The inaugural 24 Hours of LeMons — a car race for vehicles worth less than $1000, at Goulburn, NSW — began yesterday in controversial circumstances.
Amid the teams in fancy dress and cars adorned with accoutrements and decorations that would never be seen at the race’s French (almost) namesake, it quickly became apparent that, sensationally, some cars were worth more than $1000.
The racing began at 9am with 42 of the worst cars you have ever seen lined up on an Australian racing grid.
As soon as the cars left the grid, it was obvious that about 15 of the cars had cost a lot more than the regulation $1000. For instance while the Winefuelled Nissan Skyline had a barrel of red wine on the roof with a tube leading directly to the driver, it was incredibly fast.
The entrant from the Weimar Republic was similar. A Mercedes cunningly disguised as a tank, driven by lads in costume, was quicker than Goebbels chasing a headline.
The team representing this newspaper — The Weekend Australian Motoring BMW 3 series (which, for the record, cost $250) — was forced to adopt a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race strategy, which yielded a position of 18th by the end of the day.
