Reader Submission: Behind-the-scenes Halloween Hooptiefest 2013 pictures

lemons lead

This another submission from our faithful reader and commenter, SmokeyBurnout. He stopped by during our race at the Halloween Hooptiefest Lemons race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We met, we chatted, and I forgot to give him a t-shirt and/or a sticker… and I feel bad about that! Here’s Manny’s (that’s his real name, don’t tell him I told you what it is) report from the spectator’s perspective. -KK

When LeMons first came East, one of the tracks they came to just so happened to be the closest racetrack to where I live: Stafford Motor Speedway. Stafford was close enough that I could wake up at a reasonable hour and still take in a full day of racing. It was at the race in 2009 where I failed to introduce myself to Jim Brennan, and in 2011 somehow didn’t bump into Kamil Kaluski. With Monticello being a one-off event, the closest track to me is now New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which isn’t really that close at all. I guess what this has been building up to is me admitting that I was too broke to spring for a hotel and too lazy to get on the road before 9AM, so what follows is my account of just the last 4 hours of LeMons at NHMS.

stang1

When I saw online that there were 140 cars entered, I wondered if they could even fit that many in the infield. It seems silly now, but I did remember seeing the GRC teams in an outfield lot when I was there last year. Anyway, it turns out you can fit way more than 140 when they all don’t come with their own 72-foot tractor trailers. I set off to figure out which space belonged to Team Hooniverse, and halfway across the infield I found this.

stang2

I mean this in the nicest way possible: this is one of the ugliest race cars I’ve ever seen. It seemed to be a mix of beaten original panels and fiberglass patches draped over something as close to a tube frame as LeMons rules allow.

stang3

There were marker scribblings all over the car, mostly reminders like the torque specs over the wheels, but also testimonials like this one.

stang4

That’s not a fender flare for the rear wheel, it’s the hanger support for the side pipes. This car was actually second overall on Saturday before their race was ended by contact.

winnie

Have I mentioned how cold it was yet? It was very cold, though not unseasonably so. Some teams had camped overnight in tents, but Team Ludicrous Speed had this prop.

track1

Oh right, there’s a race going on. Here’s the Broken Tranny  BMW coming to a stop in front of two IOE contenders and one going for the overall.

hotgate

This gate was wide open to let ambulances and tow trucks onto the track. It’s the clearest, closest access to a hot track I’ve ever had. There were a few people with cameras gathered around all day, mostly on the other side trying to get pictures of the *fronts* of cars! Hmmph. I tended to stay on this side because I’m not all that comfortable with having nothing between me and cars coming in my general direction.

bill1

In my last Lime Rock article, I didn’t mention that on my way out I ran into Trevor Hermance, who I hadn’t seen in quite a few years. We spent maybe 45 minutes catching up. As I get older and high school recedes further into the past, I find myself having these conversations more often and thinking “That person’s life is going in a better direction than mine,” but it’s usually because they’ve said something about their stable job or apartment, not because they’ve said “I’m racing for two different LeMons teams next month.” Anyway, that’s one of those cars, the Mario’s Auto Wrecking “Hoon-die”.

bill2

…and this is the same car in the paddock 10 minutes later, getting a jump start and cranking but not firing.

 

bill3

All hands on deck! Scan tool spits out a code for the crankshaft position center. The team scrambles to pull the sensor off their second engine or get a new one from a parts store.

bill4

I wasn’t on the team and I was trying to stay out of the way, so no picture of the sensor as it came out, with an oily mess of shavings and a trigger wheel tooth stuck to the magnetic pickup. The tooth actually forced the sensor out and snapped its bracket. They tried cleaning up the pickup and popping the sensor back in but it still wouldn’t fire. This was not going to be a quick fix.

bill5

At this point the situation in the pit got a bit touchy, and I wandered off to check out some other teams. I’ll let Trevor fill you in on what happened when I wasn’t there (most of the weekend):

“The undoing of Mario’s Auto Wrecking at this race was mostly due to the proverbial five-cent-part failures, which figured as the car had proven reliable through two previous LeMons contests at the track. From an hour in on Saturday morning we had shifting issues, with the rearward gates of 2nd, 4th, and Reverse seemingly inaccessible due to the disappearance of a clip on the cables (always preferred a solid linkage, myself). This issue wasn’t identified until after my stint rounding out the first day (even though the opportunity presented itself while the car was in for a 75-minute radiator change after a yellow-flag-congestion brake-check on teammate Dylan in the early afternoon), and not fully fixed until just before Devon’s fateful turn at the wheel in the middle of Sunday. Though full diagnosis/autopsy is yet to be performed, the theory is that it was the “reluctor ring” (I was skeptical of the nomenclature, never having heard that word before), which sits on the crankshaft to signal that position sensor, that broke apart at high rpm, leading to the small debris and sensor issue.

