TRACKNIGHTS

2011-01-01T09:42:00.001-08:00

We did it!

2010-12-31T22:06:00.001-08:00

We did it! 1,2 in class and 4th 5th overall!!! fuel mileage was so close that the cars sputtered just after the taking the checker flag....AWESOME!

Bringing em home

2010-12-31T19:58:00.000-08:00

David and Tyler C are out there now for the final hour. We are still holding 1-2 in class and the silver car is 3rd overall.

Final hours...

2010-12-31T16:42:00.001-08:00

Johnny just wrapped up a 2.5 hour stint along with Tyler C. Once the sun went back down the cars really started to work. We did some minor changes to the white car that worked well. Unfortunately before the stop LD was hit with another black flag penalty. Glenn and Tyler W are out there now and we are sitting 1-2 in class and 5-6 overall. Just over 4 hours left...

As time goes on...

2010-12-31T12:03:00.000-08:00

Another stop... Christian received a black flag penalty but was released immediately. We added some oil and fuel and LD jumped in the white car. JJ took over the silver car from Tyler W and was immediately shoved off track by another car. Everything is ok and we only lost a little time... Next stop will be for tire rotation, slight setup adjustment and fuel. Johnny k will take over the white car and Tyler C will pilot the silver one.

More stops

2010-12-31T09:26:00.001-08:00

We just brought both cars in. Christian is now in the white car and Tyler W is in the silver. We did a front tire change on the silver car. Cars are running good. Just under 12 hours to go.

Halfway

2010-12-31T08:23:00.000-08:00

We are just about at the halfway mark. Still sitting 1-2 in class. JD and Glen are on track...

8:00 am

2010-12-31T05:35:00.001-08:00

Johnny and JJ just finished up their stints We ran as high as 3rd overall and first in class. We are still one-two in class with the white car leading. David is now in the white car with fresh front tires and Tyler Cooke is in the silver one. Trying to stay outa trouble...

Here is one of our competitors ... The family truckster complete with aunt Edna on the roof...

First pit stops

2010-12-31T00:24:00.000-08:00

Christian an JD are out am LD and Tyler the wolfman are in. Perfect pitstops. Currently under full course yellow...

Cooling issues

2010-12-30T22:08:00.000-08:00

Having a cooling issue with the silver car... Made a back paddock stop. Car is back out and circulating...

Callin the race

2010-12-30T21:17:00.000-08:00

The boys are out on track. Pace laps have begun. John is in the silver and Christian is in the white. Johnny is on the radio...

Lemons wedding

2010-12-30T20:03:00.001-08:00

Drivers meeting

2010-12-30T19:46:00.001-08:00

Lots of folks at this lemons stuff...

24 hours of lemons - Miami

2010-12-30T14:45:00.001-08:00

We are at the 24 hours of lemons - Miami with our two-car Toyota paseo effort. This is a true 24 hour race which will begin tonight at midnight and end as the ball drops for 2011...

Our cars are good and testing went perfect. We are doing some final prep before the start of the race. Follow our effort throughout the event here.

24 hours of lemons - Miami

2010-12-30T14:32:00.000-08:00

2010-09-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

2010-09-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

2010-09-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

More pics

2010-09-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Can only get iPhone pics up right now. More later.

Bad news bears

2010-09-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

Some pics

2010-09-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

We're done...

2010-09-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

We blew up...................
We are very bummed. I had just finished my stint and we wnet from 14th to 8th before handing the car over to Steve. About 30 mins into his stint, we threw a rod and now the car is sitting in the hairpin, with a pool of oil under her. We had a good run going and were working our way up... We are currently looking for options to fix it and run the 4-hour tomorrow...

stay tuned

(having trouble posting pics, should have some up soon)

GREEN GREEN GREEN!

2010-09-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

The green flag has flown and we are about 2 hours into the race. JD just exited the car, Diane is in. We took on 4 gallons of fuel. Johnny gets in in about an hour. We are praying for rain as the Paseo is amazing in it...

more pics comin

Load-in and Tech...

2010-09-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

We finished up some prep on the car this morning and loaded up the rig and headed down the road to Sebring International Raceway. Our little Paseo passed tech inspection with ease. We met up with Steve and Diane and registered the team and talked strategy. Race starts @ 9:29am tomorrow morning and ends @ 9:00pm. Driving order will be: JD, Diane, Johnny, Steve.

We added a few things to our car for the race......... (and a competitor brought "Animal")

Team TraKnights takes on Chumpcar's 11-hours & 31 minutes of Sebring.

2010-09-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

Team TraKnights takes on Chumpcar's 11-hours & 31 minutes of Sebring. Driver lineup is identical to the TraKnight's 24-Hours of Lemons/Houston effort earlier this year. This includes Diane Mould, Steve Molnar, John Dean II, and Johnny Kanavas. Josh Kuen joins the team as crew for the event. Very similar to the 24-Hours of Lemons type racing, the team will pilot their mighty Toyota Paseo through just short of 12 hours on Saturday (Sept. 25), with an additional 4-hour endurance race on Sunday (for what cars remain).

Follow the effort here.

Prepping for Sebring...

2010-09-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

TraKnights will be running their little Toyota Paseo in this weekend's Chumpcar "11-hours & 31-minutes of Sebring". We have been very busy prepping the car for the event and are pretty worn out. The rules are a bit different from 24-hours of Lemons events, so we have added things like a window net, removed all the glass except the windshield, and replaced our tires with a stickier set of Yokahamas.

Follow our effort live from the track on this website. The Green flag flies Saturday morning...

Tracknights Video Summary

2010-02-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

Tracknights 24hour of lemons video summary. Check it out!

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn-MluUrl94

----------------------------------------------
Same vid/ different music.

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BROCuTyS2Tw

Black Flagged for THIS!?

2010-02-24T09:43:00.001-08:00

Track was super slippery. BMW E30 lifted at track out and I tapped him. We were black flagged and our dreams of winning $1500 in nickels was lost. Sorry for twisted camera.

Final wrap up... End of race

2010-02-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

We are a little delayed with posting how we ended up as we had to pack up and head back to Florida and haven't had an internet connection until now.

It was an intersting final two hours to say the least. JD went out for his stint which started in the rain. We were instantly fast again and began passing cars like crazy. It almost seemed not fair. That little car in the rain works SO well, its rediculous... I was on the pit box, spotting for JD as we had to no longer conserve fuel and knew we would make it to the end. The track began to dry out and we continued to go faster and were focused on trying to win the thing.

UNFORTUNATELY, JD radioed in that he had slight contact with a BMW on course who checked up as he got sideways in the rain and John did a little tap to the rear bumper as he had nowhere to go. The officials black flagged us and we had to report to the pits. Then it got interesting... Because this is Lemons racing and not regular endurance racing, the officials idea of penalties is a little odd. Both JD and the BMW driver were asked to get out of the car and remove their helmets. From there they had one of their legs taped to the other guy's leg and asked to walk around the pits and find a Dr. Pepper for the official's kid. They succeeded quickly but the 2 liter bottle was "too big" the kid said, so they had to pour it in a cup. Upon opening the bottle, it exploded all over JD. Meanwhile I got the car ready to get back on track, knowing we just lost a TON of laps (and before this penalty we were vying for the win). JD was not happy, but I strapped him in and told him "you know what to do now"... John hit the track again and drove the hell out of the car, ringing its neck for the remainder of the race., passing many cars everywhere...

So, we ended up in 7th place overall (of 128 starters), and 4th in class. We had, by far, the best fuel mileage of any car out there and both the team and car performed flawlessly... (BUT, the car did have a pool of oil under it just as we brought it in at the end of the race, perfect timing... )The event was a bunch of fun and we hope to do another one again very soon.

Huge thanks to Diane Mould, Steve Molnar, Dylan Nelson (crew chief extraordinaire), and the 24 Hours of Lemons staff for a fun weekend of racing.

