Myself and a group of local Audiziners got a crazy hair up our ass to try 24 Hours of LeMons in an Audi - this is our story and we'll use this thread to document our build.
For those who haven't heard of 24 Hours of LeMons, its a race where you can only spend $500 on your car, hence everyone is driving a "lemon." A spoof of of 24 hours of Le Mans, this race is also an endurance race, although it works out to be closer to around 18 hours than the full 24, and doesn't go over night. So you can imagine the mayhem of a bunch of crap cans racing for ~24 hours - not to mention no formal racing experience is required to enter either.
It all started when we found a 1982 Audi Coupe on Craigslist for $500. The car hadn't run in years (literally) but the owner assured us it was mostly just a fueling problem that we should be able to fix it easily. We bargained the seller down to $100 which leaves us with $400 for the rest of the build. The $500 budget does not cover safety items such as the roll-cage and racing seat luckily, but it does include any performance & engine parts.
Our team members include:
- CaptDistraction
- starrkitten13
- MrPerfect (AZ Moderator)
- nnnick
- TSFI
- Whatset
- Koolade9
As well as help from J the W, Jung and ThePaintballGuy along the way :)
We're also fortunate enough to have a few sponsors, which have been a huge asset to us:
- Audizine.com - web, facebook & twitter
- Adam's Rotors - web, facebook & twitter
- Speed of Sound, LLC - web, facebook
Sooo we'll start from the beginning - the day we bought her:
Cleaned up the next day:
Our first two items were:
- Get the car running
- Gut the interior
The application due date of for the Buttonwillow Arse-Freeze-Apalooza was rapidly approaching. We wanted to make sure the car would at least start before we sent in the nearly $1500 in registration fees that were due in mid September. When we tried to start the car, it was obvious the fuel pump wasn't working - not even a clicking noise. We started by draining the fluids:
The gas was very nasty, so we also took out the gas tank and flushed everything out. We replaced the relay to the fuel pump, but that wasn't enough. We replaced all of the fuel line and eventually caved in and bought a fuel pump too. We're still under our budget of $500, but as expected getting it running did eat up a little bit of those funds.
So Goal 1 has been accomplished - the car runs. Maybe not very well, but she runs...
Our next mission was to prep the interior. We started by gutting everything. This was very fun:
Before (the previous owner had a custom interior done that was a navy blue/gold combo, quite odd on a black car but whatever....)
During:
And once completed, we sent to our fabricator for the cage install. Here is the after, with our Cobra Imola S racing seat installed as well:
We're still cleaning up some of the wiring and such, but the interior is near completion. Our sponsor Speed of Sound, LLC is building us a center console plate providing for our driver contol, information, and communication needs - given "Driver Comfort" items are excluded from the budget, this nice piece of gadgetry won't count against us.
The next major items include
- Getting the car to run WELL - adjusting timing, flushing out the rest of the fluids, cleaning injectors, etc
- Suspension & Tires
- Brakes - a special treat from our team sponsor Adams Rotors is in store here!
- Exterior - no LeMons racer is complete without looking absolutely ridiculous
- Probably a crapload more.
As of posting this, we have approximately 1 month until our first LeMons race at Buttonwillow, CA on Dec 4th & 5th. We'd love to have any Audiziners come and support us, you're more than welcome to hang out in our pit area and lend a hand!
Very nice! where is your "24hours of LeMons" going to be held?
The first one we're entering is in Buttonwillow, CA from Dec 4th & 5th. We hope to do a few others in the Southwest area, be it So Cal or Texas or Las Vegas. Historically there has been a Phoenix event, which is where we're all located, but there doesn't seem to be a PHX area event on the 2011 schedule yet :(
Thanks for the posts!
2006 Audi S4: Brilliant Red on Platinum Silver, 6MT, RNS-E, Cold Weather & Premium Package
The first one we're entering is in Buttonwillow, CA from Dec 4th & 5th. We hope to do a few others in the Southwest area, be it So Cal or Texas or Las Vegas. Historically there has been a Phoenix event, which is where we're all located, but there doesn't seem to be a PHX area event on the 2011 schedule yet :(
Thanks for the posts!
cool but I just checked the schedule again for 2010/2011 ( http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ ) and I don't see ours on there(NEVADA)
cool but I just checked the schedule again for 2010/2011 ( http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ ) and I don't see ours on there(NEVADA)
Jay (the event coordinator) said there are still a few dates & locations that they're still finalizing before they release them, our fingers are crossed either Arizona or Phoenix are one of those!
2006 Audi S4: Brilliant Red on Platinum Silver, 6MT, RNS-E, Cold Weather & Premium Package
I recently moved away from Phoenix to the Bay Area and am really bummed that I can no longer work on the car. (Not that I did much more than stand around it and drink beer anyway.) In any case, we're getting more and more excited as it comes closer to race day at Buttonwillow. If anybody is in Cali, we'd love to see some AZ support if you have the free time!
She looks great from all the pictures I've seen since I've left. Sad I'm missing all the painting. :( Can't wait to drive her though!
Project is coming out great guys! Wish I could have made the trip out to buttonwillow in dec. But I'm hoping I'll get a chance to see the car when I move
Good stuff, guys. Glad to see a build thread on here about this car!
Hoping to make it out to Buttonwillow for your race.
That would be awesome! Maybe we can work out something to display one of your cars in the paddock with an Audizine banner or something :) I think a few of us are bringing our B6 / B7 / B8s, could have a little mini show in the parking lot, lol.
Originally Posted by vietfoo300zx
NEVADA
May 14-15: Reno-Fernley Raceway, Fernley NV
You gotta click 2011 on the front page, lol. It took me awhile to figure it out..... hahaha
I think that might have to be our next event :) The nice thing is after you complete a race you earn back additional budget to repair or improve your car for the next one, so in theory the more races you do the greater your overall budget and the more room to add some power upgrades - assuming your car doesn't get so beat-up you spend all the $$ repairing it!
Here are a few pics from yesterday - a bit of a color change using Home Depot's finest rattle cans :)
starrkitten13 and CaptDistraction working hard in our "body shop"
Letting her dry over night:
starrkitten13 giving the boys a look under her hood, if you know what I mean ;)
2006 Audi S4: Brilliant Red on Platinum Silver, 6MT, RNS-E, Cold Weather & Premium Package
Oh noes! You let the paint dry out in the open! What if some DUST or a BUG get on her!?!@# Oh wait, nevermind. Even that would be a vast improvement from its original condition.
still working on her tuesdays and saturdays? cus i've been meening to come out and help with what ever i can.
Let me know if you need me to bring anything? I've got some bits and peaces laying around the garage that may be able to help (like pipeing...intake or exhaust, a cone filter, misc. rice from the early rice'r days...stuff like that)
still working on her tuesdays and saturdays? cus i've been meening to come out and help with what ever i can.
Let me know if you need me to bring anything? I've got some bits and peaces laying around the garage that may be able to help (like pipeing...intake or exhaust, a cone filter, misc. rice from the early rice'r days...stuff like that)
Yeah still Tuesdays after 6PM and Saturdays pretty much all day - we'd love to have ya out! Misc. Rice is definitely needed :) If you have any vacuum line or steel braided line in general that is in much need at Audi Style Racing HQ, lol
2006 Audi S4: Brilliant Red on Platinum Silver, 6MT, RNS-E, Cold Weather & Premium Package
good luck on the project. How do the coordinators know how much was spent on the cars and the parts that go into it?
They have judges review each car and decide if you are BSing or not. It's a bit of a judgement call on behalf of the judges. Every $10 they think you went over = 1 penalty lap. Obviously the more documentation you can provide to prove how much you bought the car for and other parts you bought, the better.
They also have some pretty clever causes including one clause that the event organizer can buy your car for $500 if he thinks you were really cheating, and you have to sell it to him. This has only been done twice, and one of those times is when Pratt & Miller brought a 600 hp Camaro that they did internal engine work on with rocker rollers and all sorts of crazy stuff - in those cases where its just so painfully obvious you cheated, you end up losing the car. They also crush a car at the end of the race, but thats generally because the drivers were being assholes, and not because they think you cheated on the budget.
Originally Posted by SoCalS4Avant
Lovin' it. I should be at Buttonwillow in the pits as well!
Way to go, guys (and gal!).
Excited to meet ya - we'll put you to work :)
2006 Audi S4: Brilliant Red on Platinum Silver, 6MT, RNS-E, Cold Weather & Premium Package
do you think we could get a rustoleum sponsorship? still needs work but not bad for half-assed...
*amazing photo courtesy of CaptDistraction
That looks amazing, indeed.
ROTFL at the hood pic... I could sense the setup on that one, turned out just as comic as I thought.
I can make it to Buttonwillow, btw. Got out of the kiddie B-day party. Explained what was goin' on in CA. The nephew's name is Garrett. As in GT28RS. His folks understand :)
Do you guys have a tow rig to get to the race? I could supply that, in exchange for a few hrs stint in the race.... :)
Sadly we already have more drivers than we're allowed...you can only have a maximum of 6 drivers for the whole race and we already have 8 people who have invested significant $$ and time into the project, so a few people will have to sit out and just be pit crew :/
We do have a tow rig (Land Rover LR3) but we don't have a trailer big enough to trailer the car - got anything in that dept that could be of help? :)
2006 Audi S4: Brilliant Red on Platinum Silver, 6MT, RNS-E, Cold Weather & Premium Package
D'oh! Well, honestly I'm a bit hurt that I wasn't invited to the party :( I have a lot of tools and equipment that would've made the project easier - but hey, next time you'll know :) Sure, you guys can borrow my trailer, no worries. IF I can make it to the race we should use my tow rig as well - no offense to the LR, but an F350 deisel is a better choice for this particular job, even if it does need new shocks, haha ;)
Drop me a line as we get closer to the race, and we will line it out - I don't think I have plans that weekend as of right now...
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Originally Posted by austinjmiller
..... 15k on Street Built Engine
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