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Old 26 Dec 2006, 14:27 (Ref:1799409)   #5
JohnSSC
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Slovenia
Pittsburgh
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JohnSSC has a real shot at the podium!JohnSSC has a real shot at the podium!JohnSSC has a real shot at the podium!JohnSSC has a real shot at the podium!JohnSSC has a real shot at the podium!
It was a shame about Jacquemart - he seemed to be a decent shoe and a good representatinve for Renault. They seemed to be trying hard to re-enter the American market at the time.

They had a lot of support for racing the "Le Car" in SCCA's Showroom Stock C class. We racers wondered about the prudence of racing a car with wheels held on by three lug bolts instead of the more confidence-inspiring 4 or 5 found on other cars. They also had these charming wheel bearings that were ball bearings assembled using a plastic retainer. Since the class was "Stock Only" racers found the cars rolled over quite a lot as the bearings would heat/cool repeatedly until the plastic became brittle and failed. The wheel bearings would cease to function and: Voila! Over you go! We called them "Le Rolls" instead of "Le Cars!" The kits for the Renault Cup cars retailed for about $700 at the dealer and could be ordered with your new car. They did the same thing with the Reanult Alliance as well.

The IMSA version was pretty nifty though and the GTU version looked like it could be a real giant killer. That was a cool series, by the way. I loved the Radial Challenge though: nothing like watching an AMC Gremlin duking it out with a Ford Pinto or the odd BMW 2002.

A friend of mine raced his Le Car in Showroom and then in a modified class. I still remember disassembling the left front wheel assembly when he had heard a noise from there. All these little ball bearings just fell out onto the floor of the tech shed. Laughed my butt off! Oh, yeah, his car did eventually roll over too...
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