MANY more pics of the event at: http://cafephoto.smugmug.com/24hr-LeMons-MSRH-2-2010

Stint 1: 3.75 hours...

2010-02-21T11:03:00.001-08:00

We had a change of plans this morning. Our co-drivers decided to let JD and I run the 6-hour portion today and try to go for the win. SO, we put together a 1-pitstop plan... Yeah, ONE! Amazing... I just finished up my stint which was nearly 4 hours long... We had a lot of yellows and both wet and dry conditions. Our car is fast no matter what. We are just picking cars off one by one.

JD is in the car now and will bring her home. He's finding the grip out there and moving forward. If we can stay out of trouble, we could be at the front of this race. Pretty amazing for our little paseo in a 128-car field...

- johnny

Huge Crash

2010-02-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

1 hour 58 minutes in the race entering turn one a 5.0 Mustang lost brakes brakes dove to the inside and T-boned another 5.0 at over 60mph. The Black car that lost brakes flipped and ended on his roof in the gravel trap. Both cars are destroyed, but Drivers seem to be ok. This was a huge help for us as many people came in the pits to take advantage of of the yellow. Unfortuneately for them the cars were so close to pit out that they were held while we are still dribbling around under yellow. We are hoping that race control is counting these laps. We are now in 7th not counting this yellow. Standing come out every hour. Cars are rolling now.

JDII

Black Flag

2010-02-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

Johnny just received a black flag for no reason and was forced to pit. They make you drive through the paddock so it is a major loss of time. Im guess 2 to 3 laps worth. The officials are very harsh here, and I am extremely MAD! All we can do is stick to our strategy and hope.

JDII

Sunday first stint (Johnny K)

2010-02-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

Today we have another 6 hours of racing to do. We started the day in 11th out of 127 cars with 6 laps to make up, and a serious chance in winning. We think we can stretch the fuel to two 3 hour stints. Johnny K. is in the car now (one hour in) and the rain has started. It is apparently super slippery out there, as I found out on test day when I ran in the rain. Johnny has been picking of car after car with great timing and superior corner entry speed. His is reporting a loud right front wheel bearing, but there is nothing we can do but keep on trucking.

JDII

Final Stint... End of Day 1

2010-02-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

Diane drove for about 1.5 hours, handing the car over to me for the final 2 or so hours.

After another smooth pitsop, I was on track and having fun. This little car is totally amazing. It is SO fast through the corners it's unbelievable. We can carry so much speed into and through corners that it's almost not fair. Cars that walk by us on the straight are suprisngly overtaken in both low and high speed corners and in the entries of brake zones. AND we are not abusing the brakes or tires much at all.

During my stint I entered the race in 21st place and by the time we took the checker we were in 11th place. Several passes per every lap was the drill, with some impressive handling from our little 212,000 mile Paseo with blown front shocks.

After we took the checker for day-1, JD, Dylan, and I went over the car and prepared it for tomorrow. Tomorrow's race will be 5 hours long and possibly in the rain...

- johnny

2nd stop/ Diane in

2010-02-20T12:46:00.000-08:00

We are over 5 hours in and made only our SECOND pitstop, unbelievable... We still had plenty of fuel, but pitted to make sure all drivers got seat time. (we seem to be almost the only team following the pitstop rules). Steve drove a very good stint and popped out of the car smiling. Trying to conserve the clutch of our 212,000 mile beast, steve drove the entire stint in 3rd gear, which didn't really hurt his laps at all.

Diane hopped in the car and I (johnny) will bring it home to the end. Dylan performed flawlessly again and is working hard on keeping track of our fuel strategy in check.

We are sitting 10th right now and continuing to curculate while many come in with mechanical problems....

just over 3 hours left...

