VIDEO: 24 Hours of LeMons: Toyota MR2 dicing with a Buick LeSabre at The Lamest Day
Toyota MR2 chasing down a Buick LeSabre at Nelson Ledges - click above image to watch the video
You might have heard of this 24 Hours of LeMons traveling sideshow by now. You know, a bunch of $500 cars dropping mufflers all over the place as they pointlessly race around a track. Cruel weirdos dressed up like judges forcing confused, sweaty drivers to write, "Even though I wrote I will not go four wheels off one hundred times on my car, I still went four wheels off." Or Worse. Oh, and if you win the race you get $1,500 in nickels.
Despite all that, the one thing you might not know about the 24 Hours of LeMons is that it's real racing. Some of it pretty good, too. The cars might look a little off, and the drivers might not know a racing line from a fishing line, but what takes place on track is about as real as wheel to wheel racing gets. Proof? Make the jump and watch the video of a Toyota MR2 straight up battling with a Buick LeSabre for over seven minutes on the famous Nelson Ledges race track during last weekend's The Lamest Day. Good stuff, if you're into that whole cheapo car racing thing. Tip of the budget Pyrotect to Dave for the vid!
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jim R 3:06PM (10/11/2009)
Never underestimate the ability of a Buick V6 driven with gusto.
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Benfolio 3:42PM (10/11/2009)
Musta been a 3800SC
diablo000 4:35PM (10/11/2009)
Can't be, Lesabre was never offered with a 3800SC. Only the Park Avenue, Regal (GS) and Riviera had that engine as an option on the Buick side.
Benfolio 4:45PM (10/11/2009)
Who says it's not a Park Ave? Or that it had an engine swap?
It was $500 for a reason......
Dave 4:59PM (10/11/2009)
I bet the Buick driver was able to remove a TON of weight. three seats, passenger airbag, aircon system, tons of carpet, full size spare tire, etc.
A stripped 200 hp V6 Buick surely has a far better power to weight ratio than a stripped MR2.
KeatMP 5:05PM (10/11/2009)
3800 GM V6 FTW!
Punisher Bass 6:51PM (10/11/2009)
PunisherBass from Final Gear here. That LeSabre in the video is our car. And yeah it's a bone stock 99 LeSabre with the NA 3800 and GT suspension.
You can read all about it here http://forums.finalgear.com/general-automotive/24-hours-of-lemons-final-gear-racing-fall-2009-a-36724/
tbyron 11:53PM (10/11/2009)
All true but, really, a sign of seriously good driver is watching what they can do with something like a big Buick.
Clay Garland 8:19AM (10/12/2009)
When I worked at Kelley BPG in Chamblee, one of the techs bought a Kenny Brown Mustang in 2002 I think, and I bet him that a new LeSabre was faster on the strip than his new Mustang. I was right, and he was embarrassed. The real question with the LeSabre is has is had exhaust work. Cut the cats off of a late model 3.8 N/A and it gets a lot more sprightly, plus, the track looks like it would respond well to the torquier engine.
Matt (that likes ford) 3:20PM (10/11/2009)
Words cannot express how much I want to do that....
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Commander Cool 11:46AM (10/12/2009)
agreed. That looks like it must be about as much fun as humanly possible.
hrmmmmm........I wonder when the next police auction is..........
TT 1:43PM (10/12/2009)
What's holding you back?
My friends and I bought a '95 Maxima the other day off Craigslist. $500 with a bad paint job and interior and no title, but it has a good engine and tranny. Perfect. With four people pitching in, it wasn't hard to afford.
Our idea is to find some local sponsors. The rules say you can't get a sponsor to hook you up with free go-fast parts, but there's nothing that says you can't get sponsors to cover your safety gear, travel expenses, entrance fees, etc. Anything we can't cover with sponsor money will be split evenly between at least four people so we think we should be able to go for only a few hundred out of each of our own pockets. For the amount of fun we'll have that would be a damn good bargain vacation.
Then, if we manage to keep the car (in one piece), we'll already have the car and safety gear paid for so the next year we won't need sponsors if we decide to go back. It'll just cost travel and entrance fees.
JTB 3:22PM (10/11/2009)
It's as amusing to watch as a Porsche V. Pontiac battles in Grand Am.
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jockosboy17 3:46PM (10/11/2009)
That looks fun. I bet that Buick is super charged. It was doing well for how big and heavy they are.
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JayP 3:45PM (10/11/2009)
Nice. Would have been better if the Buick's left blinker was on for the duration... pawpaw style.
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787B 4:35PM (10/11/2009)
You, Sir, owe me a can of soda and a clean keyboard... :
Kattleox 3:53PM (10/11/2009)
Those Buicks can get up and go when they have to. The thing of it is, from my experience with my old Buick Century, he will have to pit for gas long before the MR2, meaning that the driver of the Toyota had little to worry about.
I want to go strip out some car and do LeMons now, though. Makes me wish I had kept my old L20B 200SX even more :(
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why not the LS2LS7? 6:45PM (10/11/2009)
My dad had a blown 3800 Series I (II?) Riviera. It had about a 16 gallon tank and still only went about 250 miles on the highway, and I don't feel we were even working it that hard.
Although part of this problem is the weight of a Buick, and if you can take all the insides out (and a deer took out the front end), it will increase the mpg a bit.
Boreas 10:31AM (10/14/2009)
LS2/LS7 - If its using that much gas then something is wrong.
Benfolio 4:04PM (10/11/2009)
It's not like he was trying that hard..... I saw several opportunities to power past, or force the issue JUST A LITTLE.....
Judging by other videos on that channel of the same race, same car, the other drivers would not have had as hard a time staying ahead of the blue-hairmobile
Watching that thing wallow in the corners was hilarious though!
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