Team Finalgear in the 24 Hours of Lemons

[teletubby-warrior]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

That picture needs labels.

[Viper007Bond]

Where'd you get my "body" ?

[IceBone]

Left to Right: Serj, Quiky, Mrs. Serj (the one with the face to match the shirts (sorry )), McLightning95, hrlyTECH, Papa Serj.

I think.

EDIT: BWAHAHAHHAHA!!!

[TBoneUs]

Also I saw a picture of what looked like a spec miata, A. where did they find one for $500 and B. since they couldnt have found one for 500 without cheating did they get penalized?

[NAIDANAC A]

Originally Posted by TBoneUs

Also I saw a picture of what looked like a spec miata, A. where did they find one for $500 and B. since they couldnt have found one for 500 without cheating did they get penalized?

Story of them on Jalopnik. They got penalized 200 laps.

[Quiky]

But they pushed our car into the pits when it conked out on the back straight... So if that team is reading, THANKS AGAIN!

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Quiky

But they pushed our car into the pits when it conked out on the back straight... So if that team is reading, THANKS AGAIN!

Why did your car die again?

[Quiky]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

Why did your car die again?

Fuel pump reset decided it didn't like me.

[Crazy Vega]

Is anyone gonna be meeting up the night before, or will it just be there at the days of the race?

[Crazy Vega]

Who here is going to be going to the Toledo race?

[Serj]

crazy vega;

I'm currently here with part of the crew with the vic. can't miss us.

[Crazy Vega]

Originally Posted by Serj

crazy vega;

I'm currently here with part of the crew with the vic. can't miss us.

I got there and the lady at the front gate wouldn't let me in without me giving her $75. I only had $33 on me

[Serj]

<@Serajadeyn|LT> it was raining at the track saturday. by the start of the race, the entire pit area was a LAKE
[14:10] <@Serajadeyn|LT> it required waders to get to us
[14:11] <@Serajadeyn|LT> we got everything setup to go, and drove through standing water of at least an inch on the track
[14:11] <@Serajadeyn|LT> most cars were running worn or dry tires
[14:12] <@Serajadeyn|LT> we were able to navigate the lakes, and rip past most cars
[14:13] <@Serajadeyn|LT> but with me on the first stint, got black flagged for transponder issues
[14:13] <@Serajadeyn|LT> prolly lost about 20laps there
[14:13] <@Serajadeyn|LT> had to remount the piece
[14:14] <@Serajadeyn|LT> anyway, when it started working, first update placed us 32nd
[14:14] <@Serajadeyn|LT> by our 4th driver, we had moved up to 25th
[14:14] <@Serajadeyn|LT> second rotation after our fifth driver. i let it RIP.
[14:15] <@Serajadeyn|LT> i beat on the vic and the fat tires held giving us great cornering speed, and much intimidations was had
[14:16] <@Serajadeyn|LT> by then we had moved up to 16th
[14:16] <@Serajadeyn|LT> more fast driving by hrlyTCH and other drivers wedged us up to 12th.
[14:18] <@Serajadeyn|LT> apparently I had set such a blistering pace that it compelled a driver from the team that was running in first place to stop by our pit and honor me. I was so tired i didnt know i had done so well
[14:20] <@Serajadeyn|LT> by the end of our 2nd rotation, roughly 12/13hours in, the car caught a rough patch of asphalt and pitched, then counter-swayed HARD into the inside wall of a pinched area. this blow snapped the center bolt on the Watt's Linkage to the suspension. came in being pushed by a safety car because of the fuel cutoff.
[14:23] <@Serajadeyn|LT> took us several hours under the car prying at brake shields and leading arm linkages to find that the watts piece was off center and rubbing the connector to the diff. we finally managed to remove the linkage, and found that it would likely require either a new rear-end, or drilling out the diff to tap a new bolt
[14:23] <@Serajadeyn|LT> we decided to see if the leading arms could keep the handling at least safe
[14:24] <@Serajadeyn|LT> unfortunately, without the Watts Linkage, the car handled like a wet Spaghetti Noodle
[14:24] <@Serajadeyn|LT> less than 5lbs of force would decenter the whole rear of the car
[14:25] <@Serajadeyn|LT> at that point, we just shut it down. Too many safety concerns.
[14:26] <@Serajadeyn|LT> the car is a little worse for the wear, but still quite acceptable. brakes are STRONG, and with everything stock on fat tires, the handing was almost neutral

[Serj]

Lemons Gallery 08 Detroit(ish)/ Toledo up:
http://lemons.finalgear.com/v/Serj/08Detroit/

[Quiky]

Too bad there is only ONE finalgear member there

[Crazy Vega]

I'll try to make it next year, and I'll be sure to have the cash to get in too.

