24 Hour of LeMons

You have to appreciate some of the artwork done to the cars.

Our first stroke of bad luck came before the race even started! When we started the car, the Haneline volt meter gauge that we had installed the week prior indicated low voltage, an issue we thought we had fixed (apparently not). No problem, Mike had a spare battery and charger. We could drive two-plus hours before having to switch the battery.

The start of the race was rather uneventful, despite the field of 100 cars on the track. Mike was turning consistent 2:33-second lap times, not the fastest of the bunch, but our strategy was consistency and endurance rather than speed. Most teams had four or five drivers. We had three and if all of us could log two-plus-hour driving stints then we had a legitimate chance at the title.

Opting to drive last, I thought I had a good four hours to enjoy the chaotic racing. While Mike's stint was without incident, Nick wasn't so lucky and had to come in for a black flag. Apparently, he put four wheels off and in doing so he couldn't go back onto the track. That meant it was my turn. I was excited and scared all at the same time. Having done my fair share of track days, I was used to track congestion, but never in a competitive race environment. It took a good five laps for me to get comfortable, and within 15 minutes I was in a good rhythm. Where the Escort lacked in straight-line acceleration, it made up for in the corners. That meant some aggressive maneuvers and late braking were necessary to pass cars with more horsepower. I was doing a good job dicing through some cars that were clearly better equipped than ours, but it was obvious that the Escort and my driving would only take the team so far. There were some BMWs, Hondas and a particular yellow Volvo that no matter how hard I tried would pull away rather easily and quickly.

An electrical problem grounded the Escort mid-race and it had to be towed in.

No matter, though, I would stick to our game plan and hope that the other faster cars would encounter mechanical trouble that would put them out of the race. Unfortunately, it was me who encountered our first on-track hiccup. Coming though a tight left-hander, I instantly felt the left tire give way; it had debeaded from the rim. I limped the car into the pits, where Nick was ready with a spare. Meanwhile, Mike jumped into the driver seat because I was almost at the end of my stint.

Hours came and passed and other than an unexpected (and unnecessary, in our opinion) black flag, the Escort mustered on late into the day. We still had the charging problem, but swapping batteries proved successful.

Former Sport Compact Car editor Dave Coleman was one of the drivers of the Molly Maid Miata.

Former Sport Compact Car editor Dave Coleman was one of the drivers of the Molly Maid Miat

As the sun set, the first day of racing came to an end. Despite it being called "24 Hours," the race doesn't actually run into the night because of noise regulations and safety concerns. It's more like 16 hours, split between two days. The benefit of the break is that teams can wrench on their cars overnight. We triple-checked all the wiring to see where the charging problem was coming from, but nothing was found.

The next morning, everyone was fresh and ready for another day of driving. Despite our enthusiasm and excitement, Team Bigfoot Hunter would not fare so well on Sunday. The electrical problem would eventually hit a climax and leave the Escort immobilized on the track. After being towed in and more time was spent searching under the engine bay, we eventually re-wired the complete charging system and found that the O2 sensor was grounding itself on the header. After what seemed like an eternity (in reality it was about an hour), we were back on the track in 50th place. At this point, we knew there was no chance at winning, but placing in the top 30 wasn't out of the question.

By Peter Tarach

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