Movie Monday: The glorious crapcan roar

It's Movie Memorial Day!

 

This week, we head (vicariously) to Summit Point Raceway in West Virgina for the 2011 Capitol Offense race of the 24 Hours of LeMons. The video, from the Mod Squad Racing team, is taken from the track's bridge looking down the course's longest straight, where cars hurtle at wide-open throttle toward the intimidating Karussel. It happens to be one of The Rusty Hub's favorite videos.

If you're wondering why, all you have to do is press play. YouTube user wdstrongjr has captured two very important aspects of crapcan racing in the race's final moments. 

First, there is the tremendous speed difference between the faster cars and those either limping along to the checkered flag or seemingly limping around but are just slow. If you ever had any doubts about crapcan racing's legitimacy, you only have to watch the faster cars ripping into the high double digits as they crest the hill.

But more importantly, because the cars run at full-throttle, you get a great comprehension of the glorious variety of sounds produced by the cars, whose exhaust systems vary as much as their engine types. More than anything, it just sounds like racing. And we love it.

Here are some of our favorite moments:

0:21 - The Schumacher Taxi Service's bright yellow Toyota CoROLLa FX16 tears up the hill, its seemingly-unmuffled 4A-GE howling like a banshee immediately after a bad freebasing accident. Luckily, the car is running two-minute laps (you can almost set your watch to it) and shows up several times in the video.

1:09 - The #75 Alfa Romeo Milano's V6 scream gives The Rusty Hub intense aural pleasure. The Italians know how to make their cars sound erotic.

1:37 - Speedycop's donked-out Pontiac Grand Prix floats over the hill in style.

1:53 - Morrow's Auto's bright-orange "Toyota Supra" bellows past the camera. The car is a Supra chassis with a Pontiac GTO front clip and the source of that bass-y rumbling is the V8 powerplant from Morrows' most famous creation, the mid-engined Snoopy van.

1:58 - Morrow's Supra is followed immediately by the #113 BMW E30's classic Bimmer inline-6 exhaust note, a dynamic sound that includes a throaty roar in the middle of the tach that becomes an urgent wail as it approaches the red line.

3:35 - A gaggle of maybe a dozen cars puts track space at a premium and blends the exhaust notes into a symphony of tired-engine torture.

3:47 - Opulence, We Has It's big ol' gold Mercedes S500--one of the most supremely ugly cars in crapcan racing (that's said with affection, of course)--motors its chopped-up chassis over the hill behind the power from its Teutonic V8. This car won the race overall.

4:35 - Did you like the #75 Alfa's noise? Here's the second Milano in the field making those same sexy sounds. This was the #126 Alfa from Team Pro-Crash-Duh-Nation on its way to a second-place finish. No, no! Too sexy!

5:38 - The contact-paper-covered #19 Audi sounds far better than those whisper-quiet diesel Audis that everybody gets excited about.

6:02 - Speedycop's Wounded Warrior Project Mercury Cougar cruises by with its huge American flag waving. Seat time in this car was sold with proceeds going to the Wounded Warrior Project. 

6:53 - A series of cars are spaced out just enough to let each of them be audible. Eat your your heart out, citizens of Le Mans; these cars all sound fantastic.

7:42 -Whether out of respect or fear, two drivers give each other as much room as physically possible.

8:05 - The little #53 Volkswagen Rabbit couldn't sound more lemony, but watch it carry surprising speed over the hill's crest.

8:28 - The CoROLLa and Morrows' Supra--now smoking profusely--scoot past the bridge one last time in tandem, giving a nice combination of high- and low-frequency exhaust notes. The staggering powerplant variety is the very spice of crapcan racing: The CoROLLa's 1.6L displacement is about one-fourth that of the Morrows' car.

The camera pans over to the esses and the corkscrew for the last couple minutes until the checkered flag waves. Unfortunately, Speedycop's Ford Galaxie didn't take the checkered. So enjoy a gratuitous video of it and its glorious 'merican V8 sound here.