
40-year-old cars have an edge on the Index of Effluency, LeMons racing’s top prize. Chrysler products also have an edge. And, of course, French cars have a huge edge on the IOE. When you race a car that’s simultaneously 40 years old, a Chrysler, and French… well, just keep it running most of the weekend and the big trophy is likely to go home with you. (Read More…)

While today’s Arse Sweat-a-Palooza winner on laps is indeed the same Honda-motorcycle-engined Geo Metro that won the 2008 Arse Freeze-a-Palooza, it’s really a much different car now. In ’08, the Geo Player Special (then known as the Metro Gnome) had the CBR900RR engine driving the front wheels, via an ingenious chain drive that used a toilet plunger as a grease seal. Since that time, the engine— now a CBR1000— has been moved back and now drives the rear wheels. (Read More…)

Were a reality show being made about the Arse Sweat-a-Palooza 24 Hours of LeMons, the old-time hot-rodder crew and Spec Miata-champion drivers on the Model T GT team, just off their triumph of a feature in Hot Rod magazine, would be the dramatic focus for sure— the 302-powered ’27 Ford ended the day’s race session in first position. However, there are three former LeMons winners within a single lap of the Model T GT… and the T’s flimsy Mustang T-5 transmission is stuck in fourth gear and showing every sign of impending total disintegration. (Read More…)

I came down with some sort of terrible New England vasculo-plague at the Boston Tow Party race, and so the croakers said I couldn’t travel to hot, sticky Thunderhill Raceway in California for the second annual Arse Sweat-a-Palooza. Bummer! That doesn’t mean you won’t get to see who and what are racing this weekend, however, because Assistant Perp Nick Pon was kind enough to send in his photos of today’s car inspections. (Read More…)

First of all, nitpickers, I know that unununium was renamed Roentgenium in 2004. Atomic Number 111 will always be unununium in my heart, and (as soon as I can find a cheap source for the stuff) it will be used to stamp out the Murilee Martin Legends of LeMons awards for the most psychotic inspiring 24 Hours of LeMons racers of each season. The ’10 season produced a bumper crop of LeMons Legends, but only four received the coveted Unununium Medal. Let’s see who they are! (Read More…)

Recent Comments
Beerboy12 - That is an unnecessarily unpleasant comment but while we are at it, get serious and drive naked!
tresmonos - I think it evolved from necessity (modding FWD penalty boxes). All I could afford in high school was a 1991 stripped cavalier (only option...
mkirk - See the Toyota 1FZ-FE. It was the successor to the Toyota F series six which was similar in use and longevity to the 300 and was in itself pretty much a metric copy...
RobertRyan - No it does not. but Ford Australia had a lot to do with it’s development.
mkirk - Don’t go bashing Tempos around here…they have a following rivaled only by the Panther and the Brown Diesel Wagon cults. The Contour SVT was the true...
mkirk - Does Australia get the global Ranger based SUV? I think it is called the Everest or something. I used to see them around Kandahar. Not as refined a vehicle I...
Crabspirits - I’m kind of an “old wrench” on the early import stuff. I got into it around 93′ in Japan. A lot of the cars we...
Hummer - Let me restate that first one, For the US it is no longer the chief exporter.
mkirk - The GM Atlas six was by all accounts a great motor saddled with a mediocre vehicle to pull around. I thought there were issues with inline sixes and emissions due...
Hummer - Your a lil out of date, the middle east is no longer the biggest exporter of oil. I’d rather waste 5 minutes at a gas station then 2 hours or w/e at...