With two engines (this one having been in a Hyundai I rallycrossed for a few events), the less-LeMonized one was selected for a gentle tear-down/inspection/installation for this race. My car with this powerplant had shown occasional starting issues, but would eventually get running after some awkward bump-starting and starter torture, usually showing a check engine light for a little while afterward which a scanning tool would show to be the crank position sensor. Accordingly, Andrew elected to keep his original engine’s sensor, assuming we’d have no trouble restarting if there were any stalls. However, this incident may be evidence that instead it was the ring which had an imperfection, and may have been overlooked while the engine was apart.”

dragon1

Meanwhile in the next space, there was a trail of parts to follow. That’s an old American carburetor on a BMW intake manifold…

dragon2

A cylinder head someone tried to remove the exhaust manifold from…

dragon3

Yup, it’s Rusty Dragon Racing’s Golf/318 hybrid. They got screwed! From what I heard at the awards ceremony, the engine did this to itself while the car was just driving around the paddock, after two days of trying to get the car legal.

bigone

I caught the tail end of the big crash, but didn’t know the Firebird had climbed over the Z.

partyrace

Sometimes sorry isn’t good enough. Probably a good time to check how tight that wheel is on.

jetski

NHMS does not have an infield lake like Daytona. Also, it was October!

cdfiero1

I still hadn’t found Park Bench Racing’s space, but I remembered there was a second set of garages at the north end of the infield. After walking down one side, I still hadn’t found them, but I did see Rusty Tear Racing packing up. Walking around to the other side, I saw the Buick pull into the pits. Great, now all I had to do was follow it!

cdfiero2

Of course, I can’t walk as fast as a car even at pit lane speeds, so I was mostly following it with my eyes until my sightline was blocked, first by garages and then by the other side of the Fiero. I was going to have to check this out first.

track2

The outfield section of the NHMS road course is the RV camping area/spectator hill for the oval, and the transitions in and out are quite steep.

cdfiero3

I didn’t take notes, but I think they said they got turned coming back down to the oval, the wheels dug in (to the grass?) and the car skidded on its side. The door and fender were left out on track, and LeMons requires you to have these things. The car was otherwise straight, so they carved a replacement panel from wood, but tech wouldn’t allow it back on track. This car was terrible when fielded originally by Car and Driver, but Rusty Tear had won their class with it at this race last year.

W123_1

I figured I’d cut across the garages to try to catch up with the Buick, but this route led me to another distraction: a W123 like the one I used to drive, with the color I had peeking out from under the color I wanted.

W123_2

Okay, so it’s not quite like mine was. That Saab crashed hard

hoonlemon1

It turned out there was no rush to catch up with the team, because they were one of four waiting in the penalty box. I didn’t introduce myself just yet, because the atmosphere was pretty tense, and not just because someone had littered in the park.

bmwie1

I made a note of where their paddock space was and started wandering the garages again. The Inefficient Dynamics team may be racing a BMW in LeMons, but it looked great, sounded great, and hey, it’s not an E30.

bmwie2

They kept the OnBoard Computer! I have one of these lying around that’s going in a project someday.

bmwie3

Proper endurance-racing grime! Everyone was gathered around the front of the car so they probably had engine trouble.

