Jalopnik 
Enter your username and password.
Detroit, 1:38 AM
Thu Dec 3
32 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
Editor-in-Chief:
Ray Wert | | AIM
Road Test Editor:
Wes Siler |
Weekend Editor:
Murilee Martin |
Associate Editor - Houston:
Associate Editor - Detroit:
Editor-at-Large:
Contributors:
John Krewson |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/29/09
It has also separating cars that are solid, race worthy cars from cars those that have been made desierable by advertising and marketing (Win on Sunday, sell on Monday).
A look at what cars tends to do well at LeMons and what cars do not says much about their actual content rather than advertising mirage of quality and race worthiness.
Mazda, Toyota, BMW have proven to be worthy LeMons race cars, while many of the cars sold by marketing via racing like the Datsun/Nissan 'Z' cars have not always fared well at LeMons.
There is strong proof based on LeMons race results that British Leyland products and Brit cars as a group don't do well at LeMons which is counter to the belief among many older car folks that Brit sports cars are race worthy as delivered off the show room floor. If there was anything British Leyland did well in the USA car market was sell their cars via racing and create a facade of sports cars anyone can take racing straight off the show room floor.
Yank Tanks are a mixed bag, it seems some FORDs do great while GM products tend to soldier on until something big happens.. LeMons needs more Chrysler products at every race.
Honda's tend to spit head gaskets and con rods...but the ones that stay together are serious, fast competitors.
Then we have Italian cars.. It is a widely believed and held truth that pasta burners are fragile, un-reliable and slow... As more Italian cars have been raced at LeMons, Alfas and some FIATs have proven to be tough, reliable and fast competitors.. This is counter to the wide and deeply held belief Italian cars are mechanically challenged and not worth preserving.. Another example of reality -vs-marketing..
11/29/09
The most reliable LeMons cars, as I keep trying to explain to the teams that claim they "just want to race all weekend," are the Ford Crown Victoria P71 and the Volvo 240. Anything made by Mazda has a pretty good chance of finishing.
11/28/09
But you have to love those two ancient MoPars--
For some reason it reminds of this:
Two MoPars, both alike in dignity,
In fair NoCal we lay our scene
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny--
Our two hours traffic on the stage.
Wait.
This might be a tale told by an idiot!
11/28/09
11/29/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
Still, it's nice to see another golden age of Alfa Romeo's developing in front of our eyes.
11/28/09
Then, on the second day, I got to race. After ten laps, I became shrouded in the Red Mist, overcooked Turn 14 and slid the car into the dirt. After that, it was a little harder to get so indignant about other drivers making bad decisions.
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
This was before the internet, so I saw it in a coffee table book. I loved the 928, but not that version of it. Now, with a little maturity, I can appreciate it much better!
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
I think the dearth of Detroit iron was due to the location of the race. Everyone knows the BBQ-eatin', moonshine-swillin', Southern Discomfort will be packing some good ole American muscle*. The California races, though, tend to bring out more imports from the tooty-fruity left-coasters.
*Except for me, I'll be driving a Volvo.
11/28/09
I fear there will be a rather sub-par field of racers at the Blagojevich 500. You'd think salt was free the way they throw it everywhere.
11/28/09
I gotta hand it to them... if they decked that thing out with performance parts, a sentra like that is a pretty unsuspecting car that could have snuck by the judges.
"The sentra proves that Justice is not blind." -Confucius
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
on the other hand... i thought that it might be one more quirk to the LeMons series... much like cars... have the season be named for the next year rather than the year it's available in...??
11/28/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/24/09
"On a side note, I've seen some comments from a few folks thinking that Jay was being a jerk, or being greedy when he claimed the car. This was not the case at all - we made it clear to him early on that we were fine with a claim. For various reason it was already a forgone conclusion that this would be the ONLY race for this car and we did not want to tow the 5200lb beast back to San Diego. I was more than happy to receive $500 for the car and leave it at the track. We prefer to run our usual V12 Jaguar at Lemons anyway - compared to the S600 it is fast, nimble, light and reliable.
The President of Paraguay informs me that he'll redistribute 10% of the claim money to his people and blow the rest in Vegas before he returns to his home country."
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09