Punisher Bass
He who drives a Buick
UPDATE: Want to drive this car? See this post for details!
UPDATE 2: Full write up of our Capitol Offense race at Summit Point from June can be found here.
UPDATE 3: Full write up of our South Fall race at Carolina Motorsports Park from September can be found here for part 1, here for part 2, and here for part 3.
Final Gear Racing returns to the track in 2010.
Hello my fellow Final Gear members, I finally bring official news on what we're doing in 2010 when it comes to the 24 Hours Of LeMons and the story of just what the hell went down at The Lamest Day in 2009. Let me deal with the ugly part of this first. Going back to the very first LeMons Final Gear did in 2007 there had been some problems between team members over things both on and off the track, and at The Lamest Day everything came to a head.
It started with almost all the work on the Buick being pushed back till the very last second. The car didn't arrive at the track till 4PM an hour before inspections closed. When it rolled into the pits that afternoon it still didn't have new front brakes or roll cage padding. The race seat, lights, radiator, rear brakes, kill switch, and several other things were done either the previous night or that very morning.
There was also a known electrical issue and a bad CV boot, neither problem was fixed that night nor were the new front brakes installed. Serj, who was made Captain, said not to fix either and that everything would be fine, while the Crown Vic had it's front and rear brakes done. Because of this the front brakes glazed over after 40 minutes of racing and had to be replaced, a few hours later the CV boot gave out and that had to be fixed along with the now major electrical problem. These issues were totally preventable but were not dealt with because I don't know why.
The next set of problems was of a personal nature. Serj had a friend of his, who we'll just call ?Chad?, helping on the car. Chad showed up to the race on Saturday and instantly began acting like a complete and total asshole. He continuously refereed to the LeSabre as ?his? car, ordering people around, and questioning everyone about their race qualifications as if he had to approve of them first before they would be allowed to drive ?his? car. To say this annoyed the other team members to no end is an understatement. Things ended with two team members going back to the hotel and not returning, while I drove 600 miles back home due to a family emergency.
NOTE: That is what happened from where I was standing. There is more to the story, but at this point we just want to put it behind it us and move on.
So after that debacle, we will be using this as an opportunity to make some changes and have a clean fresh start for Final Gear Racing. Starting with...
1: The #42 Ford Crown Vic and #24 Buick LeSabre will no longer be run under the Final Gear banner or have any association with Final Gear at all. The same goes for Serj and his brother. That means we'll be getting a new car, which I'll get to a minute.
2: We will not be accepting donations this year. After you, the Final Gear community, were so generous last time, it's not right to ask you to reach into your pockets once again.
3: We want the Final Gear community to be able to get more involved with the team. So in the near future we will be holding a contest for people to help design a new Final Gear Racing logo and shirt.
4: Driver selection will be handled much differently, more details on that later. UPDATE: Information can be found here.
Now onto our 2010 LeMons plans. Previously the most races we had run in a year was two, this year we plan to run three.
June 19-20
Capitol Offense (Washington DC/West Virginia)
Summit Point Motorsports Park, Summit Point WV
September 25-26
LeMons South Fall 2010 (Charlotte NC)
Carolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw SC
And now for what you've all been waiting for, meet the newest member of the family...
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_0.JPG
That engine is powering a 1997 Pontiac GTP, possibly the best LeMons car we've ever had. If you think I'm crazy for saying that, let me give you some reasons why I'm not.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_1.JPG
1: It's a second gen W body, it offers a far superior suspension setup compared to anything we've had in the past. The platform has a good selection of aftermarket parts that we can take advantage of, in the past we were limited to OEM spec.
2: It's powered by a SUPERCHARGED Series II 3800 V6. It's the big brother of the NA 3.8 we had in the LeSabre, it's also the same engine I have in my Park Avenue Ultra. It produces 240hp and 280lb ft of tq in stock form, but with a little bit of work they will make 300hp without breaking a sweat. The only downside is that the supercharger requires us to run 93 octane.
