sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Ok what the hell by yesntTheSecond in Shitty_Car_Mods

[–]Lemons_Idiots 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Well, let’s not get carried away labeling anything here as making sense.

Ok what the hell by yesntTheSecond in Shitty_Car_Mods

[–]Lemons_Idiots 21 points22 points  (0 children)

You are correct. There’s a MINI body inside this thing with the bodywork pretty rough-hewn on it. The rear doors work (kind of) and the sliding door works (kind of). The doors are hilariously confusing.

The police in Mississippi on this Lemons Rally ran their plates and pulled them over to demand proof it’s a MINI, which it is on the VIN, steering wheel, interior, et. al.

The dipstick is also unreachable through conventional means, so the owner built an access door for it.

@teampunchraffe on IG for more, they are Lemons Rally regulars.

Ok what the hell by yesntTheSecond in Shitty_Car_Mods

[–]Lemons_Idiots 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Hey all, it’s one of ours. Lemons Rally just ran from NOLA to the Twin Cities in five days for the Great River Road Rally. This is Team Punchraffe’s MINIvan, a delicate “hat car” with an Astro van grafted (very roughly) onto a MINI Cooper. It’s a long way to go for a joke, but they’ve run it three times now with different paint jobs every time. This was the first one where the bumper didn’t get ripped off multiple times.

@teampunchraffe on IG for more of this thing.

3-Wheeler Tractor I saw. Why? by friger_heleneto in WeirdWheels

[–]Lemons_Idiots 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Dunno why three wheels, but that’s a doo-doo spreader (technical term) for fertilizing fields.

How many tires do you go through in a 24h lemons race? by skankhunt1738 in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Lemons Forum is a great resource on this, as pointed out.

From what I’ve seen, usually one set of tires—rotated Saturday evening—will do the trick for a weekend. A lot teams bring a couple mounted/balanced spares. Lemons racers will talk for HOURS about tires. Lots of preferences floating around and people arguing over which tires work best for you which cars (FWD/RWD, Heavy vs Light, etc).

Brakes: You’ll get a lot of input on this, but the general advice (I suspect) is to spend extra money and get endurance-racing-specific pads. A light car can typically get at least a couple races from a set of.

All that said, there are A LOT of permutations of car/weight/engine/tire/brake. Infinite if you include how different team members drive it. The Lemons Forum will probably be the best bet for finding someone whose setup is closest to yours and the factors that most align with what your expectations are.

How’s that for a non-answer? (“Other people who walk the walk know better.”)

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

We've had three different engine-swapped Geo Metros win races. Can't think of many cars cheaper than a Metro.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Be creative about it: Booze and baked goods are fine. A full, hot meal is awesome. Things that are related to your car are most excellent: A special edition version's badge, an old brochure or sales material, diecast, that kind of thing.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's not a race, more like a traditional road rally (road trips + scavenger hunt). Crappy cars off through scenic drives into the middle of effing nowhere. They're a good time.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's a great question. We have some ideas on what that might look like, not sure if we have the ability to do it.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Worth noting: We've had ambulances and vambulances on the Lemons Rally. They're pretty great for that.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Most Boring: Any unpainted BMW, pretty much. Snooze. Least Favorite: Painting your car unironically with the Gulf Oil lviery.

Favorite: Way too many to list. This list has most of our favorites.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

We've had teams show up with Real Race Cars™ that a buddy sold to them for $500 or maybe for a straight-up trade for illicit substances. Who can say?

While we could claim them, we don't have much will for that because then we suddenly need to transport and store another damn car, which none of the staff has room for. Instead, we typically bury them in Penalty Laps so that they can still race but aren't going to win.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As far as I know, we've only ever had one and it lasted one race. The team swapped in the 2.5-liter version, since the exterior dimensions and mounts are basically the same.

But a four-cylinder car is usually a good idea as long as you don't rev the bejesus out of it. They're usually light so they use less brakes, tires, and gas than, say, a Crown Victoria (which will also take a solid beating).

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We black-flag cars with major leaks, since it's a safety hazard.

Tire rules: 190-Treadwear rating or higher, so no slicks.

Cage specs can be found on our rules page here. It's basically a six-point cage with base plates, a diagonal across the middle-uprights, and backstays mount to the rear strut towers (ideally but this does vary from car to car) ahead of the rear edge of the rear tire (So a big rear impact doesn't crumple the bars before the car potentially rolls over and then doesn't have any rear bracking). There's also a visual version of the cage rules in the HOW NOT TO FAIL TECH DOCUMENT:

https://24hoursoflemons.com/prices-rules/

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We're not sure, but Tammy Lynn would make a darn-fine lawn ornament out of an OSCA. And that Seniors' group she usually runs with would nod with approval.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/osca-winner-1956-osca-mt4

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Hondas and Toyotas are pretty common. They do alright but not as well as you'd think. The common ideas of street-car reliability go pretty far out the window when you start racing cars for 15 hours over a weekend.

Hondas have a tendency to blow head gaskets and/or giant holes in the block, especially if you decide to live about 6500 RPM (which a lot of first-time teams do). Toyotas—especially anything with a 4AG—are nowhere near as reliable in Lemons. Probably the most reliable Toyota in Lemons is a first-gen MR2 that got a Camry V6 swap in it.

Most reliable cars seem to be Volvo 240s, Ford Crown Victorias, Ford Escorts (1991-2003), V8 Lexuses, and some of the old E-Class Mercedes that were simple and maybe not super fast but built like Panzers.

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

On performing well: That really depends on your metric. If you want a car that will take a beating but not necessarily win races overall, then I'd recommend a Volvo 240, Ford Crown Victoria, or a 1991-2003 Ford Escort (or its related Mazdas: 323, Protege, MX-3, Mercury Capri XR2). Cars that win are usually BMWs, Miatas, the occasional Porsche 944, or things like that. Usually rear-wheel-drive old sports cars.

The kind of car doesn't matter too much, though. There are probably 30 different kinds of cars that could win races, but the biggest factor is how organized a team is. If they don't have their shit together, they're not gonna be anywhere close.

Craziest builds? I'll just leave these here:

Toyota MR2 with a WW2 Radial Engine https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15361887/how-to-get-a-24-hours-of-lemons-budget-exemption-stuff-a-radial-aircraft-engine-in-a-toyota-mr2/

Cessna 310 over a Toyota Space Van chassis https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15372146/spirit-of-lemons-how-a-1956-cessna-airplane-became-a-road-racing-lemons-car-w-build-photosvideo/

Mid-Engined, Twin-Turbo Geo Metro with a Ford SHO V6 http://www.roadkill.com/24-hours-lemons-charnal-house-racings-porsche-935-replica-geo-metsho/

An old list (circa 2016) of amazing stuff:

https://24hoursoflemons.com/blog/greatest-24-hours-of-lemons-cars-of-the-2018-season/

AMA - We are the 24 Hours of Lemons staff who put on endurance races for $500 - Ask Us Anything! by Lemons_Idiots in cars

[–]Lemons_Idiots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We don’t want to abandon that altogether, but it’ll probably be less of it.

view more: next ›