nico Rosberg” during the event?
You’d fit in an FSAE car, right?
Dear TTAC
Subject: Shibari Rope Bondage
Don’t knock it until you tried it. ;)
Sincerely,
Me
P.S. Good luck on the race. :)
How YOU doin’?
I’m doing great. :)
Yourself?
Ha, you crack me up buddy!
P.P.S. My chest causes me to wear a size 1X shirt…
Do we need to set up an indoctrin… err, training session for the editorial staff with Midori?
So you’re racing an old Panzerwagon? Nice!
VTEC just kicked in YO!…uhh no…Overhead cam V8 ftw!
You scrubs better stay away from the PNW if you value your egos!
I just want a T-shirt.
Indeed, 2XL please.
Oh, and good luck: your winning will validate me, since I spend so much time looking at this site. (as does my favorite college football team when they win.)
Have you considered taking a sawzall to that roof and reselling it? Every SL I see on autotrader seems to be listed for at least 2x what a similar SLCs do, regardless of condition. For such a cramped car, they sure ride big and heavy. What is the draw?
They’re outstanding GT cars if you fit in them properly. I’m not especially tall (5’11) or especially heavy (200lbs-ish) and they’ve never been very comfortable cars for me to drive. The W116s and W123s are fine, but the R107 is just… off. Something about the seat height relative to the dashboard.
But, as I said, if you fit, you’d be hard pressed to find another coupe or convertible from the ’70s or ’80s that’s better at cruising at triple digit speeds for hours on end than the 107.
This might provide an excuse to wander out to that track to see what kind of juice that LeMon’s car has.
Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
Or give me a t-shirt.
I will not pander to your solicitation for comments. Good luck any way and like I say to my kids, have fun out there.
Wouldn’t that be a C107?
“The Truth About Cars has long had an explicit editorial policy and tradition of not covering motorsports.”
why is that, if I may ask?
It was Robert’s policy, and Ed’s.
Bertel had no policy on it because it wasn’t directly related to sex toys.
;)
I could be mistaken, but wouldn’t you be the one who get’s to make that call now?
Also, if you do the Detroit race next year I’ll volunteer myself and maybe another one or two Mercedes techs for pit duty.
Amber tint aviators, a turtleneck, and a bottle of Chartreuse, to the extent there may be a team uniform.
I would’ve assumed a gold jacket would be part of that uniform.
I wear a size Large.
Dont crash until turn two.
Get a new radiator and some Rotella T6 in the sump – Serious advice.
I wear a size large
I know people who know people. Fuzzy balls.
Best of luck!
Go TTAC!
Be careful of a Canuck driver in the Houston track. We have a bad habit of looking for snow banks to bounce off to stay on track….
Wish I could be there to see it.
Do us proud DK!
XL or XXL…
KBBL is going to give me something stoooooopid!
Where’s my elephant?
+1
when life gives you LeMons you race em
I want a t-shirt….because racecar!
All I have to say is, if you’re out on the track STAY OFF MY LINE!!!11!
(Not really. But it’s fun to act like a super tough guy online.)
Jack Baruth. Mark Baruth. Admittedly, I’m a casual reader, but is there a relation?
My brother says there is not.
Ima be right there!
<- Must watch out for squirrel…
Good luck. And keep one of those shirts for yourself… You may have to use it to tie the door closed….
First!
2XL, please. Wish I could be there–Houston is, regrettably, a bridge too far.
“Prepared and operated by the pros….”
Cheaters!
Good Luck. XL
Unfortunatly I won’t be able to make the trip, but I wish team TTAC the best of luck and look foward to the results.
But just as a small favor, I’m curious to know what brand of cars will end up holding up the best at this Lemons be it Toyotas, Mercedes, or Volvos (darned things can take anything).
Good luck! Try to keep it out of the danger zone!
But Kenny Loggins taught me to go right into the danger zone.