262

Inside NASCAR Turn 3 there were concrete barriers, useful for spotters to stand on but also for getting clear shots of cars on track. It was cold up there and it’s not the most interesting corner so this was the only noteworthy shot I got. That’s not a victory fist pump, but a warning wave.

scirocco1

There were safer are more popular perches inside turn 1. It’s at the end of the track’s longest straight and the drivers really throw the car into it.

fwd1

One of my favorite things about spectating at LeMons is watching front-drive cars without high-dollar full-race suspension driven by super-aggressive drivers through corners like this one.

fwd2

The Iron Man-chanics were experimenting with repulsor technology.

scirocco2

fwd3

Not really a valid comparison, because the rear anti-roll bar isn’t the only difference between these Sciroccos, you wouldn’t fit one just to stop your car from picking up wheels, and that wouldn’t even be an effective way to do that. Still looks cool.

rolls

A good way to keep all your wheels on the ground is to have weight… everywhere and have “adequate” suspension travel.

boat1

There were a number of late-race yellows, and 3 Pedal Mafia’s boat ran aground during one of them.

hoonlemon2

Yes, the sun actually came out at one point, before setting on this LeMons adventure.

speedykamil

After the race, I did introduce myself to Kamil and the team. Or, I walked into their pit space wearing a Hooniverse T-shirt. Anyway, on our way to the awards ceremony we ran into the newly appendixless Legend Speedycop.

boat2

At the awards ceremony, I took a few pictures of the race-winning car that didn’t really come out, but this is LeMons and it’s okay not to care about who won. I noticed this on the back of the boat, I’m not sure if it’s a pun I don’t get or just a typo.

scort

On my way out of the track, I stopped to take a closer look at Trevor’s tow rig. It’s a Ford Escort wagon with over a quarter-million miles. People on the internet love to argue “In Europe [compact front-drive car X] is rated to tow [absurd number of kilograms Y]!!!1!” but if you want to do serious towing, you need to take aerodynamics into consideration and maybe strap a few Formula Skip Barber nosecones to your roof. You’ll probably also have to replace the wheel bearings.

 

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15 responses to “Reader Submission: Behind-the-scenes Halloween Hooptiefest 2013 pictures”

  1. Kamil_K Avatar

    I look really fat (I'm not REALLY fat) and tall (only 6'2") in that pic. 🙂

  2. Zaxbys Avatar
    Zaxbys

    An SPI with over 250,000 miles? Madness! Mine decided 197k was a fine time for a trick, 2-piece connecting rod…

    1. frankthecat Avatar

      my mom's decided to spit a piston through the side of the block at 125K miles, after the transmission slipped into neutral at 70 on the highway.

    2. magicaltrevor2 Avatar
      magicaltrevor2

      Bought at 158000, currently at 273000 63 months later.
      Our '93 SEFI got handed off at around 178000, and I think we got it six years earlier around 108000

  3. calzonegolem Avatar
    calzonegolem

    I live in Maine. There is no excuse for me not being here. Next year I will be here.

    1. Kris_01 Avatar
      Kris_01

      I live in New Brunswick. Hey, neighbour.

  4. mdharrell Avatar

    "People on the internet love to argue 'In Europe [compact front-drive car X] is rated to tow [absurd number of kilograms Y]!!!1!'"
    Not true.
    Seattle to Crystal Lake, Illinois and back, 4000 miles:
    <img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4053/4707391956_8451d2c9fe.jpg&quot; width="350">
    Seattle to Willows, California and back, 1400 miles:
    <img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/9936422556_4ab1518bf8.jpg&quot; width="350">
    I don't argue. I lead by example.

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      Well of COURSE you lead by example. It's much harder to steer and see the road ahead if you're in the car that's being towed, instead of in the leading car.

  5. Eric Rood Avatar
    Eric Rood

    Awesome!

  6. smokyburnout Avatar
    smokyburnout

    This is the first one of these in a while that doesn't open with Kamil detailing why it's going up so late (it's mostly my fault) and one of the things that hadn't happened at the time of writing happened over the weekend. Trevor just sent me these links to the Hyundai engine autopsy: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.chapin.14/posts/5https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=597084997…. 100001722858003&type=1&relevant_count=1 https://www.facebook.com/andrew.chapin.14/posts/5
    (They're all set to public but you have to log in to see some anyway. Facebook!)
    Broken reluctor ring, shattered piston skirt and backed-out flywheel bolts!

    1. magicaltrevor2 Avatar
      magicaltrevor2

      The InEfficient Dynamics car looks like that because it done blowed up and spewed oil all over the PASSING LINE OF THE HARDEST BRAKING ZONE ON THE WHOLE TRACK. Sure, for the 10 minutes of full course yellow to tow the now-paperweight away and clean up the track we all saw that there were debris flags in the area; I had assumed for the three metric tons of speedy dry which had been employed to dispatch the über-juice dumped past the apex where the driver smartly and safely stopped off-line. Little did I know, making a move on the first lap back under green…
      Huge kudos to whoever was driving the orange Scirocco at the time for being heads up and going super wide so my sorry ass didn't collect him on turn-in.

  7. CalculatedRisk Avatar
    CalculatedRisk

    That orange scirocco is awesome. Great pictures.

  8. salguod Avatar

    I put 160+K (starting at 22K) on a '93 Escort LX 5 door 5 speed an my daughter has a '98 SE sedan (also a 5 speed) approaching 130K. They could hardly get out of their own way, let alone pull a race trailer. Stopping must be exciting too. No thanks.

    1. magicaltrevor2 Avatar
      magicaltrevor2

      I'm the guy with the Escort in the photo. In 2005 I learned to drive in a '93 LX automatic wagon which my dad had purchased from a coworker 2 years prior for only $300. When I heard at that time he'd be bringing home a $300 Escort (after my only prior experience with the moniker being my mom's '88 3 door depositing its rusty muffler and tailpipe on the road and the door hinges and latches later rotting to the point she had to hold the left door closed while driving me around as a preschooler), I thought it was a terrible decision.
      Our family was situated behind Connecticut's largest Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Eagle dealership, and, going to events at Dodge-sponsored Lime Rock Park throughout my childhood, I was pretty much a Mopar guy (while being a fan of all cars in general). Thanks to Mom's car and our neighbors' bondo'ed, wheel-covers-missing first-gen Tauruses I pretty much sneered at anything Blue Oval.
      But, the beige/tan/granny-gold '93 wagon proved capable! The 90hp from its 1.9 (which, by the way, has powered the SCCA's Spec Racers for about 20 years now!) was capable enough to tow our family's small Starcraft pop-up trailer to camping trips, while the interior would be packed to the headliner with stuff and a bike rack would even be affixed to the hatch. I eventually inherited the car (unofficially to save on insurance) after high school, and it took me on my first trips to Watkins Glen, Thompson Speedway, Pocono Raceway, New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Monticello Motor Club in 2008. All those miles that summer were tough on it though, and the automatic seemed to be starting to give up.
      So my current '98 SE 5-speed with the improved 110hp (when new) 2-liter was located, and has been working the detail since. I wasn't sure how much heavier the utility trailer (which I'm converting into a camper; it's only big enough to hold a kart or F500 race car) would be than the pop-up, but it's definitely noticeable. Yes, I have had a huge aversion to towing that in wet weather (ask the crumpled right front about that), and have been lucky with dry days. However, just last week I actually picked up a 2004 Volvo V70 R to assume the hauling duties, as they're supposedly built to handle up to 3000 lbs. The new car also means I might be able to replace the timing belt (complicated by that wrinkled corner) after I've put 115000 miles on the car and maybe even investigate why 5th gear has been unusable for the last two years…

      1. salguod Avatar

        I'm a big fan of Escorts, I just can't imagine towing with one. More power to you.
        I traded a horibly unreliable '88 Pulsar SE on my '93. The Pulsar was a hoot to drive, but I couldn't keep up with the repairs. Going from that to the 90 HP, 13" wheels, crank windows 5 door Escort was depressing at first. But the thing just kept running with no issues. I think the only thing I did to it was a wiper relay and an intake gasket (and brakes, a clutch, etc.). Not exciting to drive or look at, but bullet proof. It's why my daughter has one now. Looking at $2K cars for her I was finding 250K Civics or 110K Escorts. After the experience with my '93, that was a no brainer.
        BTW – the 1.9, and I believe the 2.0, are clearance engines so you can keep driving until the timing belt lets go, as long as having to tow it home and have it down for a time won't be an inconvenience. I let mine break on the '93 (at 95K) and I think her's is original at around 120K now. I had to pop the timing cover to check it this summer and it looked healthy, so I left it. I suppose it may have been changed at some point.