3: The transmission is a 4T65E-HD, again the same transmission I have in my Buick. The HD unit was given some beefed up internal bits along with stronger drive shafts and CV joints. These transmissions can also handle over 300hp with no problems, GM used them to backup the LS4 in several cars. In the GTP it features a ?performance shift? button that raises the shift points.
4: This will also be the lightest car we've ever used. We expect the car to weigh between 2700 and 2800 lbs once it's stripped out. The LeSabre weighed over 3400lbs and the Crown Vic over 4000lbs. With less weight and more power than ever before, things will be very interesting out on the track.
5: Thanks to the aftermarket, we can replace the stock 11 inch rotors with dual piston 13 inch rotors in the front and 12 inch rotors in the back. We never had options like this with previous cars.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_2.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_3.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_4.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_5.JPG
Normally these cars still cost around $2,000 or more depending on their condition, but we lucked out on this one. There are several reasons why we got the car so cheap. First, there was some major snafu on the paperwork and the car can't be titled for road use which alone rendered the car almost worthless. Second, as you can see from the pictures the paint is in piss poor shape, I'd say atleast 85% of the clear coat is just GONE. Third, this car will not pass an emissions test since the previous owner removed the mufflers and (poorly) welded in some straight pipes. The car also leaks like a sieve in several locations. Put that together and you end up with a car no sane person would want to buy... except us.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_7.jpg
Stay tuned for more news and updates.
UPDATES.
Here's a condensed version of all major build updates up to this point.
March.
Video of the car accelerating before any work is done at all.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwauC9jNQ4U[/YOUTUBE]
On the first day of the tear down.
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/front-1.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/stripped-1.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/stripped-3.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/stripped-4.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/03/16/22.JPG
Also on this day a massive oil leak was discovered.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/03/16/1.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/03/16/3.JPG
April.
We upgrade the front brakes going from 11 inch rotors and single piston calipers to 12 inch rotors and dual piston calipers. There's some problems installing the kit because no instructions are included, but eventually everything gets working as it should.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/04/04/2.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/04/10/1.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/04/10/4.JPG
May.
A 3000CFM Perma Cool electric fan and heavy duty transmission cooler are installed.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/08/cooler.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/08/mess.JPG
Fluids are drained and replaced, rear brakes are also replaced. We retain the stock setup out back but heavy duty discs and pads are installed.
The race seat arrives, a Sparco R100.
More of the interior is stripped, such as the heater core and passenger side airbag bracket, the glass is also removed. The car is getting ready to have its cage installed.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/30/q2.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/30/k3.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/05/31/dash-1.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/05/31/door-1.jpg
June.
The car goes in for its cage. The work is done by Rob from Schumacher Taxi Service.
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00156.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00157.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00158.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00159.jpg
One week before the race.
The tires arrive, roll cage padding is put on, the batter is relocated to the trunk, other odds and ends are tied up.
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/12/DSC00166.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/12/DSC00168.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/12/DSC00177.jpg
Post race in June.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/06/18/LSP_8.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/06/19/GTP_1.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/06/20/GTPBooBoo_3.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/06/22/3.JPG
In it's first shakedown race we placed 43rd out of 83 cars with a best lap time of 2.02.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/06/22/20..JPG
Mid July.
We're forced to pull out of the Chicago race because there is no practical way to get the GTP from the east coast to the midwest at this time. As a replacement we enter the LeMons event at Carolina Motorsports Park scheduled for September 25th and 26th.
Late August.
The race at CMP is just under a month away, not much work has been done to the car because not much needs to be done. The FGMCC has its roof insulated so it will no longer be a giant oven.
New tie rods are installed.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/08/28/2.jpg
The car number is changed from 38 to 138.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/08/28/4.jpg
Our brake pads after the race at Summit Point. Since there is plenty of life left in them we will reuse them at CMP, but a full set of spares are on hand to ward off Mr. Murphy.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/08/28/1.jpg
September - Post race at CMP.
In our second race with the GTP, and 7th overall for Final Gear, we climbed to 3rd place only to lose a wheel. We end up finishing 59th out of 100 cars.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/10/06/IMG_8366_-_Copy.jpg
UPDATE 2: Full write up of our Capitol Offense race at Summit Point from June can be found here.