Ugh. That man is just FILLED with terrible advice. Wasn’t he also advising people to get it on a red-line overload?
Yeah, and he wanted people to cut loose, footloose.
There is a class action law suit working it way thru the courts vs Mr Loggins for his bad advice.
Good luck all!
Gotta be in it to win it.
Hopefully you’ll swap the boat anchor out of the 450, for something totally ridiculous. I’m sure Murilee could send you a L6 from an old Plymouth, but my vote would be the 4.1 or 4.5 out of a Cadillac Allante’.
Best of luck!
‘but my vote would be the 4.1 or 4.5 out of a Cadillac Allante’.’
Ya…and make sure all spectators within a 2 mile radius are all wearing full helmets to protect against the inevitable rod(s) that will be ejected along with fragments of aluminum block.
Hey now, the 4.5 was fine, it was the 4.1 that was rushed into production with a massive pile of problems.
And the 4.9 that followed the 4.5 was sweeter still.
My 4.5L Cadillac has been okay.
Then again I’ve never tried to race it for 24 hours against old Nissan Sentras and BMW E30s.
What have you got? I still see FWD DeVilles with 4.5 or 4.9 power fairly often, and I would probably buy a 4.9 CDV myself if it were cheap and in good shape.
Allante. 164000 miles. Bought it in March.
It was really cheap so it’s pretty trashy and kind of smells like fish, but the engine is fine so far.
“It was really cheap so it’s pretty trashy and kind of smells like fish, but the engine is fine so far.”
This is TTAC at its best.
4.9 is probably the only Cadillac engine worth having after the 425, but 4.x series engines were transverse and I’m not sure if they could be mounted properly to a standard transmission. I’m prepared to be wrong but I’ve never seen it or heard of it being done.
Isn’t the only major obstacle with mounting a transverse engine longitudinally lining up the radiator? Headers could be custom made, the intake could be flipped 180 if possible and necessary, but you would need new radiator plumbing.
No idea. The only other 4.5/4.9 “mod” I’ve heard of is dropping them in Fieros to replace the Iron Duke or 2.8 depending on the model year.
The 4.1 was actually both transverse and longitudinal for a number of years.
The 4.5 and 4.9 was only transverse.
From my experience, the 4.5 was only maginally better than the 4.1. You can’t beat on them like you could a 472/500/425/368.
Maybe the old 500 out of a ’76 Eldo then? I agree mounting a transverse engine in a R107 could be a challenge. Still LeMons is the absurd taken to levels of art–how else can you explain E30s powered by Chrysler Slant-6 engines?
One can never have too many t-shirts.
I’ll wear it once a week forever! I need a new favorite t-shirt to replace my Dirty “Richard’s” Crab shirt. Size L.
Make mine size XL. And make it ‘dirty’.
Careful what you wish for.
A 450SLC? Really? Here are some of the other options from that era: BMW 630/633? Too valuable or too fragile. Jaguar XJS? It might be possible for one to run for 24 hours, but not in a row.
Maybe a Mercedes isn’t such a bad idea. Damn I wish I was in Houston this weekend!
Go TTAC – GO!!!
Can I has a T shirt?
Hammer, duct tape, flat head screwdriver, crescent wrench; yup that qualifies me for Crew Chief
Don’t care for a shirt, just keep that crap can running long enough to bring it to some of the midwest events next year so I can run against you guys!
Who am I kidding, I’d love a shirt. XL.
Good luck!
“Houston, you have a problem.”
Getting in a wreck at turn one? Please…I’m *sure* you’ll make it all the way to turn two!
The four co-workers I set directly by all have German cars. The two with the newer (’11 3 series and ’12 VW CC)are happy with them. the two with older ones (2002M class and 2004 Jetta) not so much. 24 hours in an old ‘cedes. Well you’ll feel comfortable while others push the car.
