The Merkur Club of America Forums

Weekend report
Friday: We drove up to NHMS with the car in tow:



we left NJ at 3am, and arrived at our rented garage at New Hampshire motor speedway at 10am.


Upon arrival, we decided it was time to finish the welding on the cage before tech inspection, lol
After 4 additional hours of work, we failed. The floors were so rusty that they didnt trust our front spreader plates. We offered to jack the car up so he could inspect underneath, he responded "I don't think this car will survive being jacked up." So we cut some plate, and tied the cage front tubes into the a-pillars and door frames. After this, we flew through re-inspection. When we went through BS inspection, the judges looked under the hood and found a completely stock, non-intercooled, motor, they didn't even bother inspecting the rest of the car. We got Class B with 1 BS penalty lap. I think the only reason we got the lap we because we were new and didn't bring a bribe.
Friday night was a haze of beer and talking cars with every team around. I don't remember much.

Saturday:
morning:

After the drivers meeting I was the first drive out on the track.

All I can say is, holy %@#$. Nothing can prepare you for the madness that occurs when 122 $500 crap cans get a green flag on a 1.6 mile road course. I was completely overwhelmed at first. We started with quick 45 minutes driving stints, because we didn't want anyone to get shorted. WE weren't sure how long the car would last, so we babied it, shifting a 4000rpm. We also realized that our car was still making 15psi of boost. After about 4 hours, we brought the car into the garage to check it over. We also corrected the vac lines to bypass the turbo control solenoid, and limit us to 10 psi. So far the car had not given us any problems, so I headed back out on the track for my second stint. The second time on the track was much easier. Going out there know what to expect took off alot of the pressure, and having the boost limited meant I could concentrate more on driving and less on babying the car. My lap time dropped by about 5-10 seconds. I got more confident. and then promptly spun in turn one-b. At hour six, day one ended. The merkur had performed beautifully, and all we had to do at the end of the day was check the fluids in the car, and proceed with beer drinking.
down the front straight:

Saturday night festivities:

jack-off competition:

and setting up camp: lol


Sunday:
Again the Merk fired right up, and we hit the track for day 2.
turn one:

the bowl:

to be continued...

Sorry for te delay, We got interrupted by that little rainstorm that came up the coast: Sandy.

WE survived just fine, not that you care. And the car has not been crushed by any falling trees.

Where was I, oh yeah, day 2.

Basically the Merk ran flawlessly. The only reason we ever went back into the pits was for fuel. Never had to pull a hood pin. Our lap times dropp by about 10 on average. This was when we really had some fun. Now we started to pass people, and even lap people. The Merk pulled a lot of the fancy schmancy bimmers down the main straight. However, we started to realize that our $67 chineese tires, and completely stock suspension might be limiting our grip as we 4-wheel drifted through some of the corners. Our next set of upgrades wil ldefinitely some sort of junkyard suspension upgrades, and finally adding that intercooler.

here is us, door to door with the Merkonium Falcon (lemons fiasco):


hunting sentra:





So summary...
What I learned about XR4ti's.
1) Can actually be a reliable endurance race car if you lower the boost and drive smart
2) Faster than contemporary BMW's, even with the boost limited to 10psi
3) Rides and handles pretty damn well, but needs suspension work for track duties.
3) floorpans mostly made of rust

What I learned about LeMons:
1) F'in awesome.
2) super helpful, fun loving, bunch of guys
3) accomadates both the truly competetive teams, and the guys just there to have fun
4) Even cheap racing is kinda espensive.
5) pit stops cost us a LOT of time, and to truly have a shot a winning, we need the biggest legal fuel cell, and some more practice with quick changes.

Overall, it was an awesome experience, and I can't wait to run our next race, and make the merkur more competetive.

If you ever wanted to run lemons, DO it, do it now, do it often. I couldn;t be more addicted if I had injected pharmaceutical grade heroin directly into the pleasure centers of my brain.

I've said it before, and on ~10 forums, THIS is the future of motorsport.
Rally WAS motorsport for everyman, but too many safety-nazis and lawyers got involved. And this in a motorsport without contact, and the only one to blame for your misfortune is yourself.
I just hope the organizers can keep Lemons going.
Much kudos for you and your team!

hey it was good to meet you and your team. I was in the porsche 924 across the garage.

are you racing in nj? loudon in spring?

pete

pyropete125 wrote:hey it was good to meet you and your team. I was in the porsche 924 across the garage.

are you racing in nj? loudon in spring?

pete

Hey, it was nice to meet you too. we definitely appreciated all your advice throughout the weekend.

As of now, we're looking to run monticello in april and NJ in august. And a waaaaayyyyy outside chance of NHMS in october.