Used Support Cars?

[velotrack]

When teams have support cars and need to replace them, where do the old ones go? It'd be cool to get one used... custom wheel/bike-rack included, of course.

Curious to see if anyone knows.

[peanutgallery]

They're either a loaner and get abused a lot or get driven til they expire. Either way you really don't want one

I have it on good authority that there's a van in skip spangenburgs yard in travelers rest SC. He'd probably give it to you

[AngryScientist]

speaking of used cast-offs, i have, for years thought about getting a used hearse and converting it to a bike hauler. i mean - think of the potential, Cadillac cruisin' and room for bikes!

i'd paint it lime green or something fun to counter the bad vibe from the death wagon and such...


http://www.gmfleet.com/content/dam/gmfleet/global/master/nscwebsite/en/Home/Vehicle_Overview/Cadillac/01_images/2014-cadillac-professional-product-overview-livery-limo-funeral-620x350-xts-coachbuilder-hearse-4.jpg

[carpediemracing]

Friend of mine who owns a garage got a bunch of VWs in, Passats or something, this was maybe 15 years ago. Not a normal thing as their garage specializes in restoring 40-70s era Astons, Jags, Maseratis, etc. Somehow they got 6 or 8 virtually identical modern VW cars.

He called me up after he started working on them. Apparently all the paperwork was still in the car. Insured drivers included Bruyneel, Ekimov, many riders' names. The cars all had a lot of miles on them, like 300-500k miles. These were Postal cars. It seemed that the riders were allowed to drive them, which makes sense if you think about it.

I asked him what the deal was with the cars. They were being reconditioned for sale. I asked if it was something I'd want to buy. He told me no way.

[jtakeda]

Pretty sure the speedvagen van is for sale.

[velotrack]

Friend of mine who owns a garage got a bunch of VWs in, Passats or something, this was maybe 15 years ago. Not a normal thing as their garage specializes in restoring 40-70s era Astons, Jags, Maseratis, etc. Somehow they got 6 or 8 virtually identical modern VW cars.

He called me up after he started working on them. Apparently all the paperwork was still in the car. Insured drivers included Bruyneel, Ekimov, many riders' names. The cars all had a lot of miles on them, like 300-500k miles. These were Postal cars. It seemed that the riders were allowed to drive them, which makes sense if you think about it.

I asked him what the deal was with the cars. They were being reconditioned for sale. I asked if it was something I'd want to buy. He told me no way.

3-500k... that's quite a lot. Maybe they'd sell me the custom racks off the top? :cool:

Good info though. Not that appealing anymore.

[carpediemracing]

3-500k... that's quite a lot. Maybe they'd sell me the custom racks off the top? :cool:

Good info though. Not that appealing anymore.

I should add that the way the owners were going to make money on them was to ship them to a war torn country.

I bought my beloved Honda Civic from an ex-pro racer. He barely put miles on the thing for several years as he raced in Europe. Then he came back to the US and did the domestic circuit for a few years. Although he flew places etc he quickly racked up about 200k miles on the car. I bought it with 246k miles on it when it was 10 years old.

At least team vehicles have some reasonable maintenance stuff done to it, at least the VWs did.

Roof racks. After the Tour de Trump, possibly Tour du Pont, the last stage, the rental vans/cars were stripped of their roof racks (Yakimas, if that helps narrow down the event). There was a very big pile of them on the sidewalk. One of my teammates was walking by. "What's happening with the racks?" "Take one, we're dumping them." He grabbed a full rack set up. In a minute or two they were all gone.

When I worked a 1 week race about 10 years ago I forgot to ask what happened to any racks they used. They had rental vehicles for the caravan, except a couple domestic teams had proper team cars. The rental vehicles were minivans, I'm pretty sure they had a big rack set up on each one. Realistically the race organizers kept them for resale or future use.

[carpediemracing]

http://www.gmfleet.com/content/dam/gmfleet/global/master/nscwebsite/en/Home/Vehicle_Overview/Cadillac/01_images/2014-cadillac-professional-product-overview-livery-limo-funeral-620x350-xts-coachbuilder-hearse-4.jpg

Just for fun I "configured" a couple of the special vehicles when I had access to the dealer side of things. I focused on limos and armored cars, vs hearses. The XTS base cars are delivered with no interior in the back so the base cars are much cheaper than a regular XTS. Unfortunately it's not something just anyone can order - they ship them to special dealers, ones which outfit vehicles like hearses, limos, etc.

[avalonracing]

When I watched the World Championships in Richmond I was blown away by the number of Lexus support cars. It was almost comical.

I used to be on an amateur team that had sponsor cars. Some of the gang used to beat the hell out of them. Not a car I'd want to own afterward.

And I know a guy who bought a hearse and had it custom painted and used it as his bike car. It ended up just being a big 10mpg pain in ass.

