Sometimes in motor racing, it seems like the less pretentious the event, the more interesting people you’re bound to run into. We’ve been to several Formula 1 events over the years and, really, it’s pretty much all the same. After all, how much can you take of leggy blondes in skimpy outfits and runway model brunettes in their bug-eye sunglasses?
Certainly, one of the competition events in North America that helps to establish a zero on the pretentiousness scale is the 24 Hours of Le Mons. No, that’s not Le Mans in France. Think Lemons. This is an endurance race for cars costing less than $500.
Starting from a single event a few years back, the organizers will run 24 separate races this year, ranging from New England to the Carolinas and across the country, through the Midwest, Texas, Colorado and both ends of California.
Checking out one of these events recently, the folks at The Truth About Cars came across a spectacular blend of ingenuity and, perhaps, desperation. Keeping under that $500 limit can be taxing.
At last year’s Colorado event, the Organizer’s Choice Award went to an AMC Marlin that had bee specially fitted out for the event with a Jaguar XJ6 rear suspension and a 454 V8 pulled from a wrecked pickup truck.
Suspending for a moment the fact that this is an AMC Marlin, the car is easily recognizable on the track by the large number of speed holes that have been cut into the body. This is certainly not a pretentious race car.
For 2011, plans are being turned into reality through the addition of a pair of GM’s V6 Roots blowers and updating the rear gears from an economical 2.75 ratio to a more performance oriented 3.73 set. Fabrication skills come in handy and the car’s owner has apparently made up a mount for the blowers, but they are on their sides and facing backwards. Additional work was needed on the blowers to get them turning in the right direction again.
Well, it all seems to have worked out as you’ll be able to see in the video below. You can also head on over to The Truth About Cars for more details on this unique project.
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