Wild 24 Hours Of LeMons shunt

[avendlerdp]

Check this out hot off the press at this weekend's event at Infineon Raceway. Wow. Just goes to show even $500 crap cans can go fast enough to mess a guy up. The drive was unhurt BTW. Note fire starting at end of video.

I realize there are no P-cars in the video but there where a few in the race so don't flame me too badly.

[Noah930]

New perspective for me. I've never gone sliding down the road on my lid before. Funny how stuff is bouncing around on the underside of the roof as he comes to a halt.

Fire couldn't have been that bad, as the camera got saved.

[T77911S]

he had enough forsight to cover his eyes.

[barndoor]

What a waste of a perfectly good '82 Chevy Citation.........

[naparsei]

I guess the visor is just for looks?

[scoe911]

If not for the roll cage...

[Tim K]

Did the second 'tap' come from #25? It almost seems like someone behind him got spooked and flinched. Glad he's okay.

Tim K

[osidak]

in that drivers defense - his visor was down before he ended up shiny side down

[avendlerdp]

I think the visor got knocked open on impact with the wall. Yes that other car hit him too. A perfect storm.

By the way, I spoke too soon, the driver has a fractured vertebrae. No nerve damage but still a good advertisement for Hans devices.

[KTL]

Take a closer look at the circumstances and we shouldn't give the driver too much credit. Threading the needle there was a very bad move (obviously), but think about why;

-Pack of cars ahead of him
-Tight choke point of track
-No runoff room whatsoever
-Track lined by SOLID barriers at the incident location

Great to see the driver will recover (agreed HANS or other neck restraint would have been helpful) and nobody else was hurt as a result of his agressive pass. But this is a case of knowing where to push it and where not to, based on track layout and traffic.

I've done three lemons races so I have an idea of what goes on. Even though they're POS cars, that doesn't mean it's all fun & games out there. Cars roll, wheels fall off, engines blow up or overheat, suspension parts break, and some cars can go srsly fast. Our E30 325E ran like complete crap at 2009 Nelson Ledges race and we still managed to hit 100+ mph on the backstraight. Plenty fast for a 248K mi. rustbucket with crap-ass suspension (cut front springs, "sport" rear springs, unknown shocks, blown-out swaybar bushings, new front control arms.... etc. etc.) and well worn tires that were leftovers from 2008 race at Toledo (6th place/50-something) that ran almost all 24 hrs. there, and all 24 hrs. at 2009 Nelson Ledges (29th/130)

And i'd be a hypocrite if I didn't mention the fact that I went off that backstraight TWICE (entry to the backstraight actually, exiting the fairly fast carousel) when I misjudged the track-out point (kinda dark out there in the middle of the night- still no excuse) and slingshot across the track into the inside tire wall- hard.

[efhughes3]

Watch the guys hands on the wheel the first couple of turns-poor style IMO. I'd not be too interested in running that race if that is the quality of at least some competitors.

[avendlerdp]

Originally Posted by efhughes3

Watch the guys hands on the wheel the first couple of turns-poor style IMO. I'd not be too interested in running that race if that is the quality of at least some competitors.

In spite of the quality of the competition there's a waiting list for most of the events. I guess not everyone is as reasonable as you. It's really a game of survival more than anything else. Just staying out of trouble is a full time job in a Lemons race. I still want to win it in a Porsche, just having trouble getting one that I could claim was anywhere near $500. That and the CBR powered Metro still is fast as heck...

[eimkeith]

awesome camera mount, though.

[johndglynn]

Originally Posted by eimkeith

awesome camera mount, though.

Agree, awesome! Would love to have a go at a LeMons event one day.

[Slider79SC]

idiot!

Just because they are not worth much doesn't give him the excuse to treat them like bumper cars.... There are dirt tracks for that $hit!

[w21055]

I thought the wind caught the car with the tent on it and threw it into the driver.

[JP911]

The Lemons event organizers do their best to try and maintain safety. They don't send people out on track and encourage this kind of behavior. People who are repeatedly causing problems get kicked out of the event. I've driven in 2 Lemons races (including this one at Sears Point) and our team has taken the position of driving clean and conservative, avoiding the troublemakers. It's interesting that some of the worst offenders are the people who have alot of wheel-to-wheel experience.

[MichiganMat]

That $500 crap-can Cavalier was setting some blistering times around Sears Point, I guarantee there wasn't a stock 4 banger under that hood.

[euro911sc]

in the last frames of the clip you can see the car is on fire... the video may make it look like play, but it was a pretty serious off IMHO.

-Michael

[efhughes3]

Originally Posted by avendlerdp

In spite of the quality of the competition there's a waiting list for most of the events. I guess not everyone is as reasonable as you.

Well, Jim Jones had what? 900-some people drinking the kool-aid?