Seven Motor Sports

I think there needs to be a post about some rather crucial information.  Lab Rats Motorsports has gone through some personnel changes.  As you know, the team for the last race was Mike (captain), Chris, Jeff, Phil and Quinn.  Phil and Quinn have decided to retire from crap-can racing.  As for the rest of us, I have left and started a new team; Ramrod Racing, with its own site to detail all of what you've come to expect here.  Chris and Jeff are continuing the Lab Rats with one more important change: THE COLT IS GONE!!  That's right, Phil bought her and will dirt tracking her next year!  That means that the Lab Rats will not only have new teammates, but also a new car.

I can't gurantee the consistency of updates here anymore, as that depends on Chris and Jeff giving me pictures and write-ups.  Not likely since I'm not part of the "inner-circle" anymore and they don't want to share with me all of their cheating ways!  We'll see about getting some pictures and info for you though.  Thanks for following us this year!

of 365. I plan to upload a photo a day for a full year, 365 days.

Another shot from the Livermore Nostalgia Car Show. Converted 3 exposures to HDR then applied a Black and White filter in Photoshop, also added a slight amber tint.

Alright, alright, I know it's been awhile, but I've been busy!  Do you know how long it takes to compile all of the media from a race and make it into a video?  One hour per one minute of video.  Try and get that done with two kids and the rest of life's responsibilities.  Anyway, it's finally done.  I had a lot more to work with this time since we actually ran the whole race.  Enjoy!


Lab Rats Motorsports in Lemons South Fall 2009 from Michael Chisek on Vimeo.

In other news, the team is undergoing some changes.  For starters, the Colt E is for sale.  $1000 and she is yours.  Great way to get into this type of racing, although I hear you could dirt track her as well.  Email me if your interested.  Second, there has been some personell changes.  Phil and Quinn have decided not to return.  Chris and Jeff have aquired another car.  And as for myself, I have started a new team with a new car which you can follow over at Ramrod Racing.  A little friendly competition has begun, but we're all still going to show the LRM logo.  I guess you can say the Lab Rats are growing!  Apparently I will continue to update this site for Chris and Jeff as they work on their car.  We'll see if they actually take the time to write things for their fans.

Thanks to all for your interest and support and keep watching!  This is only going to get better!

What a great weekend!  While the Colt didn't win the race, she ran the entire race only off track for driver changes and fueling.  How far did 68HP get us?  13th place in our class (the "bad" class) and I believe 30th overall.  She completed 497 laps with a fastest time of 1:05.6, courtesy of Quinn.  That's only 3 seconds off the fastest lap time of the entire race!  The car suffered heavy body damage, but no mechanical problems.  She handles better than before and held her own out there.  All in all we had a blast!

Once I get back into the flow of regular life I'll get all the video uploaded and post some here.  I got some great video from the front and rear bumper cams!

Thanks to everybody on the team for all the hard work and a special thank you to Andrea for putting up with all of this madness.  Let's do it again!

What a day!!  The colt is nothing like her former self.  We've completed 274 laps and are running in 15th out of 107.  Campare that to last spring when we didn't hardly run at all on day 1.  She's not the fastest car out there by a long shot, but with no mechanical failures and no penalties we held our own.  But it's war out there.  There were quite a few cars that were out for blood and our car looks like it's been on the front lines.  We were sandwiched a few times, rear ended a few times and T-boned twice.  Just check out some of the carnage.

There were some driver issues as well.  Your's truly here managed to spin the car out in turn one late in the afternoon.  Black flag for me, but apparently the judges were in a good mood because they said I must have been tired and just had us change drivers and get back out on the track.  Perfect!  Each of us ran about 80 minutes per session.  That may not seem like a lot, but with that many cars rubbing you turn after turn, and the high heat and sun today, that's about all you can handle.

Right now while I kick back in the recliner and write this, the other guys are hammering out the fenders (they were rubbing on the rear tires) and changing the spark plugs.  Brakes are good and so is most of the rest of the car.  We're all well fed and hydrated.  I deep fried some chicken wings and the guys are putting back some beers.  There's a band playing right now and as soon as the car gets finished up I'm sure everyone's going to relax for the night.

We're shooting for the top ten tomorrow!

The race is on and we're doing great!  After Chris's stint we're running 6 laps off the leader and the car is great.  Quinn just got in for his stint and almost immediately he got T-boned in turn one.  Major damage but it doesn't affect our driving.  Better yet, no penalty!

It's hot but things are going well.  Stay tuned for updates.  Also if you'd like to watch things live, there is a webcast located here.

Well now comes the part where we just sit and wait for race time.  We went through tech this morning, but had a little issue.  It seems they didn't like our exhaust.  No big deal.  Chris and Phil ran to NAPA and got some junk to make us "legal".  Now that our car was legal for racing, we moved on to BS inspections.  No trouble here.  As a matter of fact, they almost didn't even want to look at us.  I guess a Colt isn't that threatening of a race car?