There is a distinct difference between german cars circa 2000 and the R107. Being that it’s a Lemons car-and thus probably has a service history that’s spotty at best-they may still end up pushing it. But I’d bet money that it won’t be through any fault of the car or its engineering. This thing was designed and built when Mercedes was irrefutably second-to-none in the engineering and quality departments.
In fact, the engine in this thing-the M117 V8-in 5L form, with a couple of turbos bolted to it-was thrown in the Sauber C8 and C9 Group C race cars.
Hmmm, bet I could get five bucks for a TTAC T-shirt on ebay… Ooh, pick me, pick me!
Don’t forget. You don’t have to turn just left
Surprised you didn’t call it Team R12, hope it does not leak freon. Is the trunk full of Grey Poupon?
Rename it something terrible or great from TTAC history, ie The Bertel or The Vagina Grille.
TTAC: Top Time Apex Clipping. Best I could do. XXL, please!
Good luck, boys!
What can possibly go wrong…
I think a parody to MotorTrend’s long term car reviews would work well at this race. Tweak this… BASE PRICE, PRICE AS TESTED, DRIVETRAIN, ENGINE, TRANSMISSION, CURB WEIGHT (DIST F/R) LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT, 0-60 MPH, QUARTER MILE, EPA CITY/HWY /COMB FUEL ECON, ENERGY CONSUMPTION, CITY/HWY, CO2 EMISSIONS, LATERAL ACCELERATION, MT FIGURE EIGHT
Service life, Average fuel economy, CO2 emissions, Energy consumption, EPA City/Hwy/Comb Fuel Econ, Unresolved problems, Maintenance cost, Normal-wear cost
I hope you do well; I’d consider visiting but you’re just a little ways out of my “I’ll hop right over” radius.
I need a new auto-themed shirt for a girl to put on post-coitous, for the walk to the bathroom. It should be the length of a Miami cocktail dress (4″ long total), and hopefully has enough cars and numbers on it that the lovely woman will be embarrassed to wear it, even in total darkness.
Good luck racing!
I wish this was Mid-Ohio, I’d take a drive up!
you guys better kick ass
That 450SLC is a classy ride.
You guys are classy.
Just EVERYTHING on this site is sooo CLASSY.
Hope the T-shirt is classy.
I need something nice and classy.(in XL)
Can you shoot me the tee shirt out of a cannon? If not I dont want it.
Edit- ok, I’ll take it either way.
Good luck and best wishes!
Don’t worry about losing laps when a con-rod flies out of the pan. Just zip tie your transponder to whatever 3-series/Miata/Neon you can find. Then you can JB Weld it together without the pressure of actually returning to the track.
That motor won’t loose a rod, a timing chain yes, rod no.
The 450 is probably the best one for an event like this too. The 560 is way more fragile. The 450 is pretty damn hard to break.
“…making it about as quick as a Ford Fiesta.”
Now there’s an auspicious factoid.
Jack,
I can’t believe you didn’t ask me if I wanted to be a part of this, what with me being President of The Brougham Society and all!
Hey, I know how to drive a car! I mean, I used to own a Mercury Mystique, with a six-cylinder even!!!
That’s a Mercury Mistake you had.
I like how you said “Commenters will get a free t-shirt” on the front page, and then after the jump, the full article said something about “one of five given away in a drawing” to commenters.
Yep, you’ve learned a lot from car ads. The old reel ’em in, then bait and switch game.
You don’t want a 560SLC! Put that car away, Give it to someone who will restore it! You really want an early-2000s Buick Park Avenue…just like the one that has been sitting, unmoved, in front of our apartment complex! Yeah, that’s the ticket!
No? Okay, then just put me in for a chance at the T-shirt.
How much?
I haven’t the foggiest. Ask Macomb County (Michigan) when they tow it away as an abandoned car.
I was going to try to think up something clever, but screw it. I just want a T-shirt.
Looks like fun. Too bad I’m about 3000 miles from Houston. If you have one further North, I’ll be there. Maybe even run you in our LeMons Stratus.
