As you may well know, Hooniverse bossman Mad_Science and his daddy-o spent the last 24 48 all damn weekend at the racetrack working on racing the all-mighty überbird in an attempt to win all the nickels. But all has not gone as smoothly as could be hoped for. When life gives you lemons, go racing right? (warning, autostart mp3 but I could not resist)
And without further ado, Mr. Mad_Science:
Ok, so my apologies on the lack of updates, but I’ve literally been up since 6am on Friday morning.
We got out to tech with the UB, and we needed a new harness bar welded in behind the seat, as the original was too high. That ate a good 2 hours out of our afternoon. Evil Genius helped us out on the work, for a very reasonable price.
We hustled to do some practice laps wiht like 90 minutes left in the practice day. I get siuted up and hit the track, to do a couple of shakedown laps before the rookies (to our car) head out.
Unfortunately, half way through the first lap, the UB develops the rod knock to end all rod knocks. The motor was super dead. It’s 4:15 and racing starts tomorrow at 9:30.
We line a replacement motor up from a BMW-specialist yard in RanchoCordova (2 hours south).
By 8:30 we’re back an da few hundred bucks poorer. But we’ve got a a motor with a high probability of going in smoothly and running. After all, it came out of a car that was running (according to the reputable staff of B&M&W recyclers.
Work starts, and doesn’t stop until 8AM the next morning. There were a number of near game-enders, but we managed to get the old motor/trans out, swap everything onto the new motor and get the new one dropped in. As Jay’s finishing the announcements for the drivers’ meeting. we fire it and it comes to life. EPIC WIN!!!!
With literally 0 hours of sleep, and a motor that just started running, we hit the track shortly after the green drops (due to a mirror mount that busted right as I was headed out…grrrr).
…and we’ve had the best showing we’ve ever had! We’ve been in the mid 30s, place-wise all day. Aside from a dangling exhaust and a little overheating at the end of the day (due to the fact that we never properly burped the cooling system), the car’s had 0 issues. ZERO.
We’ve got me and my dad (done up like The King), my old roomate Graham and my cousin Ryan. Ryan raced NASA for a few years, so after a couple of laps to settle in in the car, he’s been wringing all the speed possible out of the UB. His quote: “This thing doesn’t have enough power to need brakes”.
We had only 1 penalty for passing under yellow, which required us to write “This ain’t NASCAR” on the car 50 times.
We finished the day in 36th, and we’re 2nd in the “C” group (that would be the hopeless losers) behind a remarkably fast (but unreliable) Daihatsu Charade. If tomorrow goes as well as today, we could crack into the 20s.
Pictures attached.
Now, I need to get the first shower and sleep I’ve had in 2 days.
So there you have it, the end of day one and despite the setbacks, it was full of WIN. I can’t wait to see how day 2 unfolds.
Hooniverse Weekend Edition: Mad_Science' Big Adventure
About
-
hmmm the sound clip doesn't seem to work, it is worth the click http://thunderhill.com/images/library/Media/lemon…
-
Sigh. I really should go put together a few commercials for them. I've done enough voice acting to be able to put something good and exciting. That voice is so… BORING.
-
for some reason I have always envisioned your voice as being similar to Buzz Killington from Family Guy with a slight french accent…. amiright??
-
Um. Don't know Buzz Killington, because Family Guy stopped being funny like 8 years ago or so, but I'd say my voice is a harmonious blend of Don LaFontaine and Gilbert Gottfried.
-
this does not compute
-
-
-
-
-
Heroic. Congratulations, and good luck!
-
Rod knock =/= replace the engine
Rod knock = remove that piston and rod.
But since you seem to want to do it "the right way", kudos on the engine swap, and good luck on the rest of the race.-
Riding my DR350 on the Jeep trails of the Sierras I came across some LeMons worthy repairs several times. But your comment reminded me of the guys I found 20 miles from any paved road removing the #3 piston, pushrods and lifters from their 231 Buick powered CJ.
-
Don't forget to unplug the fuel injector.
-
-
Am I the only one who sees Lemons racing as the automotive equivilent of Burning Man? And dont get me wrong, I approve!!
-
I have no idea what you're talking about, but I figure it's only a matter of time before one of the penalties in LeMons is to set one of the team members on fire.
-
Don't give the judges any ideas.
Maybe it should be dousing the hood with lighter fluid THEN set the car on fire.-
I think they had a Burning Man penalties at one of the races in Nevada. The team had to huddle in a small tent with a boom box blaring techno music.
-
-
-
No peyote allowed on the infield tho.
-
-
Curses to my corporate overlords for blocking video streaming, it would have been just what I need to enliven the showroom this morning!
Excellent work Mr Science. How long before you get a flip-up headlamp set-up installed, just for a giggle? -
Epic. I love that the end-all knock resulted in a full blown engine swap. Epic.
-
Lastly, to that "this ain't nascar" I sez, rubbin be racing. Ever seen two bro's rub paint on motorbikes!? That is racing! The Uberbird was just shedding feathers, that's all.
-
That was just for passing under yellow.
Oddly enough, we never got flagged for the one contact event we had.
-
Leave a Reply