SHO entry at 24 Hours of LeMONS

[Geek SHO]

I had a fantastic time out with the crew. I didn't do much wrenching beyond some last minute weight reduction (that JBL amp was heavy!) while everyone else was busy putting the seat and window net together. The build team did a fantastic job with the cage. Like John mentioned, there is a fair amount of weight that could be saved, and I'd love to see what the car could do after further modification. The combination of excellent horsepower (we probably had the best power/weight/dollar ratio of the group), huge brakes and tires that seemed to hold on better than other teams' was awesome when running at 10/10ths (as Karen put it). I can't wait to go to the next event, especially if BaySHO can get a car together by then.

I took some pretty good footage of people running laps (I know I got Kerry, Kris and Nick at least), as well as some of the drama including the People's Curse. Now I just need to figure out how to get it off this camera I borrowed and up on the net to share . . .

 

[adidas_kn]

What brakes were you guys running? 2 piston PBR's? If soo how did they feel under a Non-ABS equipped car? I have been thinking about that setup for my 89' and yanking all the ABS crap outta my 93' since the light has been on since I bought it back in 2000. Pulled the codes and it's a bad internal valve or something.

Cant wait to see what you guys do to the car for next year and how much better you place now that you know how easy it is to get penalties and flags. Hey at least you know what tires to use. 2 SHO's lapping around the competition would be awesome! Will you guys be opening the tranny case to reinforce the diff soo there isn't a spectacular diff pin explosion on the track. Are you allowed to do any performance mods that are fairly cheap? If you can sneak certain hidden mods by the judges like a set of BBB's w/ ported runners, catless y-pipe, subframe connectors, H-brace. You know stuff that can be fabbed up in the shop.

 

[Geek SHO]

I believe all labor is free if you do it yourself, but even after a bunch of work porting and polishing to gain maybe 5-10hp, it might not be worth it with all the chaos that goes on. Like how the really fast cars are the ones that tend to get the People's Curse. The rules are surprisingly well balanced, considering how few there are.

 

[sho_bc]

running the pbr cobra brakes on bigger rotors on a non-ABS equipped car is just like running any brakes, in my opinion. just that you stop a lot faster. my car is stock weight, so i'm not sure if/how a much lighter car would brake, but other than a better pedal feel with the combo of the calipers and stainless steel lines, a MUCH shorter stopping distance, I haven't yet locked up the brakes, even during auto-x coming into the stop box. maybe its cause i'm used to not having ABS?

 

[e30sho]

GI Sho – good SHOwing, good run. Glad you made it home in one piece.

A few comments on earlier posts:

Look at mylaps.com and you’ll see that high HP and cheater cars were not at the front. The winning car turned the 12th fastest lap of the race. The highest placing car that I was suspicious of was the Acura that placed 4th. That car was way fast and worth more than $500 even with major rear end damage. The Mazda 626 was an obvious cheater, and look what that got them. The SHO will gain tons more time with weight reduction and driver experience than any HP mod. It sounds to me like the team already understands that so they should be a top 20 or top 10 car next year.

There was little to be gained on race tires – the track was damp early and then muddy thereafter. We turned our fastest lap on full tread Federal tires. There was so much traffic the key was to make clean passes and that was easiest to do mid corner and under braking. The story may be different at other tracks.

As stated earlier, there is no substitute for fender to fender racing experience.

http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=713849&ShowPerClass=0

Peter

 

[adidas_kn]

Hmmm. Might have to put the big brakes on the 89' and delete the ABS from the 93' To make more room for the turbo. Hmmmmmmmmm. Thanx for the tip. Threadjack over! And now a word from our sponsors!

 

[shopartsnw]

GI Sho – good SHOwing, good run. Glad you made it home in one piece.

A few comments on earlier posts:

Look at mylaps.com and you’ll see that high HP and cheater cars were not at the front. The winning car turned the 12th fastest lap of the race. The highest placing car that I was suspicious of was the Acura that placed 4th. That car was way fast and worth more than $500 even with major rear end damage. The Mazda 626 was an obvious cheater, and look what that got them. The SHO will gain tons more time with weight reduction and driver experience than any HP mod. It sounds to me like the team already understands that so they should be a top 20 or top 10 car next year.

There was little to be gained on race tires – the track was damp early and then muddy thereafter. We turned our fastest lap on full tread Federal tires. There was so much traffic the key was to make clean passes and that was easiest to do mid corner and under braking. The story may be different at other tracks.

As stated earlier, there is no substitute for fender to fender racing experience.

http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=713849&ShowPerClass=0

Peter

What car were you running in? Since we were new to the game and learning at a fast rate, I did not have much time to see who we might know from the local area.

Thanks for the tips. I do agree, a big point is just to run long and run clean. We were trying to get all our drivers time in the seat, so we lost a lot in driver changes. We honestly were there to have fun.

Mike

 

[e30sho]

I was in the Mazda with WA plates... but I'm not here to hyjack your thread. I think the other WA team in the Fury did great too -- I think they had one experienced driver and the rest were novices. They were super slow on the test day but really had things figured out by the end of the weekend.

