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Want to experience the thrill of racing but don’t have the cash to front on a racecar? You should check out the 24 Hours of Lemons and their $500 cars!
A Fun Motorsport Parody
The prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans has taken place for nearly a century over in France. It’s a race that consists of the latest in automotive engineering, millions of dollars invested, and features some of the greatest motorsport drivers to ever take the wheel. America has its own take on the 24-hour endurance motorsport event, but we’ve made it a lot cheaper. The 24 Hours of Lemons is an automotive racing series consisting of $500 cars. You read that right, just $500 or less to purchase and prepare a used car to make its way around a local circuit for hours. Sounds pretty fun, right? We think so too. Here’s some more info on the 24 Hours of Lemons and, who knows, maybe we’ll see you at the track in a jalopy of our own!
24 Hours of Lemons Cars
Let’s start with the stars of the show, the cars that race in the 24 Hours of Lemons. A $500 car isn’t going to be pretty and it’s going to have a laundry list of issues. If you haven’t gathered yet, that’s where the pun in this racing series naming comes about, a lemon is a term for a vehicle that has a multitude of problems and flaws. To make things worse, if you want to try and improve the car with performance parts or swap in a new engine because the old one blew, that also has to be factored into the $500 budget. You can thankfully offset some of your purchases by selling off some of the parts to the vehicle, but that return is minimal at best.
The only parts you can really fix or replace with little to no penalty are electrical components and necessary items when concerning safety. Just because the 24 Hours of Lemons enjoys putting on a racing series based around cars on their last legs, doesn’t mean that they don’t want to keep things safe. So, select components for the fuel system, windshield, wipers, wheels, brakes, wheel bearings, ball joints, and tires can all be fixed or replaced on these lemons. Inside the cars, teams have to adhere to specific standards when it comes to their driver’s seat, safety harness, an onboard fire suppression system, roll cage, and many other stringent guidelines. You’ll also need to bring an approved helmet and fire-retardant clothing.
If you think you have some loophole thought up already about how to craft a winner for under $500, they’ve probably covered it in their extensive rules. Sponsorship parts still count towards the total, “free” parts will be considered at their original price towards the total, and you can’t just bring your old beater that you’ve moved on from after so many years. These guys have their $500 car rules down to a system and they aren’t going to hear your rationalizations as to why it should be considered. If your car is deemed to exceed the $500 threshold, you could still be eligible to race if it meets the safety standards and the judges deem you not to be an annoying whiner. Just be prepared to face some heavy penalties like being down substantial negative laps at the start of the race.
The Lemons Classes and Winnings
Once your car is given the go ahead at the Lemons Safety Inspection by the 24 Hours of Lemons team, the car is placed into one of three classes based solely off of the judge’s best guess. Class A cars are considered to be the most mechanically sound and fastest cars of the bunch. Think high mileage Mazda Miatas or BMW E36s. They can win $400. Class B is the mid-tier and are worse for wear, but are more likely to limp to the finish line. This class is usually made up of old commuters like the Volkswagen Golf or rundown muscle cars like the Trans Am. They can recoup their costs of $500 if they win.
Then there’s the crème de la crème, Class C. These cars are the heart and soul of the 24 Hours of Lemons. Don’t get me wrong, the other groups have the right idea too, but Class C is the slowest and notoriously garbage cars of the bunch. This group features the cars that people have forgotten or are so bad it’s a wonder they’re running, let alone racing. Class C cars can come away with $600 if they win. That’s not the top prize though, there’s actually three above that.
The next largest purse is the Index of Effluency award at $601. Yes, that is a single dollar more than winning C Class, but they also gain free entry into their next race. This Index of Effluency award is given to a team based on what the 24 Hours of Lemons team calls a “super-secret equation”. Basically, it comes down to a bunch of metrics like age, vehicle obscurity, or the heightened chance the car shouldn’t make it to the end. In reality, it really just boils down to whatever the event organizers feel like giving an award to because they can, so good luck on this one.
Next up is the Halloween Meets Gasoline award that encourages the 24 Hours of Lemons teams to come up with a fun theme for their group and for the car itself. Paint a Ford Aerostar like an X-Wing from Star Wars and have the team put on their best cosplay. Maybe everything is Guy Fieri related with a PT Cruiser that’s been spray painted with the words “Flavor Town” and the team is rocking spiked tips, goatees, and flaming bowling shirts. It’s the most fun part of these events, next to actually racing. Teams that win the Halloween Meets Gasoline prize are awarded a trophy and $1,000.
Finally, the 24 Hours of Lemons has thrown down the ultimate challenge. If you bring a fully electric vehicle that meets their standards to a 24 Hours of Lemons event and win the race overall, you win $50,000 in nickels. That’s one million nickels weighing in at a half ton that they state will arrive to your shop in a dump truck. Oh, and if you think having to deal with that many nickels is a pain, I forgot to mention that they also state that winners may be paid in various forms of “painfully inconvenient currency” for all awards. I guess you better have a wheelbarrow ready.
Ready to Join the 24 Hours of Lemons?
The 24 Hours of Lemons hosts events all year long at tons of different tracks around the USA, so you and your hooptie could be just a short drive away from some fun racing. Just be sure to follow their rules, bring your $500 car, pay the entry fee, have a valid driver’s license, have any team drivers join the Lemons Competition Membership, stay safe out there, and have fun. You can find their full schedule, rules, and pricing on their website at 24hoursoflemons.com if you think you’re ready to get a team together and build a $500 masterpiece. Feel like just watching in admiration from a far? That’s fine too! The 24 Hours of Lemons is open for spectators at their events and they’re constantly posting on their social channels if you can’t make it to the track itself. Personally, I’m hoping to find a nicely rundown Geo Metro or Toyota Tercel to fix up and bring out to a 24 Hours of Lemons event one day.