Well I have all sorts of pictures to share of today's activities, but it seems that everybody is trying to use the same WiFi access point right now.  You'll have to wait.  But, suffice it to say, things are busy and fun.  We fried a turkey this morning and we are currently smoking some pork for tonight.  Chris managed to officially enter his prized moonshine into the contest with the judges and there are plenty of cars that are getting some serious heat in the BS area.  Cheaters.

More to come, stay tuned!

So Chris and I worked on Friday night. Phil was at the dirt track races and Jeff was with his girl. So what did Chris and I do? Drank beer (well Coke for me). It appears that converting the front brakes to 1.6 turbo jobs may not happen. Chris has called two companies to order the calipers and both have been out of stock. Forever. We'll give it another shot, but 1.5 stuff may be our only choice for this race.

We did test fit our $30 Pull-A-Part special radiator, and installed the coolant catch can. Jeff needs to get the intake manifold done for our carburetor installation, but in the mean time we checked our valve lash and timing. About the only other thing we've accomplished in cutting out the fenders. It seems that during the last race our fenders were riding the top of the tires in the turns. A sort of anti-sway bar if you will, at least until you saw your tire in half. Problem fixed.

Maybe we work better under pressure....

So is this a post about all the amazing work we're getting done? Not hardly. In fact we haven't done a thing. Chris hasn't even finished ordering our new brakes (in his defense though, the retailer was sold out). However we do have plans to work this Friday night. Can't promise that we'll accomplish anything, but at least we'll be in the same room as the car for a change!

Anyway, on to more important news. We here at Lab Rats HQ have discovered a new way to go bankrupt have fun racing. Enter Chump Car! What is this "Chump Car" you ask? Click on the link to find out, or if you're too lazy I'll give you the quick and dirty version. Chump Car is 95% identical to The 24 Hours of Lemons. The primary differences are in the penalties and the tracks used. Chump Car has already scheduled 16 events for the 2009-2010 season with the closest one to us being Rockingham. There's also a race in Georgia which we'll probably crash participate in as well. Many of the races are true 24 hour endurance events as well, so there will be much more opportunity for hoonage! Since the two series are so similar, we figure that many of the same cars and teams will be participating in both (like us!). Frankly, we're pumped about the opportunity to add Chump Car to our annual racing experiences!

Alright, back to thinking about working on the car. We'll let you know how we do.....

Just got the word from the head honcho today. We're accepted! Sweet. I tell you, it's a lot nicer getting in right from the start than having to sit on the waitlist and hope someone else drops out.

Of course as you know, there are ten weeks until the race. This is usually the time that everyone is scrambling frantically to build their car in time for the race. Not us. Our car is mostly done since it's the same car from the last race. We're currently cleaning the gas tank, and we need to put new pads on the front of the car, but that's it. Actually I think we need to add a brace to our cage per the new rules, but that will only take Jeff a few minutes.

I think the biggest project is going to be mounting the cameras on the car. I haven't decided whether to use DV camcorders or web cams with a PC yet. Ten weeks goes quick though, so I better get on it. We'll keep you posted!

And to Honorable Supreme Court Justices Lieberman and Martin (pen name), we'll see you in September!

While perusing my favorite automotive news site, Jalopnik, I found out that we Lab rats will no longer be racing our Dodge Colt E. Instead we will now be sporting our Fiat Colt E. It appears that in light of the Chrysler bankruptcy, and the Fiat acquisition, the powers that be at Lemons HQ have decided to rebadge all Chrysler products as Fiats. Not only does this not bother us, but we in fact embrace the change! I mean our car already has an identity crisis. It's a Mitsubishi Mirage with a Dodge Colt emblem slapped on it. Add to that the array of strange parts that have found it's way on the car and the rebadging to Fiat seems to fit just fine! Does this mean we are now in the European/Italian class?

So I finally got our video complete. We spent so much time trying to fix the Colt E or keep her running that I didn't get as much video as I'd have liked. We did get in car footage, but it was from when the car was running poorly, so I chose not to include that in the video. Here you go....


Lab Rats at Lemons South Spring 2009 from Michael Chisek on Vimeo.

So what did we learn from our 1st running of the 24 Hours of Lemons?
1. You can't be competitive if you're not on the track.
2. Pre race testing is mandatory.
3. Pulling a car out of the woods to be a race car is not a good idea.
4. Fuel filters prevent dirt from getting in your engine. Dirty fuel filters prevent fuel from getting to your engine.
5. 68 HP is fine for a tractor, not for a race car.
6. The Dodge Colt E is the perfect chassis for a race car.
7. Lemons racing is highly addictive.