UPDATE 3: Full write up of our South Fall race at Carolina Motorsports Park from September can be found here for part 1, here for part 2, and here for part 3.
Final Gear Racing returns to the track in 2010.
Hello my fellow Final Gear members, I finally bring official news on what we're doing in 2010 when it comes to the 24 Hours Of LeMons and the story of just what the hell went down at The Lamest Day in 2009. Let me deal with the ugly part of this first. Going back to the very first LeMons Final Gear did in 2007 there had been some problems between team members over things both on and off the track, and at The Lamest Day everything came to a head.
It started with almost all the work on the Buick being pushed back till the very last second. The car didn't arrive at the track till 4PM an hour before inspections closed. When it rolled into the pits that afternoon it still didn't have new front brakes or roll cage padding. The race seat, lights, radiator, rear brakes, kill switch, and several other things were done either the previous night or that very morning.
There was also a known electrical issue and a bad CV boot, neither problem was fixed that night nor were the new front brakes installed. Serj, who was made Captain, said not to fix either and that everything would be fine, while the Crown Vic had it's front and rear brakes done. Because of this the front brakes glazed over after 40 minutes of racing and had to be replaced, a few hours later the CV boot gave out and that had to be fixed along with the now major electrical problem. These issues were totally preventable but were not dealt with because I don't know why.
The next set of problems was of a personal nature. Serj had a friend of his, who we'll just call ?Chad?, helping on the car. Chad showed up to the race on Saturday and instantly began acting like a complete and total asshole. He continuously refereed to the LeSabre as ?his? car, ordering people around, and questioning everyone about their race qualifications as if he had to approve of them first before they would be allowed to drive ?his? car. To say this annoyed the other team members to no end is an understatement. Things ended with two team members going back to the hotel and not returning, while I drove 600 miles back home due to a family emergency.
NOTE: That is what happened from where I was standing. There is more to the story, but at this point we just want to put it behind it us and move on.
So after that debacle, we will be using this as an opportunity to make some changes and have a clean fresh start for Final Gear Racing. Starting with...
1: The #42 Ford Crown Vic and #24 Buick LeSabre will no longer be run under the Final Gear banner or have any association with Final Gear at all. The same goes for Serj and his brother. That means we'll be getting a new car, which I'll get to a minute.
2: We will not be accepting donations this year. After you, the Final Gear community, were so generous last time, it's not right to ask you to reach into your pockets once again.
3: We want the Final Gear community to be able to get more involved with the team. So in the near future we will be holding a contest for people to help design a new Final Gear Racing logo and shirt.
4: Driver selection will be handled much differently, more details on that later. UPDATE: Information can be found here.
Now onto our 2010 LeMons plans. Previously the most races we had run in a year was two, this year we plan to run three.
June 19-20
Capitol Offense (Washington DC/West Virginia)
Summit Point Motorsports Park, Summit Point WV
September 25-26
LeMons South Fall 2010 (Charlotte NC)
Carolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw SC
And now for what you've all been waiting for, meet the newest member of the family...
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_0.JPG
That engine is powering a 1997 Pontiac GTP, possibly the best LeMons car we've ever had. If you think I'm crazy for saying that, let me give you some reasons why I'm not.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_1.JPG
1: It's a second gen W body, it offers a far superior suspension setup compared to anything we've had in the past. The platform has a good selection of aftermarket parts that we can take advantage of, in the past we were limited to OEM spec.
2: It's powered by a SUPERCHARGED Series II 3800 V6. It's the big brother of the NA 3.8 we had in the LeSabre, it's also the same engine I have in my Park Avenue Ultra. It produces 240hp and 280lb ft of tq in stock form, but with a little bit of work they will make 300hp without breaking a sweat. The only downside is that the supercharger requires us to run 93 octane.
3: The transmission is a 4T65E-HD, again the same transmission I have in my Buick. The HD unit was given some beefed up internal bits along with stronger drive shafts and CV joints. These transmissions can also handle over 300hp with no problems, GM used them to backup the LS4 in several cars. In the GTP it features a ?performance shift? button that raises the shift points.
