And The Winner Is…

by Murilee Martin

Published: April 18th, 2011

On paper, the Toyota MR2 should be an excellent choice for a low-buck endurance racer… but 24 Hours of LeMons racing has a way of shattering such preconceptions like a connecting rod hurtling through the side of a 4AGE block. In fact, the MR2 has been one of the least reliable LeMons cars, even worse than such good-on-paper-but-terrible-in-practice endurance machines as the Nissan Z and Porsche 944; we’ve seen dozens of them race in LeMons over the years, and nearly all have failed miserably… until today. Today, the Dai Mondai II car was the first MR2 to take the win on laps in the 24 Hours of LeMons.

We’ve been seeing the Dai Mondai team in LeMons races going back to 2008, and their MR2 had established a pattern of going pretty well for a time, then nuking the engine. Since the team is made up of a bunch of Toyota engineers, the frustration level got pretty high. Did they give up, as so many MR2 teams have done in the past? No! Today, their efforts have been rewarded with a rusty trophy and $1,500 in nickels. Congratulations, Dai Mondai II!

#1980s #1985 #1985ToyotaMR2 #24HoursOfLeMons #24HoursOfLeMonsDetroit #CampaignToPreventGingervitis #MR2 #Racing #Toyota #ToyotaMR2

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.

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3 of 12 comments

Jonescam on Apr 18, 2011

CONGRATS Dai Mondai. Never say never when the you're on the line. Looking forward to "Capturing the Experiences" Jonsey JonesCAM

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Zippy5 on Apr 19, 2011

Diesel ......... what are you guys thinking? Oh, not thinking is part of this game! But I still can't get my mind around the idea that a DIESEL could be related to racing/going fast/cornering/plastered to the back of my seat acceleration!!!!!

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- Neil on Apr 21, 2011
  
  You are aware of the LeMons judging criteria right? You don't get that kind of style with spark plugs! FWIW, the judges seemed as impressed as you are. 0-to-60: Yes, usually.
  
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