24 Hours of Lemons
 

http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/loudon13.aspx

A co-worker of mine, who MANY years ago raced bikes professionally, has been part of a lemons team for a couple of years. We've talked about starting our own team at work, but that will take some time.

In the meantime, one of his team members is out for the upcoming May weekend and he asked me to join in. I'm thinking yes.

They have a crappy VW cabrio, stick-shift. That's all I know.

Anyhow, I need to get gear. A suit, gloves, boots, and an SA 2005 or better helmet.

My wife insists I get the Stig helmet. I'd love to (if only because it would make for a great Halloween costume:D), but as a newbie at the track, I don't want to come across as the pizza/french fries guy with $3,000 worth of ski gear. Of course, the ~$600 price is nowhere near as expensive as they can get, but it appears that spending $400 on a helmet does the trick.

Thoughts? Too cheesy, or what the hell, go for it? It's just a plain white helmet anyway.

Either way, it seems like it will be fun. You get an awful lot of track time for very short money.

I would be all over it if I had the same opportunity, do it.

I suspect that if you do this one, it will not be your last--go ahead and do it, and spring for the helmet you want.

Also, sell me the Turbo for $500 and let's go racing!

:lol:

I've already told him that I would have no problem volunteering my yet-to-be-built garage with a lift as the team garage (I happen to live less than 4 miles from work), and I do think we can get the necessary people.

So yes, I expect to do this a few more times if not a lot.

Definitely do it. So what it some people think you're a douche. All that much sweeter when you place well. :D

I should say that the most important thing is making sure it fits well.

Exactly. I can't seem to find a brick and mortar shop that sells racing helmets (automotive). No shocked. Then again, I probably suck at searching. But Amazon has it for $522 w/ Prime (sweet deal!). I think I will get it and, worst case, I pay a few bucks to send it back if it doesn't fit right.

It seems the Stig's suit is a karting suit that doesn't get fire rated the same way as the automotive ones, so I can't get that anyway. Too bad too, because his suit is ~$300 but the automotive ones from the same brand (alpinestars) are ~$1000+ :ack:. Time to look at other brands.

But if that is the running cost everywhere, so be it. I'm not F'n around with safety.

I would certainly not expect to run anywhere near the front of a LeMons race. It seems that just finishing one of those races is a huge accomplishment.

I would get a head and neck restraint in addition to a really good helmet. As you said, it's not worth it to scrimp on safety.

Yeah, part of the fun is to repair your car throughout the race. Nobody takes it seriously so it's pretty safe.

I plan on reading up on the head+neck stuff. I just got the email asking to join yesterday.