How about doing something really different and just racing the car?
The Miata is still very fun to drive, but it definitely wasn't the fastest thing on track that day.
We just signed up for our next low-buck endurance race endeavor in our project Miata race car. We’ll be headed to Barber Motorsports Park for the ‘Shine Country Classic, brought to you by the 24 Hours of LeMons on February 6-7.
With our next event just over two months away, we realized that we needed to get the car on track for a shakedown. After all, the little lemon hadn’t seen a track since this past February. So we packed up the Miata and a few other project cars and headed off to the Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park in Starke, Florida, to make sure everything was in acceptable shape for the Barber race.
Except for one off-road excursion, the car was trouble-free and actually performed quite well. As a bonus, all four of our registered drivers for the Barber event were present, so everyone enjoyed some seat time to get reacquainted with the car.
We’re looking forward to our next event, but before that, we’ll need to come up with a good theme to dress up the car.
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How about doing something really different and just racing the car?
I'm with you on that. The themes make it difficult to take this sort of racing seriously. Concentrate on making it crushingly fast and reliable!
Agreeing with Keith and Jerry. A silly theme doesn't make a car any more likely to win a race.
The way I see it, that's kind of the point of LeMons racing----- you don't have to take it all that seriously. This is why Chumpcar, and the World Racing League exist---- for those a little more serious than LeMons. This is also why SCCA and NASA racing exist---- a little more serious than Chumpcar / WRL.
Sometimes winning isn't all that important..... sometimes it's better to enjoy tons of track time, the camaraderie of building / prepping a car and keeping it alive and having........gasp....fun! IMHO, if you are entering a LeMons race and will be pissed if you don't finish up front.......you are doing it wrong. Of course you want to win.....but in LeMons, it really isn't the point---- having fun is.
If you can't have fun without winning---- there's plenty of other places to race.
What is the point of mounting an over-scale papier mache model of Tim's head on the hood if you end up losing ten mph on the straights? It is still racing. They even call it racing. Otherwise, it's a parade.
The lack of seriousness comes in when your non-safety budget is $500, you race a car that's never had the head off, half your team has very little experience, you invite people to drive or wrench because they're your friends, you rely on cars in the parking lot as a spare parts source, and you're just out there to try your best.
If you're not trying your best, why did you guys spend time perfecting refueling stops or driver changes last time? Why will you bring more brake parts to this race this time?
A wild paint scheme and some funny pit uniforms are one thing. Riveting large appendages on the car creating needless drag (and possibly a hazard should they come off at speed) doesn't make the event any more "festive" to my mind.
I would spend my time creating and perfecting the car so it finishes and is easy to drive for the largest number of drivers. What happens after that is fine as long as it's fun. I'm just not in favor of doing things or spending time slowing down the car more than the limitations of my driving or wrenching.
You know what happens when you assume something....
David S. Wallens wrote: You know what happens when you assume something....
So whose papier-mache head will be mounted on the hood, then?
In reply to Jerry From LA:
This man speaks da troof.
Uh, we never said we were gluing anything on the car. We just said we were theming it. 
As far as winning, what's better than beating everybody else? Beating everybody else with E36 M3 glued all over your car. That's the definition of overwhelming victory.
At least around here, the Lemons events are sufficiently oversubscribed that if you're a new team without a theme then you're unlikely to get a spot at the race.
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