24 Hours of Le Mons adding $800 VW Microbus for rule enforcement
You may remember our post on the 24 Hours of LeMons last October, but if not we'll refresh your memory. The 24 Hours of LeMons (pronounced like "lemons" if you didn't get the joke yet) is an endurance race of cars purchased and prepped for $500 bucks or less. The entire event is perhaps the greatest automotive parody we've ever encountered, with the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans being the subject of its satire. While past races included a People's Choice award for drivers voted the biggest jerks on the track (last year's recipient was Car and Driver, whose prize was the unceremonious destruction of their $500 Oldsmobile Aurora), organizers of the event have invested in a new piece of equipment to help enforce the rules of the road course. According to Automotiveblogger.net, a 1973 Volkswagen Microbus has been purchased for $800 and is intended to "make life miserable on the track for drivers who aren't obeying the track rules."
While the author of the blog post appears to be in with the organizers of LeMons in some way, he didn't want to spoil the surprise and reveal exactly how they would wield the Microbus as a weapon against rule breakers. The $800 Microbus apparently tops at around 30 mph, however, so we don't imagine it will be chasing down violators in the turns. Perhaps a penalty box? We'll have to wait until at least the "Championship Race" in early July to find out what the organizers of LeMons have planned.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Liters 4:45PM (4/12/2007)
Well I just about freaked when I saw the "LeMons", then I saw "John Neff" had written it, and finally I saw "pronounced lemons" and gave a sigh of relief!
I will now proceed to read TFA.
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Gavin 4:58PM (4/12/2007)
I had a '72 VW microbus as my first car and, believe me, getting stuck behind one of these on the track will be punishment enough...
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Viv 6:15PM (4/12/2007)
Oh damn this story just cracks me up just imagining the scene out there. LOL; Speed channel better telecast this live or they will have a very angry customer.
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Peter L 9:38AM (4/13/2007)
Brings back memories. I drove from Lhar West Germany with 3 colleagues to the 1979 LeMans in France in a similar coloured VW Westphalia. We arrived, with me driving, doing a circuit of the track just before it was closed early on the Sat. morning. It was a great weekend. Renault won.
Stirling Moss won the historic race ,coming from the last spot, in a Maserati 250F. Magical, I had last seen him in NZ racing at Ardmore in either 1960 or 61.
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bmcqueen 10:17PM (4/12/2007)
A-Ha! We are competing in this race.
If anyone wants to see a team who's competing, you should check out the short application video that got us in.
It's number one if you search for keyword "24hoursoflemons" on YouTube -http://youtube.com/results?search_query=24hoursoflemons&search=Search
Watch out now!
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aman 11:55AM (4/13/2007)
I read about this in Car and Driver and Road and Track. anybody know where it is this year?
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aman 11:55AM (4/13/2007)
I read about this in Car and Driver and Road and Track. anybody know where it is this year?
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dogpants 3:56PM (4/13/2007)
one would think that the offending team will be required to swap their car with the microbus for a few laps...
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Tim 10:27PM (4/15/2007)
I wish i had heard about this; i just found a perfect car for it. a 1991 audi 200 quattro 20valve turbo 5-spd. Itd be pretty easy to get it up to 300 horse, and in a race like this, I think that'd be enough!
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