[Steve in SLO]

I*might*be*tempted

[stackie]

speaking of used cast-offs, i have, for years thought about getting a used hearse and converting it to a bike hauler. i mean - think of the potential, Cadillac cruisin' and room for bikes!

i'd paint it lime green or something fun to counter the bad vibe from the death wagon and such...


http://www.gmfleet.com/content/dam/gmfleet/global/master/nscwebsite/en/Home/Vehicle_Overview/Cadillac/01_images/2014-cadillac-professional-product-overview-livery-limo-funeral-620x350-xts-coachbuilder-hearse-4.jpg

Friend of mine in med school drove a hearse. Seriously. He said it was amazing deal for low mileage vehicle. No bull**** story of grandma's car that she only drove to church on sunday. Real deal, babied vehicle. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a hearse burn rubber? He took it for road trip all over northwestern US and Alaska before med school. "Slept" in back the whole way.

He had a set of texas bullhorns as a hood ornament. We used that thing every year as a part of our follies videos. Amazing accessory for a "day in the life of a skeleton" Picture an anatomic skeleton getting up in am, taking a piss, making breakfast and driving to first year med school classes in a hearse. It was effin awesome.

Aside, this guy was serious genius. Studied during the day, smoked pot all night. Straight A student. Had 80 underwear. Never did laundry all quarter. Fresh undies every day. Bagged all laundry at end of quarter and dropped off at laundromat. All clean and folded for the next quarter when he returned. Genius.

I'm off to google him right now. I need to know what he is up to. I'm sure it is way more fun than my life. :|

Jon

[Elefantino]

The Lexii used at the ATOC will all be returned to SoCal and used as program cars. In about a year you can pick one up cheap. Cheap-Isn.

[oldpotatoe]

speaking of used cast-offs, i have, for years thought about getting a used hearse and converting it to a bike hauler. i mean - think of the potential, Cadillac cruisin' and room for bikes!

i'd paint it lime green or something fun to counter the bad vibe from the death wagon and such...


http://www.gmfleet.com/content/dam/gmfleet/global/master/nscwebsite/en/Home/Vehicle_Overview/Cadillac/01_images/2014-cadillac-professional-product-overview-livery-limo-funeral-620x350-xts-coachbuilder-hearse-4.jpg

Paint it BLUE!!

[Joxster]

The racks are generally transferable to the next vehicle ( and cost about $5k) The team cars are generally well abused by the end of the season spending most of the day doing 40kmh and then 150khm to the hotel/start of next stage. Not to mention the mechanics pissing in bottles during races and missing, hiding cheese/fish in other team cars for a giggle.

[MattTuck]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inxqIa8jgA4

[saab2000]

I'd way rather pick through their old, used parts bin at the end of the season than get a beat up car from a team. I'm willing to be maintenance and cleaning are minimal throughout a season and then they are returned to the leasing company or sponsor.

[carpediemracing]

Related to all this I noticed Jelly Belly wasn't using Lexus vehicles in whatever recent races. They were sponsored by a local dealership (in San Marcos or thereabouts), not Lexus "USA". Not sure what happened. At any rate they're driving at least one older Mazda 3, looks like it's at least a generation old. I can't remember if that car was in their repertoire before but I don't think so.

JB HQ. I was helping install racks (we arrived in the dark blue vehicle in the middle, which happens to be a CRV). Another guy arrived in the Audi wagon. The Lexus vehicles are the team ones. I think this is pre-season 2004.
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13012884_10154155174683824_527945937971211915_n.jp g?oh=6b85a70a22b46d594015c7d4108201c6&oe=57CA9F3C

Current JB car. Wiki says it's a 2003-2008, 2 generations removed (gen 1, now on gen 3). It's actually a car I'd consider as a replacement for the TDIs.
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s552x414/13310504_10209068644930582_2523313357264156049_n.j pg?oh=3f1c36140e42df262cf572f653a96de9&oe=57DE87B2

[azrider]

The Lexus vehicles are the team ones. I think this is pre-season 2004.
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13012884_10154155174683824_527945937971211915_n.jp g?oh=6b85a70a22b46d594015c7d4108201c6&oe=57CA9F3C

Very Cool. The two Lexus wagons pictured are IS300 Sportcross models which saw limited production (only 3078 total from '02-'05). Pretty neat to see them used as team cars.

[batman1425]

Team vehicles get beat to snot - especially the ones that see regular classics use. You are better off just adding a custom rack to your current vehicle.

[carpediemracing]

Very Cool. The two Lexus wagons pictured are IS300 Sportcross models which saw limited production (only 3078 total from '02-'05). Pretty neat to see them used as team cars.

I had no idea. The red one was from the previous year. They did some kind of semi-wrap on the white ones, they looked white after they were done but with all the JB stuff on it. The red one was actually silver I think. They kept the vehicles for a while, I think because of the local sponsor vs a national one.

I think this was 2007 based on my post date.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TbmplkIYLx8/ReYKBMVi06I/AAAAAAAAAD8/BgxKxY-dipU/s800/JellyBelly2005_Team.jpg

[likebikes]

i sometimes see them for sale on craigslist around here.

also, you really don't want one.

[velotrack]

Thanks for all the info, people.

@carpediemracing, great stuff.
The IS300 wagons are cool, too bad they never made em with a manual!

[paulh]

As has been said, sometimes they're kind of beat up from bumping riders off the road into barbed wire fences.