Yes, she is. In addition to the three LeMons races under her belt, she has run a best quarter-mile of 11.01 seconds at 123.36 MPH in her MkIV Supra.

We met Anna for the first time about a year ago, at the BS Inspection of the very first Yeehaw It's Texas 24 Hours Of LeMons.

Her team was running a third-gen Camaro in that race, and they finished a very close second place- by far the best performance for a Camaro in LeMons history. Did the Camaro sneak some super-cheaty suspension mods past the LeMons Supreme Court due to Anna's distracting influence, or was it just a combination of driving skill and luck? Naturally, I'm inclined to the latter opinion but, it is pretty tough to concentrate when she's in Mess With The Judges mode; this is a very smart woman who clearly knows exactly how to get men to do as she says.

Hell, maybe we should make her a judge for the next Texas LeMons race. Let's see those slick Texan cheaters try to lie to the Bikini Racer!
Thanks to Anna for the photos!

[Bikini Racer]

We love inline-six engines, and Toyota has made some of the best. Oh, sure, BMW made some pretty powerful ones, and Chrysler made one that couldn't be killed, but it's hard to argue with 320 twin-turbocharged factory horsepower out of 3 liters. We North Americans mostly know of this engine via the Supra, but Toyota dropped it in Chasers, Crowns, Soarers, and quite a few other rear-wheel-drive machines. Sadly, the JZ has been retired, leaving the late-70s-vintage G as Toyota's lone I6.
[Wikipedia]

I was pulling a couple of window cranks off this Spitfire, for installation on the 20R Sprite Hell Project), when these guys noticed my 24 Hours Of LeMons baseball cap. "We're thinking about entering the Buttonwillow Histrionics race, but we can't decide on a car," one told me. "Any advice?"

Naturally, my #1 choice for a first-time LeMons team would be a Triumph Stag. You can get this one for $450, and any team showing up with a Stag for their first-ever LeMons race would become instant Legends In Their Own Time. One lap around Buttonwillow in a Stag would be more glorious than 100 laps in a boring old 325i or Camaro, and talk about your Index Of Effluency slam-dunk! However, some teams have different priorities; some want to take the checkered flag, while others just want a car that can maximize seat time by running for a whole weekend.



Yeah, the LeMons newcomers often have this insane idea that it's possible for them to take the overall win (I know, I've been there), and that they'll be taking the big trophy and the 200 pounds of nickels at the awards ceremony. Well, that's just impossible, new guy; even a team stacked with experienced racers will still be looking at a pretty harsh learning curve the first time they get out there on a track full of rickety, parts-shedding junkheaps piloted by totally unpredictable hoons. We've read some great advice from previous winners (not to mention my personal cheating tips), and the Gator-O-Rama LeMons-winning Team Formula M For Mullet guys have shared their secrets as well (check in later for that). So if you're not willing to take on the Stag or, say, a Humber Sceptre, and you recognize that you can't win the thing on your first try, what car will maximize the amount of track time you'll get, while not being so slow as to make all the other racers hate your guts for being a big unflushable turd of a roadblock? First, let's talk about some seemingly good choices that aren't so good in reality:



LeMons Bad Car Choice #1: Any Honda or Acura. Honda makes some incredible 300,000-mile engines, and even a Civic HX will be pretty quick around a racetrack. The 2nd-gen Integra is probably the quickest legitimate $500 road-race car you can buy. However, Honda engines tend to puke at LeMons races; I've seen more blown head gaskets and thrown rods on Honda LeMons cars than on all other makes combined.


LeMons Bad Car Choice #2: Mazda Miata. Yeah, yeah, you and your buddies race Miatas all day long, and you totally know where to get one for, like, a hundred bucks. Thing is, we won't believe you during the BS Inspection, and half the other racers at the track will hate your guts because they know There Are No Cheap Miatas Out There.


LeMons Bad Car Choice #3: BMW E30. The E30 is one fast mo-fo, and that's no lie! You can get a pretty good runner for a few hundred bucks, too… you and half the other racers at any given 24 Hours Of LeMons race, that is. They break down on the track with depressing regularity (generally with fiendishly undiagnosable electrical ailments or fiendishly inaccessible mechanical failures), and there's something about an E30 that turns normally mild-mannered racers into regular Penalty Box visitors. We could go on and on (I might add the Mazda RX-7, Datsun/Nissan Z/ZX, 3rd-gen GM F-body, and a few others to the LeMons Beginners' Looks Good But Isn't Car Choice list) but it's time to get on with the good choices. To make this list, I consulted with the guy who knows more about good and bad LeMons machinery than any man alive: Nick Pon, LeMons Assistant Perpetrator and our own TheEastBayKid:


LeMons Good Car Choice #1: Toyota Corolla FX16. The big danger with a front-driver is that you'll fry the clutch and then get knocked out for five hours while you disassemble the suspension, pull the transmission, etc. However, it's worth taking that chance with an FX16, because it's impressively fast, handles predictably (very important if you don't want to talk to me and Justice Lieberman in the Penalty Box) and has proven to be a reliable LeMons machine. Plus, that engine sounds incredible; check out this video from the Schumacher Taxi Service FX16 at LeMons South '08:





LeMons Good Car Choice #2: BMW E28. We haven't seen huge numbers of E28s at LeMons races, but those that have entered have done quite well. In fact, Black Iron Racing's 535i won the LeMons SF '07 race. Is the E28 tough enough? Well, the Sharkmobile 528e has survived two races having the absolute dogshit beat out of it by its wild-eyed posse of black-flag-magnet drivers, and it's coming back for more!


