Best of luck, Team Miagra

Race Hard!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Chris

+1

I talked to them earlier today and they made it thru tech and they where out on the track getting familiar with the car.

Looks like they'll have a good time.:burnrubr:

I hear they got a 50 lap penalty for bringing a Miata... I have heard of some teams getting 100-200 lap penalties at other Lemons events, so 50 isn't too bad.

Speed mention the penalty laps when I talked to him. He said they wanted to give them a lot more than 50 laps and even threatened worse - claiming the car!

But 50 laps is stiff punishment when the last race winner only completed about 440 laps and I think they were racing on the shorter course. Seems like they are just being tough on Miatas because they are perfect for this type of race.

Oh well I hope the stay under the radar and come home with the car intact and lots of good stories to tell us.

Did the team know about the penalty laps when they started building their Miata?

i haven't seen all of the documentation, but I thought they had pretty much everything accounted for.

Chris texted me and said that Jay could tell that they knew what they were doing in the shop. I somewhat understand what chris means and would have liked to hear what Jay had to say. 50 laps is ok, though, considering the miata hate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cone-cerned

Did the team know about the penalty laps when they started building their Miata?

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yes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnwag

Chris texted me and said that Jay could tell that they knew what they were doing in the shop.

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Yikes...

Quote:

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if you own or work for a mechanic or performance shop, we hate you. People that build their cars in their garages rock and speak to the LeMons ethos. Anything else draws our ire and it's safe to expect us to exact horrible things on your car, your driver and your team throughout the weekend. So if nothing else, don't admit it.

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More on judging here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnwag

50 laps is ok, though, considering the miata hate.

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But 50 laps is the difference between first place and 20th place in the last race at MSR Houston on the 1.3 mile course. And this time they are running the long course (I think its the 2.38 mile configuration) instead of the 1.3 so it makes the penalty even worse. The guys knew going in that they are tough on Miatas so like Wags said, you have to factor in the hate. But basically they are telling you not to bring a Miata to the Lemons and a 50 lap penalty takes you out of the running.

I did talk to Gary and he mentioned that they penalized another Miata 500 laps - that is like telling them that they can't even race. Say goodbye to your entry fees, I guess.

I think the best Lemons car is something like a old 4-banger Rustang.

BWAHAHAHAHA

Quote:

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Most penalty laps given today: 1066 laps to a 2005 Cooper S, in honor of the Battle of Hastings. Will post details on Jalopnik later.

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http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=1874

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Titus

BWAHAHAHAHA



http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=1874

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LMAO nice.

Maybe they should have put a CRX widebody kit over top of the Miata, held on by duct tape of course, then *ahem* shed it piece by piece over the first 10 or 20 laps... :burnrubr:

I was concerned that they would get the car claimed or destroyed the first time I saw it. The car is so much nicer than the cars I've seen in the photos and videos posted on the site. You can't hide workmanship. I hope they make it home with the car in more or less one piece, then they might get to run it at the ECR lemons event in June. I think they were a little worried too.

I spotted these photos on Flickr from yesterday's testing.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/...dc39fe88ee.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2453/...a25a079d9e.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3495/...0570ebc397.jpg

Update?

Chris

Just talked to Speed. The car is still running and the long course does not suit the tired old engine. So they are well behind with the pentaly laps acquire yesterday and a couple from today. So they should be able to escape the crusher. They'll probably finish midpack and live to run another race.

Been thinkin about how it went. Hope all is well.

They finished intact and ended up in the middle of the pack. Not bad considering the amount of penalties the acquired over two days. The car has a few new scuffs, but most important, it lives to race another day.

Congratulations guys for completing the race, next one should be even better after this experience.

Congrats guys!!!!

Lets hope they assign a residual value low enough to allow Team Miagra to race penalty free at the North Dallas Hooptie next June!