First of Many

As we are nearing the end of the spring semester the Aggie Lemons have been working overtime to finish fixing up the Ford Mustang and get it ready for the 24 Hours of Lemons. The race will be held in the fall semester but in the meantime they have setup plenty of events to show off the car beforehand. A couple days ago on March 30th the team competed in an autocross setup by the Texas A&M Sports Car Club (TAMSCC). They decided to compete in this event to test out the car and see how the new engine runs.

For the people who are unaware of what an autocross is basically it is a motor vehicle event usually held in a lot. In the lot the event organizers setup a course and the point is to drive through the full course as fast as you can without hitting any of the cones. These kinds of competitions attract many different types of drivers and cars with some people bringing a very expensive car or just like the lemons something they have built from the ground up.

At the competition the team gave Joshua Serrano and David Beck the opportunity to drive the lemon. Both drivers got to drive through the course twice and Joshua Serrano was able to drive first. His time for the first heat was 31.956 seconds being his fastest time and he had a PAX/RTP of 28.089324. The raw time by itself placed them in 13th place overall in the first heat. In the second heat he drove 31.956 for his fastest and his PAX/RTP a 28.089324. David Beck did two laps also and his times were 36.609 seconds with a 32.179311 PAX/RTP. His second drive through he did 36.609 seconds with a 32.179311 PAX/RTP.

Before I move on I wanted to explain what PAX and RTP stand for. PAX stands for Professional Autocross Index and RTP is Racers Theoretical Performance. These were made in order to compare cars of different classes when they do races. The easiest way I could explain it is that it's sort of like a handicap so the race can be judged more by the drivers performance rather than the car. In order to find out their PAX/RTP there is a formula you must follow. The formula goes as follows: you take the drivers time and multiply it by the cars PAX factor to get the fixed time. Your PAX is dependent on the type of car you have. For example the Aggie Lemons have a 2004 Ford Mustang with an older engine. So the class they were listed in was Super Street Modified (SSM) and they're PAX was .882.

The car did very well especially because a week or two before the car could only move a few miles per hour. Unfortunately after the last run the lemon broke down and could not start back up again for another run. Nevertheless the team said they saw everything they needed to see and left the lot with a lot of pride.

Side note: If you want to see some of the photos and videos they took here is the link so you can check them out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5JQ39jLWNC/