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I'm driving in this years 24 LeMons! It is july 22nd at Autobahn Country club. I am a member there so very familiar with the track however looking for other advice from others that have done this or familiar with endurance racing. Yes I know it is taxing and I am in good health and will work hard on cardio. Also know its about reliability of the car which is a 1993 Mercedes 300ce. Our captain is in charge of the car. It is broken up across 2 days, 8 hours day 1 and 8 day 2. So what advice can you provide? Longest race I've ever done is 40 mins. I'm very excited!
Winning is about minimizing time not on track, primarily repairs and pit stops. That said, for first timers, go out, have fun,and learn to prepare you for the next time. Lemons is getting more competitive and teams that have refined themselves and car over time have the most success, but it is still mostly about seat time and fun. Chump is much more serious.
For endurance racing, realize you can't win in the first 20 Minutes, and there are lots of aggressive drivers the first bit until everyone settle in, so stay out of trouble and realize there are drivers and cars of all different levels out there.
Our first race, we did one hour-ish stints to get us used to longer stints and check over the car often as we learned it and to make sure everyone drove before crap broke. No plans on a high finish that time. Now, we generally do stints to align with fuel stops, about 2 hours, and we all adjusted pretty quickly.
there will be 6 of us and think only one, the car builder, has done it before. Yeah the plan is to have fun. 2 hours between fuel stops huh. Would you say to start you are driving may 5/10 and then gradually building from there?
Get ready for an eye opening experience. z281lt is right with everything he said. Out here in Nor Cal we often get 150 cars in a race and it gets crazy watching all the cars in front of you and behind you. Don't plan on winning, just try to survive your 1st race. If it's hot where your racing, a Cool-Shirt is a life saver.
5/10ths and working up is probably a good estimate, although my first time in lemons was my fist time wheel to wheel and not in an HPDE. I probably drove the first stint or two pretty much like an HPDE, being polite and letting faster people by, and waiting patiently for my opportunity to pass the slower cars. Took a little while for me to find my appropriate 'aggressiveness" - still being somewhat polite and keeping safe while remembering it is a race.
While I've been part of the same team most of my races, I don't own the car, so I don't quite go to 10/10ths. I'm still a little conservative with my passes, because you just don't know who sees you and who doesn't, and I personally don't want to end the team's weekend. I'm sure you'll build up your confidence and find what works best for you and the team. And since you'll know the track better than almost everyone there, you'll have a big leg up in not having to learn the track or line, and can focus more on driving.
kind of the approach I take in sim racing. You have no idea of the skill level of the other drivers so more times than not I hold back and let the field make mistakes and take themselves out of the race.
For me, all about managing traffic. Likely to be so many cars on track that you'll be surrounded. Be prepared for mental overload, especially if you're from an HPDE background. Attrition is usually high, and it thins out to a little more manageable after a while.
Don't worry about going 5/10ths, etc... go as quickly as you can while avoiding contact, make safe passes. Your team mates won't like you anymore if you crash their car.
Watch out for the difference in speeds and skill levels. Some cars are sloooooooow... and then you might see that same car (with a different driver...) just blow past you.
Have fun, bring the car home in one piece.
Don't forget the bribes for the judges. Phil likes GOOD Scotch...
Are you running the north or South course?
We ran the North course back in 2010 and ran against Randy Pobst and the MacNeils from Weathertech. I think one of the Rahal's was there and Danica Patrick's dad as well. Good time.
I put together the team that won the 2011 Lemons National Championship whatever that's worth.
Think LONG stints...we would do 2:45 per stint. BIG fuel cell. I think they now allow for a 24 gallon cell.
Getting a quick start is key to winning. They say that you don't win the race in the first turn but you can lose it in the first 30 minutes if you are not in the top 5.
If you want to win, drive as aggressively as you can and reasonably minimize risk.
If you want to just have fun, do hour long stints and stay out of the fast guys way.
Practice fuel stops many, many times. Think of every possible thing that can go wrong and plan for it.
MOST IMPORTANT THING...EVERYONE practice getting out of the car blindfolded in full gear. Do it over and over until it is just stupid muscle memory. I had a friend/teammate badly burned in a racecar tha he was guest driving in because he was not familiar with egress procedures for that car. And always run with your face shield closed.
Video of the Norst Course rce from 2010 in the rain battling the Stripper pole car of Pobst and the MacNeils.
great video. we are running the south course. MacNeils and Rahal are members, founding members I believe. Not sure about Probst or Patrick. I'm a member as well however newer.
pit stops aren't our main concern as we are out to have fun and finish. We will however practice emergency exits.
we completed the race and crossed the checked flag!! No issues with the car but we did run out of brakes, ran last couple of hours with almost no brakes. We did 300 laps total and finished 36 out of 66 cars total and 16th in our B class. The winner in the B class did a total of 387 laps. It was 90 degrees out all weekend.
Best part is we won a choice award for best team due to our mascot the T-Rex!
A lot of fun. We learned a lot so will be better prepared next time. Was a ton of fun. even though it is lemons there are some very competitive teams out there.
06-18-2017, 07:35 PM
24 hours of LeMons
