High Plains Drifter 2023 Race Recap (Part 2: The Racing!)

Disappointment is a tough thing. Tough to experience, tough to write about. We had an incredible victory in this race, but we also suffered some setbacks. The team worked tirelessly in the weeks leading up to the green flag preparing for what we hoped would be a competitive race. Part of the adventure of Lemons is dealing with the unexpected, and we were in for plenty of that.

Race prep and the green flag

Unlike our last race, we had no drama worth mentioning in the build up to this race. Our car arrived without difficulty, and indeed it arrived in style

Our race plan was straightforward. This was Ben's first night race, and he would take the car out for a shake down during Friday evening open lapping. We were going to theme super hard. We were going to shoot for 2:30 lap times, and keeping the car on track. We spent most of Thursday and Friday just getting setup and theme ready. We were joined this race by two new crew members: Tasi and Ian. I've said it in many race recaps: crew of any size or ability helps.

Friday BS Tech went incredibly well, as we made milkshakes for the entire field and generally hammed it up in our McDonald's uniforms.

Lemons Tech is a bit different this year in the full 24 hour race, with new lighting regulations in effect.

Racing at night is hard, visibility is important, and previous races saw far too many competitors out on track with massive light bars. Light bars to blind your enemies, to burn corneas, to blot out the sun. Losing visibility, due to a wall of white light, in a corner, is butt turrible. The fine people at Lemons HQ gave us new regs that stipulate max lighting spread at 40" on level ground 25 feet from the car.

We passed new lighting regs with flying colors. Huge thanks to Nick, Bret, and all the team for pitching in on those light ropes. So hawt.

Green flag drops at noon on Saturday, and the forecast was sunny and warm. Big improvement from last races' rain soaked nightmare. Ben lead us off, but was back in early with a black flag (passing under yellow, barely. damnit). While discussing his moral, ethical, and driver shortcomings with the judges, it was noticed our car was lightly but ever so earnestly smoking.

Smoking is bad

We pulled her into the paddock spot and discovered quite a lot of trans fluid on the exhaust causing our smoke. Our quick diagnosis was "overfilling of the trans fluid", so we cleaned, drained and sent her back out.

We had noticed the trans tunnel was pretty warm, and I felt this amplifying the September afternoon heat during my session after Ben. Bret was third, and that's when things went really south. This was not Bret's fault, but we can blame him anyway. Always observant, Bret noticed the battery volt gauge dropping, and came in to the paddock.

Quick electrical test confirmed we weren't getting what we need from the alternator. The transmission was super hot also. The next three hours would prove to be some of the best problem solving and collaboration we've ever done. We were massively helped by the great guys from Bakit Racing (again!). Sadly their race was ended by a head gasket. We knocked our heads together, and developed a hypothesis!

As ideas go, this one was pretty bonkers. It fit the observations, and ultimately our fixes enabled us to finish the race. Still thinking back on it, I'm not sure I buy it.

the transmission breather valve hole was clogged, making the trans get hotter than the fucking sun. that was heating up the fuel tank. fuel vapors were traveling up the evap system to tbe charcoal canister and had completely soaked it in gas. gas dropped down and shorted the alternator. so we tried to unclog the breather (which is maybe working), then we broke something on the canister reinstalling it and Bakit helped us route around it. then they stayed and helped us swap the alternator.

Over the next three hours, we swapped the alternator, replaced the evap cannister filter, identified more leaks than are good for a transmission, cut a hole in the transmission tunnel to access the breather valve and clear it out, changed the transmission fluid, ate dinner and got back out on the track. Only after Gregory took a shower. His glorious locks were soaked with transmission fluid and sorrow.

As crazy as it sounds, that mostly fixed our problem. Given the many concerns with the transmission we lowered our pace, keeping shifts relaxed and never exceeding 5k rpm. Our race plan went from competitive to survival, and survive we did. Barely.

Finishing strong

All joking aside, it was incredible to watch our team coordinate many repairs, communicate, and swarm to solve problems. Our group stays cool, stays focused, and everyone finds a way to contribute. Such a great feeling.

We decided to bring the car in to the paddock every 3rd or 4th stint for the remainder of the race to check on... well... everything. The sun was down, and cooler ambient temperatures helped get us back to what we want to be doing: cranking out laps.

I think we all really enjoyed the night driving this race. "Enjoyed" is probably relative but I had a ton of fun in spite of, and maybe because of, the reduced pace. I outsmarted myself, twice, though. My first stint seemed pretty cold, so I went out with a thermal base layer on under my suit. Huge mistake, I was uncomfortably warm for 2/3rd of the stint. So of course my next stint I went out with only a tshirt underneath, and froze.

Right around then we suffered another mechanical issue: we couldn't get the car to start from the pits. Whatever the cause of this intermittent issue, a simple push start got us back on track.

As morning came, we found ourselves in the hunt for a top 10 class finish, which was exciting given all our problems. All team members leaned in hard to the theme, and whatever the hour you could expect a visit from Grimace and his red shirted companions.

We didn't have the competitive race we hoped, but we had a great race all the same. We ended up spending just over 6 hours in the paddock fixing and nursing our 42 year old Datsun across the finish line. Still far from limping! We did finish 10th in class, with 979 miles total.

Beyond the numbers, we made memories. We had supporters visit throughout the weekend: parents, spouses, and friends. We renewed friendships in the paddock, and made new friends too. We've got some clear goals for the offseason, and cannot wait to be back next June with an even better car, and another killer theme!