Going LeMons racing in a 6GC! Options

[slavie]

Hey ya'all!

A series of questionable decisions have led me to getting accepted to my first LeMons race coming up at Thompson, CT in August. Not much time left, lots to do.
If anybody is seriously interested, I'm still looking for the 4th driver. Hit me up.

The car came from 6gc community - I picked up Rymaster's 96 GT (his FS thread)
Car has an issue with the gearbox - makes really funny noises. I suspect something off with the diff. Drivetrain is already out of the car, gearbox separated, waiting for me to get wrenching on.

Cage installation is lined up for a week from now.
Need to completely redo the brakes - rebuild rears, replace fronts with dual-piston calipers, new rotors and pads.
Replace wheel bearings as a precaution.
Figure out what tires I'll use.
Finally, all the safety bs - kill switch is a must, and I'd like to plumb fire extinguisher and cool suit in if funds and time allows. If not, hand held extinguisher and sweaty balls will have to do.
Tons more crap I'm sure will come up.

Interior is getting completely gutted, so feel free to inquire if you need parts (I'll be posting a FS thread, will put the link in here). Any money I make back on selling parts I can use towards "performance mods", and I'm looking to get some decent lowering springs (no thanks to noname crap). If you have a set of such springs collecting dust - talk to me.

If you've done LeMons before and have suggestions, fire away.

[slavie]

No problem.

Another thing that I did not do that is a must: MIRRORS. For next race, I'm going with a convex center mirror (seems like people recommend that over "wink" mirrors), convex side mirror mounted inside the cabin (if you get side swiped and your outside mirrors are gone, you're screwed without these).
I'm also planning to take off the rear hatch completely (during race, bolt it back for transport) to improve rearward visibility, as the cage tubing does get in the way enough for you to wish for more visibility.

Seat was also a pain in the rear, so make sure to get that project going sooner than later. 6gc's are small cars, and you have to fit a driver with a helmet on his head (+2" easily), and have enough clearance around the cage that is covered in impact absorbent material (at least 1" thick per regs). I had to bang the transmission tunnel quite a bit, but there is a stupid strong support beam going under the seat area so I was not able to make as much room there as I would have liked. We did pass tech, but our tallest driver still had issues where he was not able to turn his head to the left without hitting the cage padding.

If you guys have some track day experience, your biggest obstacle will be learning the art of "traffic management". LeMons events, at least in my area, always sell out and the field is packed tight. I mean, imagine 100+ race cars on a 2 mile course, all with various performance levels. Cars stacked 3 deep going into the corner, constant passing everywhere. This being endurance racing, fastest lap is irrelevant; how many laps you clock at the end of the day is what it's all about.

The level of competition is higher than you might imagine, both on track (though you do see plenty of slow rookies) and in terms of car preparation. Sure, everybody talks about the idiots that blew their engine and did a heroic swap on track with a junkyard motor. Yes, that does happen, but only to a handful of teams here and there. Most of the field come prepared and run start to finish. The $500 car idea is total bs that is impossible to adhere to. The organizers know that, which is why you have the bs inspection, but the idea is an irresistible marketing draw. The reality is closer to the ChumpCar rules, where any OEM part replacement modifications are allowed, and only the performance modifications count against you. Such as, head gasket and engine bearings don't count (and nobody asks anyway, as good portion of the field runs with rebuilt motors), but coilovers, non-original turbochargers and/or souped up motors sure do.

Endurance racing is a truly humbling experience where you get out what you put in, and your effort and skill bears a number that is your finishing position. There's no such thing as getting lucky.