Why All That Expensive Safety Equipment Is Required At The 24 Hours Of LeMons: Audi Versus Wall [24 Hours Of Lemons]

Though the cars themselves must cost less than $500, the cost of the required safety equipment pushes the build cost of a typical LeMons car well above two grand. That stuff is worth every penny!

Here we see the Timmy's Kids '81 Audi 4000 getting into big trouble down Thunderhill's long straight and bashing into the concrete barrier. The driver was totally OK, thanks to his 5-point harness, helmet, and cage (as were the drivers of the Plymouth Belvedere, Yugo GV, and Chevy Cavalier that flipped during the race).


Here's the aftermath, courtesy of Mad Science's camera. Thanks to Patrick of Huey Newis And The Lose for the video!

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Faster Farms Chickens Join The LeMons Arse-Freeze-A-Palooza Upside-Down Brigade [24 Hours Of Lemons]

We've been following the exploits of the Faster Farms Plymouth Belvedere LeMons car- which was driven to the race- and now there's another chapter in the Legend Of The Chickenmobile.

Jack Astro, creator of the Project Car Hell Song, was behind the wheel heading into Turn 1, everything looking fine... right up until the moment when a correct-overcorrect-oh shit sequence took place and the car flipped over. It ended up on its wheels and nobody was hurt, so we say that's a happy ending.

Not so happy for Mr. Astro, however, who now proclaims that my off-the-edge-of-the-map excursion was nothing: "Your shame is weak!" But hey, the Belvedere is running fine and will be driving the 120 miles back to the Bay Area tonight (sadly, the "Why Am I On My Roof" LeMons rule means no more racing for the Chickens this weekend), at which point it will resume being the daily driver for one of the team members. Now that's a race car!

In other news, our favorite Chevy Cavalier race car also flipped over (wheel bearing failure, followed by wheel leaving car, followed by upside-down adventures). Again, we're pleased to report that nobody was hurt.

And... the People's Curse just happened. The victim: The Blues Brothers Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, which aroused much skepticism about its budgetary honesty (the manual transmission sure didn't make the right impression, and the fact that it was waaaaaay faster than the other Crown Vics on the track contributed). There was some talk in the pits about aggressive driving on their part, but Chief Perp Lamm disagreed and told the executioner to take it easy on the Crown Vic... which is now back in driving condition after having the doors, trunk, and hood torn off. I'll get a People's Curse gallery up as soon as possible, but for now I need to get back to spotting for teammate WhatWouldJesseDo, who's out there in the V8olvo.

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Ascari Race Resort: Another Reason To Hate The Rich

Ascari at Ascari

Racing and high-performance cars are an expensive hobby.  Even at Terilingua, which bills itself as an anti-establishment racing event, the fact is that unless you have money, you can’t participate.  Even so, beyond a few days at mostly oval tracks for amateurs to take a couple of laps, or in speed permitted areas such as on the Autobahn, there are relatively few places where those with super-cars can drive at the upper levels of their vehicle’s performance.  In the case of the latter, mixing with ordinary passenger cars on the highway can be a risky proposition at best.  Which is why the same man that brought the KZ1 to the world has conceived of the Ascari Race Resort.

Ascari Race Resort: Helo-pad included

Klaas Zwaart, a billionaire oil tycoon and the man behind Ascari, has constructed a 3.4 mile road course in the south of Spain for those with the cars, and the money to channel their inner racing spirit.   The track has replicated the best portions of race tracks from around the world based on Zwaart’s recommendations.  Not only does the resort offer the track facilities in which to more safely exorcise your speed demon, but storage, training and maintenance of your racing machine is also available.  For those without a ride, but the money, Ascari also has a fleet of race cars available.  Because the resort is also home to the Ascari racing team, members of the club get to take advantage of the extensive experience and knowledge of Zwaart and the instructors of the Ascari Racing School.  The downside, if there is one, is that facilities are used by Ascari to develop and practice for their racing season, which means members of this exclusive club are limited to access of the club only for 1/3 of the year.  But come on, when you are rich you have other resorts to visit.

Ascari Race Resort: 3.4 miles of Heaven

When not on the track or getting a racing lesson, the resort offers a 6 star hotel and all the amenities you would expect from a club that caters to the world’s ultra-rich, including a helo-pad.

As with many things in life, if you have to ask how much it costs for a full membership, you probably can’t afford it.  But according to sources, an initial fee of roughly $125,000 will get you in the door and an annual fee of around $12,000 will keep you there.

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Automotive Worship Object Of The Year: Street-Legal 500-Horse Audi ur-Quattro [Racing]

While I was at Infineon to drive the STaSIS S5 a couple weeks back, I kept seeing this silver blur howling past everything on the track. It looked like an old Quattro… but that fast?

Sure enough, it was a Quattro; not only that, it's a genuine 1983 ur-Quattro with carbon-fiber bodywork cast from original molds brought over from Germany, 500 horsepower under the hood, the full STaSIS brake and suspension treatment… and license plates! When I found out that the STaSIS guys not only knew about the car but had helped hop it up for William Perkins, one of their expert race consultants, let's just say I was eager to learn more.


The car is maintained at McGee Motorsports Group's shop at the track, and talk about a freakin' candy store- you'll definitely see some more of McGee's stuff here in the near future; in fact, if you're a regular at the Monterey Historics, you've already seen quite a few of their cars. Yes, that's a genuine NASCAR '63 Mercury Monterey in the photo, and it's got a 427, a Rat Fink-grade gearshift, and a driver's seat that appears to be made by the Barcalounger Corporation.


