Make doesn't matter, prep does.

We've had the Supra in 4 Lemons now and have not finished lower than 17th (I think, I'd have to go back and look). It's nothing special and as far as parts, you can't even get good brake pads for a MKIII Supra (go ahead, try to find some Hawks, etc). Our key to placing well is:

1) Leave it stock. Sure, put a race muffler on and make the exhaust so it won't fall off, you can even pull the smog stuff off if you want, but don't screw with the motor.
2) If it doesn't serve a purpose, take it off and throw it away (or better yet, sell it). It's nothing but dead weight and something that might break and/or fall off.
3) Don't be TOO fast. The faster you are, the more likely you are to get crushed. You don't want to be slow either. If you can turn lap times with the top 10 fastest cars on the first day, back it down a notch and fly under the radar. You can open it up the next day if you like.
4) DON'T MAKE ENEMIES! Drive friendly. Help your pit neighbors. Don't trash talk and be an ass. Stay on people's good side. They remember your attitude on the track.
5) Whoever you have running the next turn, have them suited up and ready to go as the car leaves the pits. Leave them in their suits. We learned this the hard way when one of the drivers got black flagged put in the penalty box for passing under yellow. The penalty was that he had to skip his turn. I was driving next and nobody was suited up. Cost 10 minutes to get in the firesuit and equipment so we could get out of the box. Total penalty time was 25 minutes and if I'd been ready could have cut that to 10. 15 minutes for us was about 11 laps.
6) Get organized, especially with fueling. We have an electric fuel wagon and we can fuel with 10 gallons of gas in less time than it takes to switch drivers. Remember, every minute and a half costs you a lap.
7) WHEN (not IF) you get black flagged for something the only things the judge wants to hear are a)I'm sorry sir and b) I'll try to never let that happen again. Anything else and you're violating the first rule of holes (when you're in one, quit digging)
8) After the first day when you're done, prep the car for the next day just like you would for a new race. Check EVERYTHING again.
9) Be kind to the tires. We routinely run one set for the whole race and have enough tire left for test and tune on the day prior to the next race.

10) and most important, turn laps. If you're not out driving, you're getting passed. Limit driver changes, stay out of the penalty box, keep your fueling short and as few as possible. Know how much fuel you're using and plan it out. Just go out and make laps. Lots and lots of laps.

Now for a few "cheating" tips.

You can go to coil overs if you want, but just cut the stock ones works too. We cut all 4 springs but left them stock. We go through tech that way and when both safety tech and BS tech is done we put spring rubbers all around to stiffen it up. (That way it's not TOO firm when they bounce the car.

We run stock sway bars front and rear so we just leave them alone. I'd like to stiffen them up, but haven't found a way to do that and "hide " it. Yet.

The races we've been at have been won by Mustangs, Toyotas, a Camaro, and I don't know what else. Almost every marque had placed in the top 5. I'm personally getting a little bored with it because it's getting so "professional" and they're not really doing anything about it. Last time at Houston I was talking to Jay Lamm about it because our car was one of the closest to actually being legal there and he was complaining about it himself (mostly the Miatas that were basically used spec miatas people were trying to pass off as Lemons cars). I told him he could stop it right now if he wanted and he asked how? I said simple, take some of that $100,000 you got in entry fees and exercise your claiming rules on the worst 5 or 6 offenders and then either crush them or sell them on craigslist on the other side of the country, that would stop people that spend WAY too much on this and know tha only one will get crushed.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by FierOmar: Hmmm... maybe I need to rethink this. At the recent Lemons event at CMP a Fiero finished 77th whereas Neons finished 12th and 98th for an average finish of 55th... Hmmm... http://jalopnik.com/5360515...h-fall-2009/gallery/

quote Originally posted by jstricker: The races we've been at have been won by Mustangs, Toyotas, a Camaro, and I don't know what else. Almost every marque had placed in the top 5. I'm personally getting a little bored with it because it's getting so "professional" and they're not really doing anything about it. Last time at Houston I was talking to Jay Lamm about it because our car was one of the closest to actually being legal there and he was complaining about it himself (mostly the Miatas that were basically used spec miatas people were trying to pass off as Lemons cars). I told him he could stop it right now if he wanted and he asked how? I said simple, take some of that $100,000 you got in entry fees and exercise your claiming rules on the worst 5 or 6 offenders and then either crush them or sell them on craigslist on the other side of the country, that would stop people that spend WAY too much on this and know tha only one will get crushed. John Stricker

I know what your are saying. It was very difficlult to believe that some of these cars were within the rules...

We actually held our own fairly well. Don't ask me how we managed, but based upon my review of the lap times, we actually turned in the fifth fastest lap time. There were a number of cars that would blow by us on the straignts, but apparently we were faster in the turns. We did have good tires and the car was nicely balanced. And we commited to hold the rpm to avoid blowing the engine. Everything held, and the rest is history.

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FierOmar