We’re back at GingerMan Raceway for the 2014 Where the Elite Meet To Cheat 24 Hours of LeMons, and it’s the biggest field we’ve ever seen at a Michigan LeMons race. We’ve got the usual Upper Midwest hordes of Ford Escorts, Saturn SC/SLs, and GM F-Bodies here, but Detroit’s finest machinery is also represented by some more unusual models. Let’s check them out.
Here’s a frighteningly accurate replica of the 1972 Ford Pinto campaigned by Car and Driver in the 1974 IMSA Goodrich Radial Challenge. Don Sherman, Tony Swan, and Csaba Csere are all here, racing their 1988 Honda Prelude, so we’ll see if they can beat the Pinto this weekend.
We see many Back To the Future-themed teams in LeMons racing, but the Ford Tempo seems to have an especially apt name for this decor.
TEMPOral flux!
Three classic American cars were the real stars of the day, though. The debut of the first-ever Dodge Mirada in LeMons history had many racers scratching their heads and asking “what is that thing?”
It should go without saying that the Mirada came with Soft Corinthian Leather, and that Team Sheen (which also runs a very quick Acura Integra) kept as much of the original interior as possible when installing their roll cage and race seat.
The Mirada is a close cousin of the Chrysler Cordoba, so it’s only right that we’d also have a first-year 1975 Cordoba here.
Which of these 318-powered personal luxury coupes will triumph? We’ll find out during the course of the weekend’s racing!
Of course, the only thing that could have any prayer of upstaging a Mirada and a Cordoba would be a superbly executed replica of Super Fly’s Pimpmobile, which is what we have here. Based on a 1972 Pontiac Grand Prix and featuring a 400-cubic-inch V8, handcrafted grille, and salad-bowl “headlights,” the Team Can You Dig It Superfly car should be reasonably quick on the race track.
It will be a fine race for patriotic Detroit Iron aficionados.
Or for fans of wildly inappropriate applications of Lambo Doors.
The airplane-engined Toyota MR2 is back, this time with a much less interesting V6 out of a Toyota Sienna minivan.
Many teams want to get car number 2, for reasons that should be made clear from this photograph.
Bust-a-Nut Racing, creators of the legendary Blimpwagen, are back with their Mazda MX-6 now themed as team CARP-ocalypse and modified to resemble a giant Asian carp.
Scary!
It’s going to be an excellent race, so check in here Saturday night to see how the first race session sorts out.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1y0WsNC
via Agya
