04/15/2024
RACE RECAP #55:
"The First Timer"
Although I have been doing Lemons for over 12 years, I have never taken the time to scribble down my reflections after a weekend of racing; there’s a first time for everything I suppose…
At some point in my Lemons career, I became an Index of Effluency chaser. I am not sure exactly when it occurred, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that it all started with Judge Phil Greden taunting me in to purchasing and racing a Hyundai Scoupé in 2015 under the auspices of it “being an absolute shoe-in for IOE!”. Without loss of generality: it took many years, motors, doll hairs, and races for me to earn that IOE with the Hyundai, eventually, in 2018. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to be a part of two additional top-prize-in-Lemons winning efforts — however once again both of these coming after many attempts and much struggle.
I am not exactly sure when the idea congealed in my grey matter, but somehow that became the goal: to build a car, assemble a team, and take home IOE on an inaugural outing. I had found my Moby Dick. Without getting too much in to my own personal proclivities and kinks, the obvious car choice was a VW B4-variant Passat TDI wagon for its exceptionally miserly fuel economy and camel-esque stock fuel system capacity. Fortunately one fell in to my lap for lemony dough in the early months of 2023.
If you’re still reading, don’t worry I will wrap this up ASAP — I am really only procrastinating on finishing my taxes!
Once the car was located, I needed to assemble the team for the build. Where was I going to find 3 additional people dumb enough to con in to helping me cage this abysmally slow NOx-farter? Newbies, of course! Josh Helsper Andrew Helsper Mitchel O'Day
Something was still missing the week before the race to really pull it all together: what the project really needed was a post-eclipse tactical Nathan Schlawin deployment for a thrash fest the week before the race. His expertise in both car preparation and driving the wheels off (vertically) were the magic ingredient in making sure the otherwise-prepared-by-rookies car would perform all weekend. Despite his best efforts, he was still only able to achieve the 101st fastest lap (out of 105 cars). Surely would have only beaten the Vannonball and Simca without him.
By the numbers:
257 laps
2.78 miles per lap = 714 race miles
30.5 gallons of diesel, giving us an average fuel economy of 23mpg
(or approximately 2.1 gallons per hour across 14.5 hours of racing)
P.43/105
0 fuel stops during the race
