24 Hours of LeMons posts 2013 Schedule

24 Hours of LeMons' Chief Perpetrator Jay Lamm has released the preliminary 2013 schedule via email with the statement that "more are getting settled."

See the dates and some brief analysis after the jump.

Movie Monday: It's an ENDURANCE race, remember

Before beginning a race, most crapcan teams and drivers pause to remind each other that you can't win an enduracne race on the first lap or even on any particular turn. But you can lose it. The key is to remember that you're running the Long Race and that the teams who run a reasonable pace and make the fewest mistakes tend to be on or near the podium when the checkered flag flies.

That being said, ChumpCar World Series' "Drift Into Winter Classic" at Road America earlier this month saw four cars involved in two first-lap incidents on consecutive turns.

See the videos after the jump.

Weekend at a Glance: October 26 - 28

Ghosts, Goblins, Ghouls and Grease Enduro
Portland International Raceway (Portland, OR) - ChumpCar World Series

ChumpCar holds its fourth annual Halloween race at PIR this weekend. This is a two-race weekend with a 12-hour event Saturday and a six-hour Sunday race. Friday's tech day will also feature several non-race events, including team pumpkin carving and costume contests for both children and pets.

Past Winners at PIR Halloween races:

2009: Git Miata Here - Mazda Miata
2010: Rogue Squadron - Nissan Sentra SE-R (Race 1); Squirrels of Fury 2 - Volkswagen Scirocco (Race 2)
2011: Formula Roadster (Datsun Roadster)

Supplemental Rules for GGGG Enduro (PDF)




Halloween Hooptiefest
New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, NH) - 24 Hours of LeMons

LeMons will hold its final East Region race of the year at NHMS. In addition to the typical race schedule, NHMS will also host a bevy of non-race-related events on Saturday, including a pumpkin pitchin' contest, spud guns, and a wife-carrying contest.

Unofficial East Region Points Standings

1. Speedycop & His Gang of Outlaws - 39 Points
2. Schumacher Taxi Service - 28 Points
3. Keystone Kops - 23 Points

Past Winners at NHMS

2011: Goin' Nuclear - Honda Civic (Overall); Vermont Volvocheros - Volvo 240 (Class B); Team Rob, His Two Loser Friends, and His Brother - Volkswagen Golf (Class C); Chev-itte Where the Sun Don't Shine - Chevrolet Chevette (Index of Effluency)

2012: Bill Danger and the Road Hazzards - Honda Accord (Overall & Class B); Punisher GP - Peugeot 405 (Class C); Speedycop & His Gang of Outlaws - Suzuki X-90 Camper (IOE)

Halloween Hooptiefest Official LeMons Page

NHMS Hooptiefest Page with non-race events schedule

Our Photos from American Irony 2012

Rod Blagojevich is top-notch material for a region-specific bribe stencil, as pictured on the the patina of the truly terrible Scuderia Craptastica Opel GT. If we judge again next year, look for the Rod Blagojevich Dishwashing and Making Friends Penalty^TM. (The Rusty Hub photo)

Check out our Facebook album from last weekend's race. We didn't get a chance to shoot as many photos as we'd liked; it turns out that judging a LeMons race is a hell of a lot of work (more on that next week).

You can find our photos HERE.

American Irony 2012: A recap

[Editor's Note: In the interest of full disclosure, we acted as BS Judge for this 24 Hours of LeMons, earning tens of thousands of Yen in the process.]

The Flying Pigs' Ford Mustang ran cleanly for most of the weekend to finish 24th overall, though an unfortunate incident damaged its snout on Sunday. (The Rusty Hub photo)

 
The weather for 24 Hours of LeMons events in the Midwest has been fickle over the last years, to say the least. From the Gingerman ice rink in April 2011 to the sticky sweatfest at Autobahn Country Club in June 2012 and all variations in between, crapcanistas in the middle of the country have endured it all.

At this year's third annual October race at Autobahn, teams battled the ever-changing track conditions and variable visibility to last up to 14-1/2 hours on track. The weekend began with a steady downpour that lasted most of the race's Saturday session, although the skies cleared some and the track dried up in the session's last hour. Sunday brought intermittent showers of varying severity, interspersed with enough sunlight to dry the track for a few minutes until the next wave of rain. As a result, the track surface--jammed with 103 entries on the 1.9-mile course--was treacherous at best and most teams were beset by black flags.

Weekend at a Glance: October 12 - October 14

American Irony
Autobahn Country Club (Joliet, IL) - 24 Hours of LeMons

LeMons returns to Autobahn for the second time this weekend to wrap up the Midwest region's final race.

According to our hooptied-out calculations, Subliminal Racing leads the region with 33 points. In second is Lemonaid Racing's two-car attack--a stock three-cylinder Geo Metro and a BMW E30--who trail with 25 points. For Lemonaid to have a shot at the regional title, they'll need a strong showing from both cars.

Weekend News & Notes: 10/5 - 10/7

When Nelson Ledges Road Course first held its Longest Day in 1980, the format was a 24-hour race sanctioned by the SCCA. When the SCCA abandoned the 24-hour race after 2008, crapcan racing soon filled the niche as a spiritual successor with near-showroom-stock racing (albeit maybe 20 years delayed).

This past weekend, ChumpCar World Series hosted its second Longest Day with a twist: Instead of a 24-hour race, race organizers endeavored to make it longer than NASA's 25 Hours of Thunderhill. At 25 hours, 25 minutes and 25 seconds, the Longer Longest Day is the world's longest endurance race.

When the checkered flag flew Sunday at 11:25 a.m., the Fox-body Mercury Cougar of Tiger's Wood PGA Racing had logged 993 laps around Nelson Ledges to take the overall win. With the course's two-mile length, the Cougar logged approximately 1,986 miles.

Weekend at a Glance: October 5 through October 7

The Longer Longest Day
Nelson Ledges Road Course (Garrettsville, OH) - ChumpCar World Series

The ChumpCar World Series will again offer their take on the classic 24-Hour Longest Day even at Nelson Ledges with what may be the world's longest road race by time (25 hours, 25 minutes and 25 seconds) this weekend. Green flag drops at 10 a.m. Saturday and the checkered flag flies at 11:25:25 p.m. Sunday.

Tech inspection Friday occurs in the normal 3 to 7 p.m. time slot.

ModSquad Racing, former interviewees of The Rusty Hub, will have lives updates on their Facebook page and possibly streaming video on their Ustream channel.

For more detailed information on the event, see the CCWS supplemental information linked below.

Weekend News & Notes 9/28 - 9/30

If you've read the Car and Driver post on the winners from last weekend's 24 Hours of LeMons race at MSR Houston, then you already know that the Z-Wrecks Datsun 280ZX took the race's overall win and the Green Cornet team's Dodge Coronet captured the coveted Index of Effluency.