Many of you who track your cars at driving events may have wistfully wondered what it would be like to really race in competition. For those of you with unlimited budgets you may have already made the jump into competitive racing. For the rest of us there is grassroots racing at its best in the form of the 24 hours of Lemons and its unholy brother Chump Cars.
(http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ )( http://chumpcar.com/ )

Team Jackie Ickyx GT30 is composed of Philippe Lebec, captain and owner of the car, a 1991 Mitsubishi 3000 painted to look like a Ford GT40, and myself Jim Dozier. Team Jackie Ickyx GT30 has competed in two races, a 14-hour endurance race in South Carolina in September 2009 and a 24-hour endurance race at Nelson Ledges Ohio in October 2009. The car and team were competitive and were able to reach 5th place out of 125 cars in each race. http://www.facebook.com/pages/24-Hou...0/109724431683 .

Team Jackie Ickyx GT30 now has openings for 2 teammates. We are looking for able-bodied easy going drivers, looking for a unique automotive experience. Personality and camaraderie are high on our list. Mechanical ability is a plus though the car is pretty much race-ready. The ability to count to ten is a requirement. The ability to heel and toe is optional but desirable. The ability to fit in a Japanese crapcan racecar is essential.

Philippe has plans for another Lemons race in Palm Beach in December 2010, there is also an offshoot of the Lemons series started by one of the original Lemons organizers called Chump Cars and they have a race at Homestead in May 2010 and one at Sebring in September 2010.

For those of you looking to expand your motorsports resumes I can’t stress enough how exciting it was to actually race, at night no less for the 24 hours, in competition. Top speeds may be less than what you may have experienced at driving events, but learning to negotiate competitive traffic adds another dimension to motorsports.

For those interested in joining Team Jackie Ickyx GT30, the cost is $1250 for someone to buy into the car for a race. Teammates would also be responsible for their own safety gear (a helmet, SFI approved fire suit, gloves, and shoes) and registration fees (~$200) and travel arrangements. Philippe plans to do the Chumps Car race in Homestead in May 2010 and in Sebring in September 2010, and the Lemons 24-hour race at Palm Beach in December 2010. This is far and away the least expensive way to get into wheel-to-wheel racing and not as much as some people spend at Track day driving events. PM me for further information.

 

agreed 100%. i've now done four lemons events (Stafford '08, CMP spring '09, CMP fall '09, and Nelson Ledges '09) and have had a blast each time. W2W racing is unbelieveably fun, esp in a car that you're not worried about. and the crowd (at least at Lemons...haven't done ChumpCar yet)) is a fun bunch on and off track.

My team (Schumacher Taxi Service) is planning on doing at least 4-5 events this season alone (including CMP, Summit Point, and VIR). Some of the guys are contemplating giving up autoX in order to have more time/money for crapcan racing. if you have any interest in W2W racing, i highly recommend it.

*don't worry if you've got no track experience. a lot of participants don't. i had no track time (not even a track day) before my first event. i was black flagged once at that race (for hitting a barrier cone), but have not had one since then. the driving is surprisingly high-quality, especially given the disparity in experience and the overall crappiness of the cars (which spans a broad range from really horrible to really fast).

here is one of our drivers racing a surprisingly fast Buick at Nelson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Z9Jk4s3dM

 

We were at Nelson Ledges which car was the Schmacher Taxi service? Its true you couldn't predict which cars would be fast there were some surprises. Its hard to tell a well set up crapcan with a good driver from a fancy looking but poorly setup poorly driven crapcan until you get behind one, then you know pretty soon.

 

We had three cars:

1. a 1st-gen MR2 (painted "american flag" red/white/blue) -- the one i was driving
2. a blue miata (the "Mazdarati" with a plywood wing)
3. a yellow Audi 90 taxi.

the Audi was the only car that finished. we spun a rod bearing in the MR2 around 11:30 on sat night. the miata developed some sort of weird clutch problem that required the car to be turned off in order to change gears. it was funny watching them get it back into the trailer.

we have another 1st gen MR2 for this year, and are rebuilding the broken one. we also have another secret project that should be ready for CMP spring.