4: This will also be the lightest car we've ever used. We expect the car to weigh between 2700 and 2800 lbs once it's stripped out. The LeSabre weighed over 3400lbs and the Crown Vic over 4000lbs. With less weight and more power than ever before, things will be very interesting out on the track.
5: Thanks to the aftermarket, we can replace the stock 11 inch rotors with dual piston 13 inch rotors in the front and 12 inch rotors in the back. We never had options like this with previous cars.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_2.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_3.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_4.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_5.JPG
Normally these cars still cost around $2,000 or more depending on their condition, but we lucked out on this one. There are several reasons why we got the car so cheap. First, there was some major snafu on the paperwork and the car can't be titled for road use which alone rendered the car almost worthless. Second, as you can see from the pictures the paint is in piss poor shape, I'd say atleast 85% of the clear coat is just GONE. Third, this car will not pass an emissions test since the previous owner removed the mufflers and (poorly) welded in some straight pipes. The car also leaks like a sieve in several locations. Put that together and you end up with a car no sane person would want to buy... except us.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/03/13/LeMons_GTP_7.jpg
Stay tuned for more news and updates.
UPDATES.
Here's a condensed version of all major build updates up to this point.
March.
Video of the car accelerating before any work is done at all.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwauC9jNQ4U[/YOUTUBE]
On the first day of the tear down.
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/front-1.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/stripped-1.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/stripped-3.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/03/16/stripped-4.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/03/16/22.JPG
Also on this day a massive oil leak was discovered.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/03/16/1.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/03/16/3.JPG
April.
We upgrade the front brakes going from 11 inch rotors and single piston calipers to 12 inch rotors and dual piston calipers. There's some problems installing the kit because no instructions are included, but eventually everything gets working as it should.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/04/04/2.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/04/10/1.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/04/10/4.JPG
May.
A 3000CFM Perma Cool electric fan and heavy duty transmission cooler are installed.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/08/cooler.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/08/mess.JPG
Fluids are drained and replaced, rear brakes are also replaced. We retain the stock setup out back but heavy duty discs and pads are installed.
The race seat arrives, a Sparco R100.
More of the interior is stripped, such as the heater core and passenger side airbag bracket, the glass is also removed. The car is getting ready to have its cage installed.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/30/q2.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/05/30/k3.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/05/31/dash-1.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/05/31/door-1.jpg
June.
The car goes in for its cage. The work is done by Rob from Schumacher Taxi Service.
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00156.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00157.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00158.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/06/DSC00159.jpg
One week before the race.
The tires arrive, roll cage padding is put on, the batter is relocated to the trunk, other odds and ends are tied up.
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/12/DSC00166.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/12/DSC00168.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2010/06/12/DSC00177.jpg
Post race in June.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/06/18/LSP_8.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/06/19/GTP_1.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/06/20/GTPBooBoo_3.JPG
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/06/22/3.JPG
In it's first shakedown race we placed 43rd out of 83 cars with a best lap time of 2.02.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/06/22/20..JPG
Mid July.
We're forced to pull out of the Chicago race because there is no practical way to get the GTP from the east coast to the midwest at this time. As a replacement we enter the LeMons event at Carolina Motorsports Park scheduled for September 25th and 26th.
Late August.
The race at CMP is just under a month away, not much work has been done to the car because not much needs to be done. The FGMCC has its roof insulated so it will no longer be a giant oven.
New tie rods are installed.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/08/28/2.jpg
The car number is changed from 38 to 138.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/08/28/4.jpg
Our brake pads after the race at Summit Point. Since there is plenty of life left in them we will reuse them at CMP, but a full set of spares are on hand to ward off Mr. Murphy.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mc/mclightning95/2010/08/28/1.jpg
September - Post race at CMP.
In our second race with the GTP, and 7th overall for Final Gear, we climbed to 3rd place only to lose a wheel. We end up finishing 59th out of 100 cars.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2010/10/06/IMG_8366_-_Copy.jpg
Last edited:
