The organizers of the "24 Hours of Lemons" recently announced the race schedule for 2011. This year the series will have a total of twenty-four (24) races across the country, four (4) of which are in California. Following are the races in California we have selected for participation:
August 6-7 Thunderhill Raceway
December 3-4 Buttonwillow Raceway
December 22-23 Infineon Raceway
Our season opener will be at the Thunderhill Raceway on August 6-7. We've decided to skip the first race at Infineon Raceway to be held in March because the series will return there in December, where we intend to race.
The $500 limit set by the promoters make it rather difficult to find a car that will last more than one full 24 hour race if driven close to the limits. We can participate as moving fixtures on the track and do the laps, or we can race. We view the track as our laboratory and will try to stress our equipment so we can determine where the breaking points are. We want to do this so we can develop technology that is durable and less expensive in the long haul.
Since we have a limited budget and could not afford the usual logistics mix of crates, boxes and transporters, we may have to drive the car to the race. That would be an 8 hour drive one way to Thunderhill Raceway from Aliso Viejo CA, where we are based. We fear that by the time the car gets there, it would be, for lack of a better word, completely spent. That would be a bummer - getting to the starting line and not be able to race. That would be like a Howard Jones song - “You can look at the menu but you just can't eat”. What would be the point of all that? We want something that invokes feelings of adventure and achievement like a Kenny Loggins song celebrating the virtues of going supersonic in the “Danger Zone” with an F-14 Tomcat. Unfortunately, we are an underfunded privateer team with no budget to speak of. Actually, we don't even have a checkbook making it appropriate to add this clip of an angry Commodore enraged with his men and their egos “ ... writing checks (their) body can't cash”.
Stay tuned.
