Sub-$1000 budget-banger enduro hits Oz

Motorsport is sometimes viewed as the pastime of a select few. There can be the prevailing view that, unless ‘connected’, highly skilled or well monied, the average bloke/lady might find the thrill of dicing on the racetrack a little beyond him/her.

Well, putting a lie to all that is a genre of motorsport new to Australia. It’s called LeMons racing, it raises funds to fight prostate cancer and at its heart is accessibility for the average person.

Although, having attended the wildly successful first round at NSW’s Wakefield Park on October 26-28, we can attest that the participants are far from average. Mad yes. Average, no. Indeed not.

LeMons racing brings together a delightful bunch of motor racing enthusiasts and the basic doctrine is to have fun, without breaking the bank.

The blurb prospective participants receive on entry sets the tone nicely… ‘24 Hours of LeMons presents Australian endurance racing for $999 cars. It’s a breeding ground for inflated egos and Godlike status… in their own minds.

'It's where Mercedes and Mazda, Toyota and Hyundai do battle for the glory of gloating rights of LeMons, all are winners if they make it to the end! The very point of the LeMons is to finish.’

LeMons racing was born in the USA and it has gained a great deal of momentum. The local format asks racers to run for 24 hours, broken over a couple of days. The rules follow the American model and are pretty simple.

Bringing LeMons to an eager Australian market is the brainchild of motorsport nut Sean Herbert, who saw the idea being successfully put into practice when in the USA, and was certain there was room for the category Down Under. He set about making the necessary enquiries and the rest is history.

In total a strong field of 40 cars was entered for the Wakefield Park round, along with an impressive driver list that totals 200 names.

It’s fair to say that the start list represents an, ummm, eclectic bunch. This was well illustrated by the ‘Winefuelled Racing’ Nissan Skyline. Impressively done out in the Winfield colours of Gibson Motorsport’s Bathurst-winning R32 GT-R, it’s clear that there has been a good deal of shed time spent here.

It’s confronting  to see a massive wine barrel on the roof sharing aero duties with a pretty serious rear wing on that particular runner, but seeing oddities quickly becomes commonplace in the LeMons paddock. In short, it’s a happy motorsport asylum. We rapidly fit in. A little too easily, in fact.

Drivers take the opportunity to dress up. Vignettes such as watching a Banana in Pyjamas climb into a race car, while a storm trooper heads to the toilet for a nervous moment, becomes the norm. A Mercedes 190E with a turntable and tank turret on the roof blasts out the theme from Hogan’s Heroes as it screams past the pits. Weirdness is appreciated.

Exotic to just plain odd, it doesn’t get a whole lot more ‘grass rootsier’ than this.

From roughies to not-so-roughies, it becomes pretty obvious that some of the crews have a very liberal view of just what $999 will buy you.

It comes to light that there are wolves in sheep’s clothing amongst the field, cars worth just a little more than the claimed $999. The telltale grip/slip/grip of a locked diff gives an XR6 up as a little more equipped than first looks would suggest.

Of course, take it too seriously, or flout the rules that keep the whole deal based around fun, and the organisers have clever ways to bring a car back to the field. Penalties can see a car black flagged for a period, and a driver given a ‘task’.

Spinning hula hoops, carrying wheels, singing songs… Anything that makes the car lose a few on-track laps. This is all taken pretty well, and adds to the hilarity.

Such was the success from the opening round at Wakefield, that a national campaign has been announced, as well as an international round in New Zealand.

“We have been overwhelmed with the support the whole thing has received, and are so pleased to announce this early growth of the category,” said Herbert.

So, interested?

In a nutshell, entry is $1.00 per car, $770 per driver, $75 for non-driver. (Each team must have five or six drivers.)

The fee covers registration, facility/track hire for three days, timing transponder, two days track time, AAA Pit pass, rescue and retrieval and commemorative mementos, though most importantly much of the monies raised is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Cars are required to have a six-point roll cage, fuel cell (for cars with a tank behind the rear axle), racing seat and harness, fire extinguisher and a battery isolator, so safety is covered. Best of all, the safety elements are exempt from the $999 car budget.

All you need to know is at www.24hoursoflemons.com.au