24 Hours of LeMons Coming to New Orleans!

Not 24 hour of LeMans, but 24 Hours of LeMons.

It's an endurance race (actually about 16 hours or so spread over 2 days) where the goal is survival. The trick? You car must cost less than $500 (minus safety equipment). Dangerous? Yes. Imagine the sort of beaters that show up to the track.

Here is the winner from the last race:

It's a Geo-Metro ("Metrognome") with a motorcycle engine that spends the whole time trying not to be crushed by malaise-era Detroit iron.

Here are all the entrants:

Pause it at 1:19 to see the "ghetto-charged" Miata. That's a turbo with intercooler setup with plumbing parts.

Video of a previous year with narration by one of the drivers.

I'm definitely showing up as a spectator. If they come back to New Orleans later, I'll probably run a car, too. Not quite ready to do one yet. You need at least $2,000 or so to get all the safety equipment and do the car right...

That being said, if there is anyone else out there that's interested in doing it that needs another hand or two, I'm pretty handy with a wrench and welder. Seriously.

Here's an idea of what you can get for $500: Mazda 626 needing an engine rebuild and a barely functional Chystler (with working A/C, though!).

24 Hours Of LeMons coming to New Orleans (actually Belle Rose) June 6-7. Registration deadline is in March. Here's the track's site.

Jalopnik has much, much more.

UPDATE- A few more minutes of racing deathtrap shitboxes for your amusement:


No music, lots of crashes: