LeMons Texas Car Inspections: Miatas, Mustangs, and a Simca-ized MR2

The 24 Hours of LeMons Traveling Carnival has been setting up the Tilt-a-Whirl— so to speak— at MSR Houston since way back in 2008, and we can always count on seeing plenty of those most Texan of low-budget race cars: Ford Taurus SHOs, Mazda Miatas, and Ford Mustangs. This time, the number of SHOs was down (no doubt because they've killed every Yamaha V6 within a three-state radius), but it was business as usual for Miatas and Mustangs. When in Rome, you drive a Miata, so here's the LeMons Supreme Court's Judgemobile posing by the Team Nucking Futs Miata. One thing we always say is that LeMons racing needs more big fat luxury cars, so we're all quite happy about this high-zoot Mercedes-Benz 500SEC. We're even happier about this 318-powered Dodge Coronet sedan. Actually, it's a Dodge Cornet, complete with Green Cornet team costumes. With all the Fox Mustangs we see, it's always refreshing to get a different member of the Fox family. Say, a Fairmont. This one has a very unusual 4.6 Modular V8 swap. The 4.6 doesn't make huge power and it's too wide to be an easy swap into a 1970s car, but it has proven to be the most reliable V8 engine in LeMons racing. Other Malaise Era Ford products are well represented as well. Here's a 302-powered Mustang II. Also with 302 power, the Swamp Thang Granada. The GM 4.3-liter V6-powered Chevy Monza of Team Speedy Monzales had big differential problems at the last race, so the team went and found some sort of random junkyard rear end that required the addition of trailer fenders to meet the LeMons "no wheels sticking out" requirement. The Team TARP MR2 gets better every race, and now it has had its body replaced with that of a Simca 1000. Excellent idea! Some of the teams had excellent costumes and themes. For example, here's an "art" theme featuring Van Gogh, Munch's The Scream, and a Crayola crayon. We've also got quite a few fast cars and at least four previous overall winners. With heavy rain called for on Saturday, some serious driving skill will be needed. Read full story » from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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