The Volvo, Post-Race
(What remains of our gallant ride after LeMons South)
When the race began, we had a shiny, newly-built, freshly-painted and generally in-good-repair racing Volvo 122:
After 2 days of slogging through Jay's Tire Chicane, bouncing off other cars, bearing the wrath of my Fist of Frustration, and all the other ravages that LeMons South presented, we have the following battle-tested Amazon:
That'll buff right out.
Ah...ketchup stains. Methinks someone got a little _too_ close to those tire chicanes!
Nice...you can see the slag from my quick n' dirty weld job after Brian got tagged by that Caprice. Also, the rear lower quarter skins are suspiciously absent...
Back on the trailer at my house. Tunachucker Central. Man, look at the brake dust on that front wheel! Brian did a nice job of metallurgically redistributing that right front fender. I think that may have had something to do with his black flag. That dog cage grate appears to have been more structural than we thought it was!
Quite ironic after that tire-losing incident on Sunday.
Another good shot of the back. That first "B" in "RUBBER" took the brunt of the welding. But the taillight openings remain largely unscathed. We were too busy bumping folks with the front of the car. That means we were fast, right? Right? ;)
No comment.
And here's the damage from the crimes I committed against that Mercedes. You can also see the tire nicely coated in the protective layer of DOT 5 brake fluid, mixed with pad dust.
Again, good thing there was dog cage there. That rust doesn't look structural. I think the Rustoleum may have held it intact better than the underlying oxides of Fe.
From this angle, Brian's scrapings seem a bit more, ah, pronounced. Damn.
Well, she's all there, more or less. The Amazon that Survived LeMons.
We already have plans for next year. Oh haws yes, we'll be back. Jay Lamm wrote me a few days after the race, when I asked him what our car's residual value was. You see, with that $500 limit on spending, there's a clause that if a team wishes to re-enter a car, the LeMons organizers will assign a residual value. Whatever the difference is between that and $500, is how much you can spend on the car. Jay's reply:
"Let's call it scrap value: $200 residual. God knows nobody other than the smelter will buy that car off you...."
More goodness from the Chief LeMons perpretrator...and some links for your time-wasting pleasure:
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Pics and reviews are starting to roll in from the CMP race (and a sweaty, pork-eating, 'shine-drinking fine time it was). Below, some of my faves so far:
Channel 10 News Feature (click the video link, page right, for the TV footage)
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8738925
Overall Jalopnik Coverage (the Pork Brains installment is frickin' genius)
http://jalopnik.com/search/lemons/bydate/?timerange=all
Judge Phil's Jalopnik Top 66 Guide
http://jalopnik.com/399480/the-top-66-lemons-of-the-24-hours-of-lemons-south
Raleigh News-Observer (front-page story)
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1154759.html
Some of the participant pix tricking in:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dieseladdict/sets/72157606392762663/detail/
http://picasaweb.google.com/r15chp/24HoursOfLemonsLemonsSouth2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29071791@N02/
Enjoy your time wasting...Cheers--JL
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God, I love this car. --MPP a.k.a. VCH
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