LeMons Good Car Choice #3: Fox Body Mustang. The junkyards have ridiculous quantities of Fox parts (Fairmonts, Zephyrs, even the Lincoln Mark VII is based on the same chassis), the Fox handles and brakes pretty well, and it's easy to fix when something breaks. And you don't need the V8 to get around the track in a hurry; we've seen the Pinto-powered four-banger Mustangs rack up lap times indistinguishable from their 5.0-packin' brethren at race after race.


LeMons Good Car Choice #4: Mazda Protege. Mazdas tend to be pretty bulletproof at 24 Hours Of LeMons races, and Mazdas have won more LeMons events than any other marque. We don't recommend the RX-7 for LeMons n00bs (very quick, but fragile if you get hit), but how about the winner of the Arse Freeze-A-Palooza '07 race? You can get a Protege for next to nothing, the performance is pretty similar to that of a Civic (but without the tendency to blow head gaskets), and it's small enough to stay out of trouble.

Let the debates begin! If you want to see how this stuff works in reality, come to Kershaw, South Carolina, next weekend for the LeMons South Spring race. See you there!

Thanks to Myke Toman, Nick Pon, Zerin Dube and Speed:Sport:Life, Anna C of Bikini Racer, the Norwegian Slaabs, Saabs Gone Wild, Prison Break Racing, Team Beermer, LeMons Supreme Court Justice Lieberman, Jackson Williams, and others for their fine photographs.

Back in May of 2008, a Florida circuit judge ordered Hogan's license to be revoked for up to three years and that he serve eight months in jail after he crashed his "p***y magnet" yellow Toyota Supra in 2007, subsequently leaving his friend, John Graziano, with serious brain damage.

As we reported back in October, Nick was released from jail after serving only 166 days (nearly 7 months) of his eight month sentence and now he's been granted limited driving privileges to drive to and from work. No word yet on what Hogan will be driving, but our guess is that it'll be his Mom's car and won't be another "p***y magnet" yellow Supra. Be safe out there Floridians!

[via TMZ]

With a 1:38.612 best lap and a 19th-place lap ranking, the Pole Position MR2 did quite well. We'd like to see a better-executed theme next time; the blow-up doll on a stick smacks of last-second theme slacking.


Here are some serious LeMons vets, as you can tell by the oft-bashed sheet metal. They were sidelined at Altamont with some ill-fitting main bearings- who knew that 4A engines came with two different types?- but knocked off a great 17th-place finish and best lap of 1:38.178 at Thunderhill.


We were really rooting for these guys, as they were the ones who managed to roll their MR2 on the very last lap of the '07 Arse Freeze (no, this isn't the same car). With a 16th-place finish, they've got much to be proud of.


We're not quite sure what happened to this team, but with just 31 laps finished and a 1:51 best lap, we can assume mechanical woes took their toll.


These guys were pitted near the Black Metal V8olvo, and they showed up with the car totally undecorated. After the whole squad attacked their MR2 with stencils and rattle cans, they had a pretty credible last-second theme done.


Sometimes the simplest thing will really make your car stand out on the race track; in this case, it was the spotted owl on a stick mounted on the Free Range Racing car's roof. The owl's wings flapped most realistically at high speeds… until they finally tore to shreds. 70th place, but a very respectable 1:40.484 best lap.


We were pretty hard on this team during the judging, hitting them with a 20-lap penalty for insufficient documentation, then handing them spray paint and forcing them to de-lame-ify their car's theme. Of course, it turns out they were telling the truth about their car's genuine crappiness, and they managed only 23 adjusted-for-penalties laps. Let's hope they get the car running right for Reno!


Another veteran of multiple California LeMons races, the We Each Hit Racing team scorned 2-way radio communication; instead, they had a crew member hold up the giant inflatable Corona bottle as the "PIT NOW" signal to their drivers.

On December 1, 2008, Toyota Motor Company registered the trademark number 77623634 for the term "LFA," no dash as in the past "LF-A," to be used with "Automobiles and structural parts thereof." Now, this doesn't mean the LFA is absolutely, positively going into production, as automakers regularly place dibs on all kinds of names. It does mean that if the car does see the light of day we won't have to call it something else.


