Garage Heroes (In Training)

Learning as we go. Come along with us and Enjoy the Ride!

24 Hours of Lemons

GHIT 0058 Thompson 2019 Race Wrap-Up

New Drivers and a New to Us Car

Alan, Jennifer, and Bill with our “new to us” BMW E36 race car

This Thompson 2019 episode is dedicated to our friend Aaron Leinemann.  He has had some unexpected bad medical news and a GoFundMe page has been started to assist.  Please share whatever you can to assist Aaron and his amazing family.

On this episode, our team reviews the 2019 24 Hours of Lemons race GP du Lac Chargoggagogg(etcetera) at Thompson Speedway in Northeastern Connecticut.  We entered our Race Truck El Jeffe a 2004 Chevy S-10 with many Isuzu Hombre body panels and our new to us 1998 BMW E36 3-series car for our first race with it after buying it about two weeks prior.  El Jeffe was updated from the former Stan Lee livery to and Avengers Endgame livery and the E36 was quickly themed in the paddock to be a Captain America car. 

  • Alan as Spider Man
    Alan as Spidey
  • Bennett Rocketing Deadpool
    Bennett Rocketing Deadpool
  • Connor with a Serious Chin
    Connor with serious chin
Garage Heroes were present and accounted for

We review Friday practice and spend most of the episode covering the race on Saturday and Sunday.

Highlights include:

  • New Drivers, several first timers at Thompson
  • Thompson track walk and review
  • Saturday and Sunday within El Jeffe
  • Saturday and Sunday in the BMW E36
  • El Jeffe brake issues and a potential fix and path forward to alleviate this ongoing problem. 
  • Our 4 black flag debacle and how it impacted our position in the race (HINT not well)
  • Bill got to make two signs with Connor to slow the cars in the pits
  • A minor incident where a car came across the bow of the El Jeffe and removed moist of the front end facia
  • Saturday night’s Potluck Dinner hosted by the Three Pedal Mafia team for Stuntin’ and Explodin’ fest
  • We show our exceptional math skills several times this episode
  • Team awards for the weekend
  • Hella Sweet or Butt Terrible idea of the week
  • To do’s and improvements for our next race
  • Radio and Helmet communication issues
  • Then things devolved from there
  • E36 performed very well
  • El Jeffe was a race truck
Proof we were ahead at least a few times

GHIT 0058: Thompson 2019 Race Wrap-Up

GHIT 0046: Our Race Wrap Up from NJMP 2019

Our review of our 24 Hours of Lemons Race at NJMP’s Lightning Track

Our NJMP 2019 Highlight
Our NJMP 2019 Race Highlight, yep.

Our 2019 NJMP Lightning Race Review with the 24 Hours of Lemons series includes: 

  • Quick review of the Lightning track Review
  • Alan’s many visits to the Black flag area this weekend
  • We had a few self-induced incidents and a few outside influences during the race
  • It was Kate’s first race
  • Kate Before Her First Stint
    Kate Before Her First Stint
  • Kate After Her First Stint
    Kate After Her First Stint
  • Podcast Reviews finally, Thank you. 
  • Arrival with two not fully working cars set us back for the weekend and we really never caught back up
  • Shout out once or twice to Judge Craigers
  • We had a few issues with the Cars, mostly because we came with not fully finished cars
  • Jennifer was in a tunnel during the episode
Our weekend in a nutshell.

Car highlights included Speedy Cop’s new Aquarium via 2 AMC Pacers, the Big Bad Caddy and “Wurst Shifter” pit vehicle, Race Bar Car, Godzilla, the new Three Pedal Mafia race car, Matt’s new Surfin’ Bird T-Bird, Mom Rocket team for keeping that grassy spot very clean all weekend, The racing Hudson, and the Sunbeam. 

  • Everyone was there, even Godzilla Made an Appearance
    Everyone was there, even Godzilla Made an Appearance
  • Speedy Cop's Latest Creation
    Speedy Cop’s Latest Creation
  • Three Pedal Mafia's Godzilla
    Three Pedal Mafia’s Godzilla
  • Many shout outs to all the teams there, we only mentioned a few of them, but everyone was great. 
  • We were passed by many if not all of you who were there,
  • Track was easier but aggression was higher
  • What should be our team penalty for getting black flags?  Any suggestions welcomed.  Please leave a comment. 
  • We end with our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly, as well as what did we learn from this event.
  • Kate kept up with Black Betty for 5 laps!  It would have been slightly more impressive if they weren’t yellow flag laps, lol. 
  • We all also learned how to fill a hot tub with a pickup truck

Our results from NJMP were that El Jeffe/The Hombre/The Race Truck finished 60th overall out of 133 and 25th in B out of 68 cars with a fastest lap of 1:29.082.  The SpiderStang finished 105th overall and 49th in B with a fastest lap 1:36.75 by our guest driver Matt who does not want to drive it any more, lol.

Did we have fun, always!
Did we have fun, always!
We will be Back
We will be Back

GHIT 0046: Our Race Wrap Up from NJMP 2019

GHiT 0044: Nick Pon – Our Special Guest

Nick Pon from the 24 Hours of Lemons HQ

Nick Pon from Lemons HQ
Nick Pon from Lemons HQ

On this episode, we were joined by Nick Pon from the 24 Hours of Lemons HQ.  Nick is a car enthusiast for the vast majority of his life and worked with the Lemons team since the inception.  During this interview, we were able to go over Nick’s history, both with Lemons and personally. 

Highlights included:  

  1.  Thoughts on how you Lemons has gone so far, the Good, The Bad and The Ugly
  2. What is planned for NJMP next weekend with Race, Radwood, Hooptiecon and everything else on site

Also please check out Nick’s latest article at Autoweek related to a 24 Hours of Lemons race car that turned into much more.  (and no, that is definitely not our Capri)  

Podcast Episode GHiT 0043: Nick Pon from the 24 Hours of Lemons HQ

Our First GHiT Year In Review

For this episode, we wanted to look back on our team’s first year racing Lemons and what we did, what we did well, what we did poorly, and begin to refine our plan for the coming year. So this episode is our first GHiT Year In Review.

AT Thompson 2018
Our endurance racing team at the 2018 Lemons race in Thompson CT

Alan also covers his recommended tool of the week.

GHIT

GHiT Podcast 00424: Year in Review