First Stint (John Dean) / First Pitstop

2010-02-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

Just got out of the car for the first stint in the lemon (poopsie), as we have named her cause of our latest run in with food poisoning. I was bolted in that thing for two and a half hours of absolute mayham. There were many yellows, and serious confussion with the flag workers. The best way of explaining my stint was that it was like clubbing baby seals. The most open track that I saw was for about 3 corners then I was back in dense traffic. The race standings are displayed at the end of every hour. We were in second place at the end of hour two and three. Our goal is to win on fuel economy. Less fuel stops.

^John D
-------------------------------

Our pitstop went very weel, with Dylan dumping about 8 gallons of fuel like a true pro. Steve is in the car now and has lost radio communication. We will resort to using pit boards for communication. AND as of hour 3, we are still in 2nd place... Go Poopsie GO!

GREEN GREEN GREEN!

2010-02-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

JD and I are back! the food poison gremlins are gone... thank god.

We attended the drivers meeting this morning and prepared for the start of the race...

JD strapped in and took the green at about 9:20am. The ammount of cars on track is insane! JD has been picking off cars one by one and we have seen two big roll-overs in the last half hour. We are under yellow for a bmw that is on its lid right now.

Lots of pitstops being done right now, but we are still way good on fuel, so will stay out for quiet awhile.

Steve will be up next with me to follow. This is the most fun you can have racing!

We are currently 7th of 100-something cars.............

=============

UPDATE (2:10 in): we are up to 2nd place....!

Testing, Tech, and Final Prep

2010-02-19T18:46:00.001-08:00

Well, for the most part today was no fun for JD and I. We ate some bad food last night and suffered all day from food poisoning. We drove some laps in the AM in the wet and it was VERY slippery. After lunch and tech inspection, we hit a dry track and had lots of fun. The car is GREAT... Steve and Diane ran some strong laps and got very comfortable with the circuit. Dylan has jumped right into the role of crew chief and is doing a penominal job, especially since this is his first ever auto racing experience.

Tech went very easily with nearly zero requests for fixes. We also flew through the B.S. part of tech which is where they question if your car is really only worth $500. There are some funny machines out there, really funny...

Our fuel economy is insanely good. we were on track most of the day and used only one tank of gas. We tried to run it out to see how far we could go, but ran out of time. So, the stints tomorrow should be loooooooooooong.

We did some final prep to the car and had another team dinner. JD and I are still in rough shape and hoping tomorrow is a little better.

We've Arrived

2010-02-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

After a marathon drive to about 150 miles outside Houston, and a few hours of rest in the truck at a Flyin J, we rolled into the track at about 10:30am this morning. We setup and marked off our paddock space and took a look at some of the competition. This should be an interesting event for sure... Dylan, Steve, and Diane arrived this evening and we all had a team dinner, discussing the plan for the weekend.
Tomorrow is an open test day, which means we will be sorting out and fine tuning the car, running through mock pitstops, driver changes and team strategy...
Keep checking back for more pics and updates....

OFFICIAL PR - Tracknights To Take On The 24 Hours OF Lemons

2010-02-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sebring, FL (02.17.10): Professional drivers, John Dean and Johnny Kanavas of J-sport Racing up with for the 24 Hours of Lemons, Houston: February 20-21 at Houston Motorsports Ranch. Joining forces with J-Sport Racing will be the drivers of the ProMoMoSpeed Racing Team, Steve Molnar and Dianne Mould. Molnar and Mould bring experience from Viper Days racing and the Skip Barber Mazda MX-5 race series, but are brand new to endurance racing. The two teams join forces as the Tracknights team for the 24 Hours of Lemons, Houston 2010. Also joining the team will be crew member, Dylan Nelson.

The 24 Hours of LeMons is an endurance road race, restricted to cars that were purchased, fixed up, and track-prepped for total of $500 or less. Because more teams than entry slots are sent in for each event, each Lemons team is required to submit a “team theme” as part of their application for the race. While being serious racers, the Tracknights team went with the theme of mimicking Team Audi Sport/Joest, the most successful sports car endurance team of the modern era. This simply means that their car’s livery will be similar to that of the legendary Audi racers, while the team will perform with the same focus, preparation and motivation of that of Team Audi/Joest.