Peter

 

[shopartsnw]

I was in the Mazda with WA plates... but I'm not here to hyjack your thread. I think the other WA team in the Fury did great too -- I think they had one experienced driver and the rest were novices. They were super slow on the test day but really had things figured out by the end of the weekend.

Peter

So you were part of the "Red Meat" team?

No problem on the hijack. It is cool to see you guys do well. I did not realize you were local until we got home. It was not often we saw your car parked :laugh_ti:, so I did not see the plates until Jalopnik covered the event.

For the benefit of the rest of the Forum, the "Red Meat" team took first place in the event, and also did an excellent job at demonstrating two wheel driving in the pits Sunday morning. You guys were awesome.

You got my vote for "people's choice", but the inflatable sheep and dolls in the car might have scared some people off. I was amazed that the sheep on the back of the car lasted the event and did not flap itself to death.

Mike

 

[e30sho]

Ya we were obviously super stoked with the results. Thanks for the people's choice vote! I'm glad we didn't win -- I couldn't have carried off any more nickels. That guy driving on two wheels is damn fine stuntman. If it had been dry he would have driven all the way down the paddock. But considering the wet pavement and no power steering he did a great job. You can see more at skicarstunt.com.

Looking forward to seeing you there next year Mike.
Peter

 

[BaySHO Performance]

Nick,

You should go ahead and build your track car with a theme and take it to the convention in Seattle. A fun car to play with at the track, and then you would have photos to send in with an application package.

Mike

Unless I get my SuperSHO back together for the Convention, and not knowing if I can even afford to attend....

After you thought about GI SHO being available at the Seattle Convention for Out of Towners that don't bring their own car, I came to that conclusion as well. Not sure how the purists at the convention would react to seeing the cars, though!!!!

I've proposed the theme you came up with at dinner Sunday to the BaySHO folks, so far with no response whatsoever. However, it's Holiday season and a number of folks are out of town.

Theme suggested as it's a Taurus:

- Team Raging Bull

- 'Team Raging Bull' on the rear of the hood and vertical part of the trunk

- Painting of a fierce bull with red eyes and real smoking/ steaming nostrils

- Bull Horn linked to the steaming nostrils: www.hornblasters.com/products/category.php?class=2

- Windshield Banner, that's obvious: '******** Performance'

- Car body: fake fur (costly) or painted to look like a bull

- Bull horns on the roof: www.bumsteer.com/steerhorns.htm

- Cow Bells under the wing mirrors: www.bell-outlet.com/cowbell.htm

- Bull Rump painted on the trunk with real tail and an 'addition' from www.trucknutz.com

And, if we want a bullfighting theme:

- Banderillas (Matador Lances) either side of the horns

- Castinets

- Red capes and matador hats for the team

I don't have the cash to put it together myself like you did. Hopefully some of the BaySHO folks will warm to the idea.

Nick

 

[NoSHOAllGo]

Hey BAYSHO are you for sure thinking about this build for that event coming up?

If moneys the issue I wonder if vendors will give you discounts. Hhhmmm...

 

[BaySHO Performance]

Hey BAYSHO are you for sure thinking about this build for that event coming up?

If moneys the issue I wonder if vendors will give you discounts. Hhhmmm...

Definitely won't be able to do it on my own. Don't have the money, trailer and truck. I'm looking for help from the BaySHO club: so far no interest, but a number of people are still out of town for the Holidays.

Nick

 

[Toolman]

I have a sweet very clean body 89 ti, 150k on the clock. Ready to rock and roll. If you want it, come and get it.

 

[Toolman]

I could then include some sweet parts and still keep it under that $500 price tag.

 

[JEM]

I have a sweet very clean body 89 ti, 150k on the clock. Ready to rock and roll. If you want it, come and get it.

Google Maps says 1800 miles. Driveable or needs a stretcher? My Suburban would make it, but not sure when I'll have time...

 

[Toolman]

It could be made driveable with little effort, as it has a bad clutch I think. I bought it years ago for $600, but never got around to doing anything with it, and it has not been tagged since the late 90's, so driving it on the highway may be a bit unwise.

 

[NJSHO]

Shopartsnw, if you take off some of the more spendy parts off the car and go back to stock (brakes ect...), do you think you could get your total spent down to $2008. If so, you should enter it in the Grassroots motorsports 2008 challenge. They are supposed to be heading west of the mississippi this year.

 

[JEM]

Shopartsnw, if you take off some of the more spendy parts off the car and go back to stock (brakes ect...), do you think you could get your total spent down to $2008. If so, you should enter it in the Grassroots motorsports 2008 challenge. They are supposed to be heading west of the mississippi this year.

IMO ain't no way a near-stock SHO is going to be competitive in the GRM challenge. They get some very serious hardware showing up.

 

[Geek SHO]

The SHO seems pretty competitive with the LeMons event, unfortunately. It's really just because the market value is so terrible that they can slip under the $500 for a decent running (compared to the competition) car.

Tim, I think Nick already has a car in his garage he was considering to build into a LeMons racer. I'm very much interested in running a second car, but I too don't have the money to put towards the event on top of my other SHO expenditures.