Break a leg.
Bring back Farago!
I would love a t-shirt, sadly, I am at the other end of the country. Just have a great time out there :-)
@ajla: I used to think that most Allantes were white until I saw a red one and a beige one.
In the words of Jeremy Clarkson:
“How hard can it be?”
Can I has XL?
But every time Jezza says that, everything becomes a disaster!
Like his Toyboata.
Well I was going to post “I HOPE U GUISE WRECK IN TURN UNO” but that’s already been done.
Have fun racing guys, don’t get hurt. I wish I was in Houston to see it but I’m a thousand miles away for the time being.
Yep. A disaster in the making! :-)
Do you guys have a metric-sized racing seat for Derek? He’s Canadian ya know!
Commenting just to win a T-Shirt is… Well, pathetic. Make mine a 3xl.
Go get some RBF600 Motul brake fluid. Seriously.
Gotta love how people think these are worth so much more money than they are. I think it will do great. Those who chide Benz reliability are speaking of the newer spread… This era never really stops clanking along. Our W140 LeMon usually beats around 100 cars for finishing position. Worst race yet? 98th of 165… Slow yes, unreliable NOT. What other car can do that with an oil change and a set of plugs, after 200,000 road miles?
The Star from Stuttgart, that’s who. Did Brandon get ya a set of hot M117 cams for it?
I hear that somebody on the team was Born to Drive Sideways.
Go go Team Eisenschwein! XL please. If you are going to do this with original hoses intact, pre-wrap with them with duct tape!
I want a shirt! (and an R107)
On command, I comment just to have a chance at a shirt.
Toss my name in the hat for one of those shirts! I’d love to represent TTAC in and around Saudi Arabia (where every day driving is a life and death experience!)…:)
Will the car out last the drivers?
Will trade BBQ’d ribs for a shirt. Look for the Simca-ized MR2.
That car looks like a POS and I would guess it’s too clean for LeMons.
I can only assume, like every other T-shirt I’ve got for free, it will be way too big and have the texture of construction paper. I’ll think it’s cool for 10 minutes and then clean up a soda spill with it. But gimme that shirt!
I won’t be able to join my fellows in the OK-Speed Tape-R this time around. Smother us with coverage, and keep it shiny side up so we can go Cole Tricklin’ in the future.
Seems like you guys have a pretty solid team. Good luck out there.
That’s awesome. I drove the NSF K-car in NJ last month, and I hope to drive in another LeMons race this season. Can’t make it to Houston though. Good luck!
I hear if you paint the grill black and put an AMG sticker on it you gain over 40 ponies at the wheels, just sayin’.
On a side note, it sounds like Marc would be a perfect bouncer for the comments section.
If you don’t save me a goddamn shirt I’m going to steal all your spares.
Team TTAC…release your inner Steve McQueens!
(My t-shirt size is L, by the way)
What does it take to get some alt text around here anymore?
How do you plan to bribe Murilee Martin? This car looks too nice to pass BS inspection without several fifths of quality booze.
Laugh-a while you can, monkey-boy(s)
I want to see a picture of the t-shirt before I leave a comment.
It’s now time to turn the 450 SLC over to TTAC’s tame racing driver. Some say…
Joe Bonamassa is his biggest fan. And that his pneumonia was caused by inhaling the fumes coming out of the PRS paint booth (his favorite flavor is reverse burst green). All we know is, he’s called The Jack.
Too bad you didn’t source/build your own car. I’d love to see the progress update articles leading up to the race more than the actual race coverage. Either way, send me a t-shirt you internet overlords!
Drive conservatively.
Hold third-to-last place.
Stop early for gas and tires.
Let crazy drivers pass you in the early laps.
Be friendly and wave at them as they go past.
Later, you’ll move up in the pack without doing anything. You’ll have a chance to pass a few guys who have begun to smoke a little.
