Racing a lemon: The EH Team takes up the challenge and lives to tell the tale

All photos and video supplied

None of them had ever driven a race car nor had they ever built one, but five locals—Cameron and Iain Renwick, Richard Hatkoski, Sean Doyle, and Rob Saunders—decided to challenge themselves to do both. The EH Team was born.

But it wasn’t just any race and it wasn’t just any race car…it was a 2006 Chevy Impala. Part of the challenge of the 24 Hours of Lemons series is that competitors have to buy an old car and get it race ready, all for less than $500 US plus the cost of any safety features. The team found their car on Kijiji back in the spring.

It took them hundreds of hours over many months to prepare with the Renwicks and Doyle doing much of the mechanical work. They had to strip the interior, replace the suspension, steering and brakes, design and add a roll cage, install a racing seat and five-point harness, and put in a fire extinguisher system. The car got a new red and white exterior with Tremclad paint applied in the Renwicks’ garage—at a cost of $19—and some decalling by Dallas Clarke at Hypervision Signs who took that old lemon from sorry-looking to spectacular.

Huntsville Tirecraft helped out with advice and nitrogen for the tires—which keeps the tire pressure more stable than with just air—and Martin Barkey at MBRP, who does some racing himself, provided expertise and a source for fireproof gear for the drivers.

With the mid-October race looming—the Where the Elite Meet to Cheat race was held October 13-14 at GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, Michigan—the team pushed to finish up about two weeks before Thanksgiving.

By the time they were done, that old Impala looked pretty good. But not too good, thankfully.

“(Race organizers) do a BS inspection, which is exactly what it sounds like. That’s where you convince them that the car really is worth only $500, but if they look at it and they say it’s worth more, they issue penalty laps,” says Cameron. Their powers of persuasion must have been strong. Despite its sharp exterior, they got off scot-free. “Fortunately, (we convinced them) ours didn’t look all that great so they didn’t issue a penalty.” There’s also an extensive technical inspection to ensure the car is safe to take out on the track. The EH Team passed that hurdle, too, clearing the way for them to race.

But getting past inspections was only part of the challenge. Lap after lap of high-speed driving is rough on engines and tires, and taxing for drivers. Each of the five team members took turns at the wheel. For Iain, it was a first in more ways than one—he only has a G1 license so, although he’s a competent driver, it was the first time he’d piloted a car without someone else in the vehicle.

Laps are raced over the course of two days, with time during the night in between to do repairs in addition to those required during racing. By all accounts, The EH Team’s Impala performed well.

The biggest issue was a problem with fuel delivery. A 2006 Impala doesn’t come with a fuel filter, and the team had to clean out the fuel injectors six different times on the first day of racing—about a 40-minute repair each time. They could only get through about six laps before the engine misfired. Twice the car had to be removed from the course with a tow truck. So that night they bought a fuel filter and cobbled a system together with plumbing fittings and duct tape. On Sunday, their car ran without issue.

“We were pleased with how we overcame the problem,” says Cameron, noting that some teams had to do engine swaps and transmission changes during the night. The EH Team got off easy. “In relative terms we didn’t have too much we needed to do.”

And by the end of the race, all five team members “had the biggest smiles on our faces we’ve ever had,” says Cameron. It went so well that they plan to do it again.

Check out the final lap of the race, with Richard Hatkoski at the wheel, below:

The car isn’t registered so it will remain stored in a warehouse where the team will work on it over the winter. They’ll also be looking for some sponsorship for tires, brakes and other parts.

But the biggest thing they need, says Cameron, is more driver experience. They plan to enter two races next year in the ChumpCar Canada series—the equivalent to the 24 Hours of Lemons on this side of the border—before heading back to Michigan next October to see if they can beat the 155 laps they completed this year. (The first-place team completed 376 laps.)

All five went into this challenge thinking, ‘we’ve never done this before but how hard can it be?’ says Cameron, and together their strengths made for a great team. “It was an awful lot of fun, one of the craziest ideas we’ve done. To go from start to finish was a fantastic feeling.”

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