YOKOHAMA SEARS POINTLESS 2022 - Saturday
So begins the race weekend. This race we added a new team member and got together long time ones. The car was prepped as well as I wanted and should in theory be ready for battle.
Driving order for Saturday:
David - Assuming first driver would get some yellow flag laps prior to the green dropping and let him get a feel for the car and actually make a few sighting laps. This was an incorrect assumption….
Michael (me) - Assuming David survived I’d get to drive since I did the car prep.
Cam - Our resident hot shoe to turn some laps and doesn’t eat cherries prior to driving.
Xin - Broke the car last so driving last
First part of every race is the driver’s meeting or in the case of LeMon’s the part where John “Jay” Lamm yells at you for a while then asks if we have any questions. This race due to current world affairs started with a reminder that we are all lucky to be here and not part of the travesty in Ukraine.
Today’s meeting was the typical reminder to not be an asshole. Most driver’s actually listened, but many as always are a little hard of hearing.
Target Practice
As always something useless and terrible is written on the chalkboard. For today’s race it was actually G-rated. Merely a target for our competitors aka enemies on track to try and hit.
Surprisingly it would turn out to be missed…. Perhaps we should make the entire car a target?
Strapping in David for the race start and his first time around Sonoma as well as wheel-to-wheel racing.
Good luck little buddy! Go get ‘em!
The beginning of every LeMon’s race is so colorful and optimistic with everyone hoping their car will survive the first few laps without catastrophe. We were able to get David out in the front-middle of the pack, which is a place to be. There is never a great place to be when you’re surrounded by questionably maintained vehicles.
Today’s field contained 146 cars, covering a 2.5 mile road course. That is a car roughly every 90 feet in case you are wondering, so yes very crowded.
The first victim
Sadly one of the cooler cars, a datsun, ended up with right front hub failure in the first few laps. Driver was fine and I believe we saw the car our on track later in the day or perhaps it was Sunday. Either way it was a reminder that “failure is always an option.”
From the radio chatter and lap times we could tell David was having a good time and clearly learning the track while keeping it clean. All we could ask from any driver including ourselves.
While the car is on track our paddock is usually quiet and let’s us enjoy the spectacle/racing. Always a fun time to catch up with friends and share stories.
My mom and her husband Danny came out from Utah to visit and watch us race. Obviously Colleen being ridiculous. While Cam and Greg talk car.
Fueling and Driver Swaps
We typically know we are not going to win anything while racing and thus approach it with fun in mind. The same goes for fueling and changing out drivers. Instead of maximizing time on track for the car we maximize time for each driver by swapping in everyone.
The repeating theme for each stop; fill fuel jugs, load up the hog, ride and walk over to the hot pit area, flag down our car, move to meet where the driver decided to stop, fill, swap driver, check harnesses, radio check and let them have fun.
Lollipop Ideas
While Faster Farms car is far from a racecar, they do have a wonderful race idea for pit stops. Chicken lollipop.
We soon realized that we needed a way to flag down the driver after missing the team stop multiple times. Once having to make another lap because reversing in the pit lane is not allowed.
A simple bit of tape on the bottom of our fuel spill catch tub.
Within one lap of getting into the car I earn a driving award…. the unwanted black flag. Unfortunate for me I missed the flag station on the back straight as I was getting in the zone.
Thus I received a questionnaire regarding basic color perception. :)
Paddock view from Turn 2 bridge. Always provides a perspective of the closing speed between cars.
David taking notes while recording this video. Turn 2 can provide an excellent opportunity for passing on the inside if you have confidence. There is always lots of grip from the uphill climb, but you risk running out of track or not seen by the other car.
Nicely executed by Cam or Xin in this case.
Almost at the end of the first day it was looking like we might finish the race without incident. However our normal challenge with black flags struck again. I earned our first one with missing yellows, Cam bagged the second by not getting checked for his belts. Xin secured the third strike by going off course.
Netting us our right to sit out the final 30-45 minutes of the race in order to become cocaine (flour) smugglers. Our task; to hide four bags for tomorrows black flagged team to find.
Overall a great first day to the weekend. We ended with no contact and no damage to the car. Checked fluids and front brake pads for the evening. Pads were plenty fine showing over half remaining wear. Engine was a half quart low on oil, not terrible for a full day of WOT. Found the transmission was leaking slightly, I suspect due to a poor sealing drain plug (to be addressed another day).
Glad to have David on the team and get everyone back together. Tomorrow we return to battle!