You still won’t win, but that will give your interns more time to take better video of how well you’re doing.
Make sure you have at least one person on your team with the editing chops to capture the video backwards when you let those crazy drivers pass you. We’ll all be very impressed.
There are aircraft carriers shorter than those SLC’s.
Go team ttac! make me feel that mix of shame and pride I get whenever I tell people I frequent your website!
So what does it say on these T-shirts?
Good luck, I hope to be at one of these one day…
I don’t know how much stock I would put in this contest since I was promised a Bob Lutz book I never received… Derek Kreindler
Ummm free shirt? Just to comment….deal. But seriously good luck to the TTAC team.
Everyone wish Troy a happy birthday! He’s a man! He’s 40! Sorry I can’t make it!
Good luck… if I were a few hundred miles closer and not balls deep in a house remodel I’d consider coming out.
Is this gonna be like that movie thats coming out called Rush? If so, whose gonna be the calm consistent driver and who is gonna be the wild maverick? Wow kewl…
You’re gonna love the C107s on-track handling. I’ve tracked an R107 and it was wonderful in corners, with easy, predictable over-steer. The transmission is a bit poky, but the chassis and engine are sublime. So long as it doesn’t snow you’re golden… and since this race is in Texas I think you’re good on the snow thing.
Have a blast, and say “Hi” to Sajeev from me.
I’ve found “easy, predictable oversteer” to be a defining characteristic of most of their ’70s and ’80s cars. I haven’t had the opportunity to really flog a R107 or a W123, but my 300D (W124) is the same way, as is my 350SE, my brother’s 400E and my dad’s 6.9; my 560SEL did the same thing, too, as did the various W201s that I’ve driven.
They all drive very similarly, in fact. Similarly enough that I have suspicions that they were deliberately tuned to feel as similar to one another as possible. I mean, you can certainly feel the weight difference; the W201 feels much more nimble than the W124, which in turn feels lighter than the 560SEL or the 6.9 (not so much the 350SE-that weighs about what the 300D does), but the way they ride, their handling characteristics, throttle response, steering effort and feel, brake effort and feel… It’s all variations of the same basic thing.
Their newer cars-at least the AMGs-are a lot more tailhappy, in my experience. Not necessarily a bad thing, but having the back end in a S65 step out on you when you weren’t really expecting it to do that can be rather, uh, exciting.
The wife and I drove a dark blue 1980 450SL on our honeymoon trip a couple of years ago. That trip consisted of 5 days winding through the Blue Ridge Mountains on The Parkway and other twisty, narrow roads. Top down, the 450 was a surprisingly fun and capable turn carver- much better than it’s 3800 lb curb weight would make you believe it to be. (and with the wife, myself, and all our luggage onboard, we were surely tipping 4200 lbs with a full tank of gas).
I’ve also autocrossed this car, and found that manually shifting the slushbox gave a very rewarding driving experience. The 4.5 V8 really wakes up at the higher RPMs, and for whatever reason the auto was programmed to keep the revs under 3500.
Default handling is tire-squeeling understeer, and there’s never enough power to really get any rear end rotation, so while I’d never describe it as a “hoot to drive”, it’s at least amazingly predictable. As long as you don’t enter turns boiling hot, it’s pretty hard to find yourself in trouble. Our car’s shod with stock wheels and decent tires (as decent as you can find in a blackwall 14″ these days); I imagine shedding a thousand pounds worth of interior and fitting some sportier suspension and tire/wheel combo would make for a nice momentum car.
Kick some ass. Make us proud!
random comment because i WANT that shirt: at least you didnt crash it in turn uno.
worthwhile comment: i was passing through houston and wanted to stop in, but in the interest of keeping a schedule that would permit me to destroy my body with excessively hot po boys and liters of beer, i passed you by. ill be around at some point.
I assume its too late to get in on this one, but what the hey. I have never been one to actually read the contest rules.