My LeMons teammate and 4-time DOTS honoree WhatWouldJesseDo, who was helping me with photographic duties that day, managed to talk his way into the passenger seat of the ur-Quattro for a few Ferrari-whuppin' laps around Infineon. His verdict: "Hell yes!" OK, now let's look at some photos:

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Today In History: The First Porsche Is Completed

On September 1, 1950, the first Porsche-assembled automobile outfitted with a Porsche engine successfully finished production. Although two years earlier Ferry Porsche and his team had already created the first official vehicle to bear the Porsche name, it wasn’t until this date in 1950 that a Porsche with 100% Porsche-manufactured parts was produced. A few months later, after the company’s return Zuffenhausen, Germany, Porsche became an independently owned and operated manufacturer. In 1951, Porsche cemented their future as a major name in the performance car arena with their first victory at Le Mans.

[Source: The History Channel]

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Manic Beattie Hill Climb Car With Turbine-Powered Turbocharger, 1.8-Second 0-to-60 Ford Puma [Gurston Down Hill Climb]

Every once in a while, when looking at no holds barred race cars there comes the engineering equivalent of a facepalm moment. It's that second where we wonder 'Why didn't I think of that?' Like when we discovered how Nic Mann's record-breaking hill climb racer uses a turbine engine from a helicopter auxiliary power unit to drive a turbocharger feeding the 1.7-liter Cosworth four-cylinder a constant stream of boost. To eliminate turbo lag, Nic hooked the turbine to the impeller side of the remote turbo, which can feed the engine at up to 43 PSI. Bonkers is one way to describe it.

This of course completely eliminates turbo lag from the compressed intake air routed to the main drive engine. The hybrid engine is hooked up to an even stranger contraption behind it — a Ford Sierra powertrain. The car uses the all wheel drive and transmission from a lowly Sierra, albeit beefed up quite a bit. Unfortunately this has been the weak point in the car and Nic is considering swapping out the internals on the MT75 for Borg Warner T5 bits to avoid the breaking. Currently the car makes around 400 HP at 23 PSI of pressure, but plans are to ramp that up to 43 PSI and up the insanity.

The video above shows the car in action during hill climb racing at Gurston Down in old Blighty. Also featured in this video is a positively bonkers Ford Puma with a tube chassis and carbon fiber body with a twin turbo Cosworth engine. It'll do 0-to-60 MPH in 1.8 seconds and the quarter mile in 9.45 seconds. Pick your jaw up and watch the video, make sure your speakers are turned up during the race footage.

For more details on Nic Mann's Manic Beattie Hillclimb Car head over to Race Engine Design and read up. (Hat tip goes out to Rust-MyEnemy) [youtube]

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Four-Links – rotting J-tin, Hertz AMX, Bloody Mary, crushing a Jaguar

* Apparently, Japan has its rednecks too. Japanese Nostalgic Car recently pointed us over to the Kusahiro Exploration Corps blog, which travels the Japanese countryside photographing old cars as they slowly rust away. I’m betting if I run the site through a translator, I’ll eventually come across some variation of “I’m gonna fix that up someday.”

* When we think of Hertz and muscle cars, we naturally think of the Shelby Mustang, but Hertz apparently also let out some AMXs, including this one, according to the owner of this 1968 AMX, currently undergoing restoration.

* Single-seater motorcycle-engined race cars are cool. Doubling up the number of motorcycle engines in your single-seater race car is mind-blowing. Adding two more? Achingly awesome. John Vary Bolster did just that with his Bloody Mary race special and raced it from the time he built it in 1929 until after World War II. I think I need to replicate it.

* Cash for clunkers officially took effect this week, but dealers have been accepting so-called clunkers all month. David Clarke, over at the CarDomain blog, decided to see what people have been trading in as part of the program so far at a dealer close to him, and found the above Jaguar sedan, along with a Land Rover and a Vanagon/Westfalia. Good thing, because these vehicles would never ever be considered collectible.

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In 1950, the automotive and racing monthly “Speed Age” presented achievement ...

In 1950, the automotive and racing monthly “Speed Age” presented achievement awards to people from motorsport who’d done notable things during the just-concluded season, in keeping with annual custom. The watches that the honorees were presented were made by Univeral Geneve, one of the first Swiss watchmakers to popularize the thin-movement wrist chronograph.

Some of the recipients’ names are pretty recognizable. Henry Banks was a former Midget champion who became a founding USAC official. Clay Smith, the camshaft genius who turned a cigar-chomping woodpecker into a hot rod icon, would be killed four years later by an errant dirt car in the pits at Du Quoin, Illinois. Don Cummins, brother of Clessie, helped bring diesel power to the Indianapolis 500. Tom Marchese promoted Indianapolis-type racing at the Milwaukee Mile. Tommy Milton was the first to win the Indy 500 twice. Johnny Mantz raced at Indy, too, but had also just won the inaugural Southern 500. Lee Petty was already an established NASCAR star. Julian Buesink fielded the car that Bill Rexford drove to the 1950 NASCAR Grand National title. Briggs Cunningham and his longtime sideman, William Frick, competed against Tom Cole in post-war road races. The obscure name is that of Oscar Fraley, in the middle. Circa 1950, Fraley was a New York-based freelance sportswriter of some note. In 1957, he ghostwrote the memoirs of Prohibition-era racket-buster Eliot Ness, which were later adapted as the basis for the TV gangster drama, “The Untouchables.” True story. The photo is from an archive of former “Speed Age” editor Don O’Reilly, awaiting cataloging at the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville.

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