24 Hours of LeMons at Thunderhill Nov 2009

LeMons race car in its racing livery at Thunderhill November 2009. (This pic "borrowed", with all due respects, from the official 24 Hours of LeMons photo gallery. We were too busy asking the officials to "black-flag" our car into the pits to think about taking a photo. )

Yes, that's fire underneath the car. Replacing the thick, old, nasty differential fluid with fancy new synthetic fluid seems like a good idea until you realize the worn axle seals aren't capable of retaining the slippery new stuff. Leaking differential fluid + hot rear brake rotor = wheel fire. Eventually the differential froze from lack of lubrication and our day was over.