[Serj]

+ YouTube Video

more later, i finally got some good encoding done.

[Serj]

Our car was purchased from a scrap lot for $413 after a tree fell on it. We did all the safety mods and put some meaty tires on it, and took it to South Carolina, with Quiky of FinalGear being Captain. There we probably should have been in the top 20 but we lost almost 2 hours to some rather aggressive black flagging by the officials (read; we got hit several time in the tail but apparently even that will cost you 30 minutes). This time around, I took over the captain position due to resource constraints that resulted in the team being reorganized.

My father and brother who also drove along with us in South Carolina, set to work making preperations for Toledo, Changing fluids out, new brake pads at all four corners. New tires and a pair of wider rims were purchased, hoping to button down the handling of the mighty vic. no suspension mods were performed. My dad enlisted some friends of his to fill the holes in the roster as our razor-thin budget was at the Limit. This team was originally built to be run from the Support of our friends over at Final Gear, but it seems that even international pockets are shallow these days. I made sure it was acceptable to carry the association forward, and as an added bonus, our new teammates were all big fans of the site and shows.

Arriving in Toledo, the weather was dreary, and rainfall turned our pit area into a lake. Several pairs of shoes were ruined. But, this was what I was personally hoping for. We had planned for rain, had fresh wipers and the tires for it. Tech passed without even a murmer of suspicion, as it should be, and we made our way to the track. The car circulating, with myself at the helm, confidence was high. Unfortunately, this was the start of problems for us. After the green flag was flown, I was promptly black flagged because of transponder issues. (Funny, I thought we were circulating to test those for 20 minutes?) We pried a larger hole in the trunk to verify the unit could have line of sight to the ground (we had successfully used this mounting location in SC) Back out, driving harder to make up lost time, and AGAIN I was pulled in! Not having anymore of this, the transponder was removed and re-mounted on the outside of the trunk basin. We were stuck back into 32nd, I put the car to the test, hammering it through the 2" of standing water in the narrow track segments, making up positions. I was getting spray up through the A/C ducts but pressed on. After being in the car nearly an Hour and Fourty minutes, I turned over the helm to my brother.

Within 30minutes, he had returned, exclaiming that he was worn out. This was suprising considering he had no problem doing almost 2hours in the South Carolina Heat.

On to driver 3, friend of my dad's with no racing experience whatsoever...

...however the fact that he was an ex-cop seemed to be paying off. He was setting a fast pace, and taking my earlier comments to heart by staying out of trouble. By this point we had made up much lost ground, slotting into 21st position. Rotation 4 went to another friend, this time with Autocrossing experience. Everything was going fantastic through the rest of our first rotation, and by the time I made it back into the car, the track was even dry. Much to the dismay of competitors with much smaller cars, I went even faster, barnstorming past some teams in the top 5. By the time I had come in, I was beat, the car needed nothing but gas. I handed the car off and took it easy in the pits, getting a visit from one of the drivers from the #5 Junk Players Special. Kudos was to be had, and I felt bad I was too tired to be more receptive, but thank you!

Sometime into hour 12, we had made it to 11th position, and still eating up laps flawlessly...or so I thought. My father out on the track, I heard a crackle over the radio. The car was disabled! a hit? the fuel switch reset? The car was pushed in by a safety car. My brother hopped into the trunk and reset the switch. the car fired right up, but that wasnt the end. Loud scraping was heard beneath the car. Worried, we pulled it into the pit and yanked the rear tires. The inside rims were scraped, and the car had struck the inside wall of the narrow segment. After prying on brake shields and sticking our heads under the drivetrain while making questionable gestures to someone to fire up the car and let the brake out slowly, we had identified the problem. Apparently the wall contact had sheared off the main mounting point for the Watts Linkage. In layman's terms, this keeps the rear axle of the car from moving side-to-side. My father had a headache from having his helmet knocked against the roll cage, but nothing serious. We set to work about trying to remove or reposition the linkage, ultimately removing it. Slapped on stock-sized tires and debated chancing it and putting it back out there. a quick spin around the pits made a nightmare realized. the entire body of the car would sway up to 5" with the lightest touch, and contact the tires to the fender wells each time. Unwilling to put the team's safety in question, we shut it down, still in the top 20.

All was not lost though. the team had fun, and we sold our rear brakes to an ailing #08 Crown Royal Victoria team, which otherwise would have had to wait over 2 hours for a parts store to open, losing valuable time in the pits. We were happy to hear they put those brakes to good use.

" Hey! our brakes finished ahead of us!" is the new running joke over at the Rum Runner pits. Special Thanks to everyone over at FinalGear.com for pitching in where they could.