[USPTO (direct linking disabled), via AutoSpies]

[Auto Trader, thanks to BZR for the tip]

2nd Place: #5, Junk Player Special Volkswagen Jetta



3rd Place: #01, Caintmakit Racing Acura Integra



4th Place: #17, The Latch-Key Kids Chrysler Neon



5th Place: #67, Size Matters Chrysler Plymouth Fury

Yes, the Latch-Key Kids and Size Matters Chrysler teams are veterans of many LeMons races, with plenty of top-contender finishes between them. They'll be the ones to beat at Houston and/or Thunderhill this year!

Right behind the Supra is the #95 SharT Attack Racing BMW.


In third place, we have the #5 Junk Player Special VW.

Check out that super-80s decal emblem! Pay no mind to the large-diameter tailpipe; that fad will be gone long before all the old Supras disappear.


The hatch spoiler! But don't laugh- a Supra just like this one won the Flat Rock 24 Hours of LeMons last year.


This one is on the battered side, but you know there's plenty of life left in it. Being forced to choose between one of these and a Starion would be quite the 80s dilemma.

As you can see, the Skyline was far from stock. It started life as an R32 GTS-T, but now it's powered by a RB26 from an R33 GT-R. The ride feels brutal at first, but you quickly adjust your mindset as your expectations realize that this is a full-on stripped-out racer capable of running in the highest level of drift competition. You may think it sounds loud in the video, but that was with the silencer on, something that comes off when it hits the track.

While the shop at ONI JDM isn't particularly big, you get the sense that the business is an extension of the guys' passion. Take the guy that gave me a drive in the R32, he worked as a mechanic during the week, but was a racer and drifter on the weekends. Now, I know that many of us here at Jalopnik aren't necessarily into the tuner scene, but you've gotta admire that dual-purpose spirit of racing on Sunday then wrenching on Monday.

So, despite the free health care, we've discovered the first real reason to move to Canada: awesome JDM rides.

[Check out their website at: ONIJDM.com]

Graziano's attorney will be seeking millions of dollars from Hogan & Co. The attorney says that Hulk and his estranged wife, Linda, as parents of Nick Bollea, are liable for his idiotic actions as he was only the tender age of 17 at the time of the crash. That crash left Graziano requiring care for the rest of his life. Did we also mention Graziano allegedly wasn't wearing his seatbelt at the time of the wreck. [AP]

The family of passenger of the vehicle at the time, John Graziano, is still continuing with their lawsuit against the Bolleas. [My Fox Tampa Bay]

This time we get the rear view which, JPCN points out, sadly differs from the attractive version of the concept. But this is all in someone's head... we think. Hey buddy, can you spare some speculation? [BestCar via Japanese Performance Car News]

Press Release

25 February 2008 - Sports cars will thrive in the 21st century world of rising fuel prices and environmental responsibility, judging by a concept car unveiled today by Toyota Australia.

The FT-HS - which stands for Future Toyota Hybrid Sports - is a futuristic sports-car concept with a sleek, aerodynamic profile and a potent petrol-electric hybrid engine.

Its front-engine, rear-drive layout provides revolutionary hybrid acceleration and optimal performance with a projected 0-100km/h dash in the four-second range.

It also features the fuel-saving benefits and ultra-low emissions of Toyota's hybrid technology.

Toyota Australia's corporate manager product planning Peter Evans said the FT-HS is exhilarating to drive while having eco-friendly benefits such as impressive fuel efficiency and low emissions.

"To really appreciate FT-HS, think of it as a 'Prius on steroids'.

"Alternatively, it could be a vision for a Toyota Supra of the future," Mr Evans said.

"FT-HS shows what Toyota can achieve by combining its 50 years in motorsport with more than a decade of hybrid experience and development.

"The ability to enjoy the ultimate driving pleasure with a clear conscience makes FT-HS the ideal sports car for the 21st century.

"It will appeal to an emerging group of buyers who are environmentally aware and regard technology as a necessity, not a luxury."

Toyota is the global leader in hybrid technology, having sold more than one million units of the world's first mass-produced hybrid, Prius.

The new concept car mates an electric motor to a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine, which is similar to that used in several production models.

Its combined power output target is about 300kW - or almost 50 per cent more than the V6 petrol-only engine in the Aurion family car, Kluger mid-size SUV, Tarago people mover and RAV4 compact SUV.

FT-HS was produced by Calty, Toyota's California research and design centre.

The centre set out to develop a mid-priced sports car that integrates ecology and emotion in a concept that addresses the question: "What is a suitable sports car for the 21st century?"

Australians can view the FT-HS concept on Toyota's stand at the Melbourne International Motor Show (29 February to 10 March).

TOYOTA FT-HS CONCEPT VEHICLE
PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS

Drivetrain

3.5-litre V6 hybrid electric

Target output: around 300kW

Projected 0-100kmh time: mid four-second range

Dimensions

Overall length: 4325mm (170.27 in)

Overall width: 1860mm (73.23 in)

Overall height: 1290mm (50.79 in)

Wheelbase: 2650mm (104.33 in)

Tracks - front: 1600mm (63.0 in); rear: 1555mm (61.2 in)

Wheels: Carbon fibre

Tyres - front: 245/35R21; rear 285/30R21