The car Tracknights chose for this grueling endurance test is a 1992 Toyota Paseo. The Paseo is a small, sporty and very lightweight vehicle with nimble handling. The team has installed all the necessary safety equipment and put quite a few hours into prepping the car for the race.
“We have been really looking forward to this event. It will be fun to share a car with the ProMoMoSpeed drivers. We also need to thank Projections Research for supporting our effort. It’s sure to be a fun event.” commented Johnny Kanavas and John Dean.

The 14-hour event (no, it’s not actually a 24-hour race) will be held at Houston Motorsports Ranch, this coming weekend (Feb. 20-21) in Houston, TX, with nine hours of racing on Saturday and an additional five on Sunday for the teams that make it through the on or off-track carnage.
The Tracknights team has setup a blog chronicling both the car preparation and race event weekend. To follow the team’s progress, please visit: http://tracknights.blogspot.com/

Partners________________
24 Hours of Lemons
Projections Research
eprodius
Johnny Kanavas
_____________________________________________________
source: eprodius

Locked and Loaded

2010-02-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

Its happening. Tomorrow we depart on our 1053 mile journey to Texas Motorsports Ranch Houston. SSSOOOOOOO excited. Steve, Diane, and our crew guy Dylan (Billy) will be flying in on thursday. Friday is our test day!

Final Prep

2010-02-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

Johnny K. joined in for the last 2 days of prep. Brakes ducts were re-worked, chase cam installed, fire ext. mounted, in car radio wired up, mirrors installed, and painted her up. Dive planes and wing mounts painstakingly fabed for what is sure to be needed downforce............................................

Lowered...

2010-01-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

Well, Billy got the Paseo lowered today. We'll roll the fender lips just to be safe and to keep those big Sumitomo tires from rubbin. Check out the before and after pics...

Underside

2010-01-28T14:42:00.000-08:00

Front brake ducts completed. Better to be over prepared. BMW M3 scoops running through a 3" duct should do the trick. Added some scoops for the rear DRUMS while I was in there.

Exhaust tip.... better pic

2010-01-28T14:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a better pic of the exhaust tip. HAHAHA awesome. It actually sound decent.

She's LOUD!

2010-01-27T10:52:00.001-08:00

Well, over the phone our Paseo sounds like an unrestricted rotary motor... Not good seeing as there is a 95db limit for the race... Looks like we will be running this super dope BIG twin-tip system...

-----------------------

UPDATE--- new system is on and sounds GREAT!!!

Exhaust & Tires

2010-01-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

Cut the muffler and cat out of the exhaust, installed the front brakes, and mounted our new tires. Tires have to be street tires with 190 treadwear or higher.

More buildup

2010-01-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

Nothing but trouble with the Paseo today. Wheels studs I ordered are too small for the holes. Only logical thing to do was to weld them in! DONE!

Does the trouble end there? Oh no! The braided brake lines I ordered look amazing. Wait what..... Awesome they leak.. great BREAK lines! Soooo we will be running the stockies. Oh well.

Roll Cage

2010-01-26T05:32:00.000-08:00

Paseo Strips

2010-01-26T05:21:00.000-08:00

The Beginning

2010-01-26T05:05:00.000-08:00

We need a car that would be good in many categories: Decent power, good handling, lightweight (to save brakes, and tires), good fuel economy. Oh yeah.... And for only $500.

After hours of discussion we knew what we had to search for.

At last we found our gem.... a 1992 Toyota Paseo. 1.5L 4 cylinder weighing in at 2085lbs for $300. She isnt perfect to the average eye, but to a trained eye she is a diamond.

Welcome...

2010-01-22T20:43:00.001-08:00

Welcome to TRACKNIGHTS' 24 Hours of Lemons Campaign, Feb. 20-21, 2010, Houston Motorsport Ranch

This blog will follow the TRACKNIGHTS team as they tackle the grueling demands of a 24 endurance road race, (well, 14 in this case), in a $500 racecar...