Looking to talk to anyone on here that's running a 3rd gen camaro or bird in the 24 hours lemons race series or individual races. i want to build a 87-92 to compete but before I begin I want to see what others are doing as the rules stated appear to be less strict than what's actually making its way onto the track and I don't want to build my car "out of spec." if you are part of that series I'd love to speak to you!

 

I am currently build a 3rd gen Lemons race car right now. I am racing with another team until I get this car done. Shooting for the upcoming March race here on the west coast. I believe I can give you some insight into what the judges look for with a new team/car.


The BAD about racing a 3rd gen in Lemons


The SBC is a known liability and fault in Lemons
Horrible weight distribution, suspension geometry
T5 another weak link for 3rd gens
The stock brakes are a joke for a car of this weight
There are a million racing parts and cheatatonium available


The GOOD


The SBC can be managed, think acusumps, oil cooler, keep it mild
Some weight can be lost & shifted, suspension upgrades
Bring an extra tranny
Brake upgrades don't count towards your $500 budget
There are a million racing parts and cheatatonium available


Just build it and show up. Just don't show up with a LS powered, coilover
all new parts race car. Think reliability, cooling, brakes, and handling. Speed and power do not even come into play until way later. One bit of advise I would give is help/race with another team first. Tons to learn about team & race management that's way more important than the car.

 

No different than trying to build a car to compete in car shows. You don't build it then figure out what category it fits into because chances are, you'll have done something that doesn't work within the rules. If you just want to build whatever you want then enter an event, you take your chances at where you get placed in a category.

Get a copy of rules for the event. Decide what category, especially entry level ones, the car would generally fit into then build the car to stay within the limits of the category.

Drag racing is the same way. Someone builds a 10 second street car (turbo, NOS, LS etc) but when they get to the track, they can't race because they don't have a roll bar or any of the other safety equipment required to run that fast. They might get a single pass before being kicked off the track. Know the rules before you get to the track.

LeMons is a team event. I doubt a single driver with car would get very far. You might want to start out with local road course racing first just to see how well the car can survive.

 

just browsing and curious as to why the sbc is a liability?

 

Remember this is a $500 endurance road race car series that races for 10 hrs straight. No high dollar parts allowed with out getting penalty laps. Until we put in the acusump oil pressure reservoir we could watch the oil pressure drop to zero on long sweeping corners. People have been known to put in high volume/high pressure oil pumps and pump the pan dry with sustained high RPM.


Most teams grab motors out of salvaged cars, craigslist, parts cars and just drop them in. There are a LOT of blown motors over the weekend. People have been know to buy whole cars off of craigslist and swap out parts during the race. Teams help other teams. Its a great time in the pits


Check out the website https://24hoursoflemons.com/

 

I just recently participated in the Lemons Race at Barber Motorsports Park in AL. My team ran a Porsche 944. There was one third gen competing although you wouldn't know it from looking haha.

Believe it or not this is a Camaro that they re-skinned as a Seville. It's iron block LS swapped and has a T56. Since I was competing, I never really got to snoop around the car much more. They were by far the fastest car around the track and the overall race winners. I'm sure a lot of that was the drivers but the car was also very well sorted. They definitely had to bribe the judges to avoid lap penalties but the basis for a competitive car was there before they improved it.

These pictures aren't mine. They came from: http://www.murileemartin.com



Here's the same car in the race last year.



This was the first Lemons competition I ever participated in but from what I saw during the BS inspection process (where you get classed) if you show up with a good mechanical condition 3rd gen you're going to go into A class pretty much immediately.

These cars handle well, especially with a good alignment and fresh shock/struts. I'm not sure why an SBC would be an issue. From what I've seen you can't actually kill a 305 and that would be plenty of engine to be competitive. The brakes would be the one thing I'd worry about but you are free to upgrade them to your heart's content.