And the Winner Is…

by Murilee Martin

Published: April 10th, 2011

For the second time in a row, a BMW E30 has taken the win on laps at a 24 Hours of LeMons race. Does that mean that the E30 is an inherently superior low-buck road-racing machine? Not exactly; of the 11 E30s at the Real Hoopties of New Jersey, only four cracked the top 20. What happened over the weekend was a combination of excellent, screwup-free driving by Team Cardorks/Invisible Pink Unicorn… and a pair of lead-destroying black flags on the Alfa Romeo Milano that led for most of the race.

The Cardorks’ 325e (this three-car team also brought a pair of Acura Integras, one of which came in 6th overall and had a best lap time a full 2.6 seconds quicker than the Invisible Pink Unicorn) was actually pretty terrible, as LeMons E30s go, but the team just kept on knocking out fairly quick laps and waiting for the leader to stumble. When that happened, they made their slim two-lap lead hold until the checkered flag waved. Congratulations, Team Cardorks!

#1980s #1986 #1986BMW325i #24HoursOfLeMons #24HoursOfLeMonsNewJersey #BMW #Bmw3Series #BMWE30 #E30 #NewJersey #Racing #RealHooptiesOfNewJersey

Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

More by Murilee Martin

Comments

Join the conversation

1 comment

Hogie roll on Apr 12, 2011

So when are these and miata's going to get banned? So boring.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

ToolGuy This thing here is interesting.For example, I can select "Historical" and "EV stock" and "Cars" and "USA" and see how many BEVs and PHEVs were on U.S. roads from 2010 to 2023."EV stock share" is also interesting. Or perhaps you prefer "EV sales share".If you are in the U.S., whatever you do, do not select "World" in the 'Region' dropdown. It might blow your small insular mind. 😉
ToolGuy This podcast was pretty interesting. I listened to it this morning, and now I am commenting. Listened to the podcast, now commenting on the podcast. See how this works? LOL.
VoGhost If you want this to succeed, enlarge the battery and make the vehicle in Spartanburg so you buyers get the $7,500 discount.
Jeff Look at the the 65 and 66 Pontiacs some of the most beautiful and well made Pontiacs. 66 Olds Toronado and 67 Cadillac Eldorado were beautiful as well. Mercury had some really nice looking cars during the 60s as well. The 69 thru 72 Grand Prix were nice along with the first generation of Monte Carlo 70 thru 72. Midsize GM cars were nice as well.The 69s were still good but the cheapening started in 68. Even the 70s GMs were good but fit and finish took a dive especially the interiors with more plastics and more shared interiors.
Proud2BUnion I typically recommend that no matter what make or model you purchase used, just assure that is HAS a prior salvage/rebuilt title. Best "Bang for your buck"!