Despite all the car trouble, we still had a blast. It wasn't the next day and we were all talking about the fall race! We definitely plan on entering the race this fall and we're entering the Colt E again. The only changes we plan on making to the car are:
1. New fuel tank or fuel cell (the current one has a never ending supply of junk in it).
2. Better brakes (the cheap ones we used were smoked in 2 hours).
3. See if we can locate a better carburetor.

How can we be keeping the 68 HP anti-engine you ask?! Our research and limited experience tells us that the 1.5L block is indestructible. Why change it? The car handles great and if we focus on keeping it running, I think we can be more competitive this time. Besides I'd love to beat a bunch of E30's with a 68 HP Colt!

So there you have it. I'll get back to this blog in the summer once we get the invite back to the fall race. Then you can follow us back to Kershaw in September! See ya!

Well day two went much better for us. We kept the car on the track most of the day and clicked off some fast lap times. While I didn't get to see the final time sheet, I believe we managed to complete around 150 laps with a best lap time of 1:09.3. Good enough for 79th or 80th place. Obviously we had hoped for much better but you can't compete if you're not on the track. We each got at least a solid 30 minutes of full speed racing though, which made all of the work worthwhile. I'll post a few more pictures and a video in a few days as well as what we learned from this experience. Bottom line though, it was fun and we're coming back in the fall! WITH A MUCH FASTER CAR!!!

So today is in the books. It wasn't the best of racing days for us, but we're actually still alive. I guess you can say we're kind of like Rudy. We managed to complete 26 laps and remain in 88th. Our engine troubles continue to plague us but when she runs right, she's fast! And she handles like she's on rails. We also managed to get a picture of our car on Jalopnik too. We're working on the car tonight and hope to get some more laps in tomorrow.

So it's 5pm and I think we have completed 5 laps. That's right, FIVE. Our fuel tank keeps shedding junk and plugging the fuel filter. At this point we've got the tank out and are hoping to wash it out at a local car wash. With two hours of racing left for today our hope is to get it back together and test it. If it stays clean enough we might get to move up from 88th to like 80th or something. If you're considering coming out to watch us tomorrow, I would recommend staying home.

It seems that we are the first team to ever get a penalty BEFORE the race starts. Chris passed under caution and got the team a one hour penalty. We were close to getting tossed, so I'm happy to sit the hour instead.

We just passed tech and BS inspections. It seems out paperwork was impeccable and they believed that the Colt E was actually a piece of crap. Still the t-shirt "gifts" earned us the Bribed tattoo. Did I mention that this was fun?

Alright folks, the time has come. We are here, we have set up camp, and we are ready to go. I am online and will be all weekend to post updates of our status for all of you. Tonight I leave you with a simple map of our pit location. Spectator parking is marked by the blue X's and our pit is marked by the red dot. We're right in front of the main scoring tower and what I think to be Lemons HQ. See you at the race!

So Russ wanted to have a "Christening" party for the Colt E. Kind of like smashing that cheap bottle of champagne against the hull of a new ship. It was a way for everybody at work to come see the car before we go crash, I mean race, it next weekend. Actually it was probably just a good excuse to party. Again. But we had a good turnout and a lot of positive comments about the car, so that means all of you who are reading this, and were there, just didn't tell us what you really thought. That's OK because the poll has spoken. Only half of you think the Colt E will finish the race! Good thing we don't care what you think. Ha! Seriously, thanks to all for coming out last night. I think everyone had a great time. Chris and Mike will be at the next monthly meeting too. I promise.



Well, we're packed and ready to go. The Colt E is about as ready as she'll ever be. We checked everything off our tech inspection sheet. Before Thursday I need to make sure the camera's and camcorder's have fresh batteries and plenty of tape. I also need to get some software on the laptop if I want to post videos to this blog from the track. We'll see about that one. You'll notice in the included photos that we have sold out and are now marketing all sorts of junk for the team. If you'd like a custom mug with our logo, just send me an email and I'll place you an order with Todd (great job on the mug Todd!) We have a few extra items that we will be selling from our pit at the track.


I leave you with a few specs on our beloved Colt E. Kind of puts into perspective (or not) what we are attempting to work with.

Make: Dodge (liars, it's a Mitsubishi)
Model: Colt E (again with the lying, try Mirage)
Year: 1988
Engine: 1.5L 4 cylinder fed by an 2 bbl "carburetor like device" (the '80's sucked)
HP: 68 @ 5600rpm (I kid you not folks - sixty eight)
Transmission: 4 speed manual with counterbalanced shift knob
Weight: approx 1500 lbs without driver
0-60mph: 4.3 tries
Unique features: manual steering (yes that does exist), optional high idle package, aftermarket piston return springs (yes, I'm kidding)
Cost: I'm not quite sure, but I'm pretty sure I could have sent my wife on a weekend shopping spree and it would have cost me less.

See you at the track!