We’re back at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina, for the seventh annual 24 Hours of LeMons Fall South race. This is one of our favorite places of all the stops made by the LeMons Traveling Circus each year, and one of the best things about the Fall South race is that the nearby town of Camden lets us parade all the race cars right down the main street and then combine the car inspections with a big street party, complete with live music. We had well over 100 teams show up this time, so we had quite a celebration in town. Some all-time great race cars made their debuts, so let’s take a look at who’s here for some Southern-style LeMons action.
The Camden townspeople were a bit puzzled the first time we paraded all these strange cars through their town, but after a few years they became very enthusiastic. It didn’t hurt that about 30 of the 112 cars had Dixie Horns installed.
Judge Jason Torchinsky, having just moved from Los Angeles to North Carolina in a vintage ’76 Dodge Tioga RV, rolled in for his first weekend on the bench of the Southern Circuit of the LeMons Supreme Court.
You know how we’ve been pleading for some team to bring a Renault Fuego to a LeMons race? For years? Finally, it happened! And not just any Renault Fuego— this is a genuine, numbers-matching Renault Fuego Turbo!
This Pennsylvania-based team went all the way to Iowa to get the car, which had been sitting since its cooling fan amputated one of its previous owner’s fingers (you can’t make up this stuff!) a decade ago. It wasn’t running well enough to drive in the parade, and the brakes weren’t working, but we’re sure that this car will be firmly within The Turbo Zone when the green flag waves on Saturday morning.
This LeMons-veteran Ford Pinto has returned with an innovative belt-driven leaf-blower “supercharger.”
We hope the engine can withstand the incredible boost pressure!
The Idle Clatter team, winners of Class C at Sebring in their Mercedes-Benz 300D, have added another diesel Mercedes-Benz to their stable of oil-burning race machines: this Toyota Hilux-ized pickup. We’ve promoted the Sebring winner to Class B, but the “Hilux” will start this race going up against the Renault Fuego Turbo in Class C.
To add to the roster of 1960s Detroit cars that have competed in the 24 Hours of LeMons, NSF Racing has obtained this gorgeous Ford Frontenac and will be racing it this weekend.
This car was a Canadian-market Ford Falcon, complete with special grille and patriotic maple-leaf hubcaps. According to those who claim to know, this is one of just 60 two-door Frontenacs built in its one year of production, 1960.
Another self-proclaimed Frontenac expert claims that there are just 16 Frontenacs still known to exist. Yet more proof that rare does not always equal valuable.
We feel certain that this is the only Frontenac among those 16 with a Continental kit.
NSF came unusually well-prepared to this race, with a spare 170-cubic-inch engine ready for quick swapping in case of need.
For reasons that probably make sense north of the border, Ford of Canada marketed this car as “the Eventful Frontenac.” Eventful!
The car that got the most attention at the parade was the latest Speedycop creation, this near-perfect replica of the George Barris-built Wagon Queen Family Truckster.
Starting with the correct 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire, Speedycop and the Gang of Outlaws made a Family Truckster that’s fully LeMons-legal.
We’d seen several Family Trucksters over the years, including one based on a Ford Pinto and another based on a BMW E36, but we can’t imagine any team topping the Speedycop version. Class C, of course, and sure to beat at least a few Class A cars this weekend.
By the time of this writing, the party has moved from the streets of Camden to the CMP paddock.
Oh yeah, and some fast cars showed up, too. Be sure to check in Saturday night to see how the first day of racing turns out.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1uQ7ggK
via Agya
