How do you determine whether (or not as the case may be!) a motor racing meeting you organised and ran over the weekend was a ‘success.’
“Obviously,” says Dr Jacob Simonsen, ” there are all sorts of purely financial metrics you can use. However I tend to find these a little bit ‘limiting,’ particularly when you are talking about a heavily people-centric one like the Continuous 24-Hour Lemons Enduro we organised in conjunction with Hampton Downs over the weekend.
“With 101 cars on the grid and as many as 500 drivers on site we proved that there is not only room on the local motorsport calendar but also a very real demand for at least 1 x full and continuous 24 hour race a year.”
Other numbers Dr. Simonsen quotes from the overnight Friday/Sat Sep 16-17 are just as impressive.
“That’s right,” he says. “Of the 101 teams which started the event 77 were classified as finishers. That’s a stunning figure in its own right, particularly when a majority of the cars were originally purchased for $1000 or less (the definition of a Lemon).
All up, competing teams covered 34,783 laps of the 3.8km international circuit at Hampton Downs over the 24 hour period, a distance of over 132,000 kilometres – which to put into perspective, is the equivalent of circumnavigating the equator 3.3 times!
Again, incredible!
And although nominally ‘won’ by the BMW E36 coupe of the appropriately-named Get-In-Behind team (of Tony Rutz, Colin Letcher, Glen Collinson, Matthew Booth & Garry Denham) which covered 554 laps, two more than the SsangYong Actyon ute of Ghost Dog Racing (Deon and Rick Cooper Snr & Jnr) and 11 more than the BMW Bandits squad (Peter Bennett, Kayne Barrie, Brett Matthew, Warren Glassford & Nigel Patterson) which ended up third, Dr Simonsen stressed at the prize giving function held immediately after the race that “everyone gathered here this afternoon is a winner in my eyes.”
As such only two of the event’s coveted Grand Awards (one for Limes [defined as cars value at between $1000 and $2000 at time of purchase] which went to the first car home, the BMW E36 3-Series coupe of Team Get-In-Behind’s Tony Rutz, Colin Letcher, Glen Collinson, Matthew Booth & Garry Denham, the other for Lemons, in this case to the giant-killing Mazda 3 of Team Assassin Racing’s Mal Chamberlain, David & Nathan Cox, and Craig Howser, the first of the Lemons cars home in 6th place having completed 527 laps) went to ‘winning teams.’
The event’s Supreme Award (aka The Spirit of Lemons) went, for instance, to the Prince Harry team (‘quite fitting given the recent passing of the Queen’) of Connen Boston, Karl Jackson, Will Dawber, Caleb Cullimore, Michael Keppel, James Kean and their crew who, despite plenty of drama on and off the track with their Union Jack be-decked Nissan 350Z convertible, managed to complete 415 laps, good enough to place 56th overall.
Dr Simonsen. “Talk about ‘keeping calm and carrying on.’ These guys simply never gave up and were an inspiration to everyone else up and down pitlane.”
Highlights from the event were as many as they were varied but included the mass gathering along the start/finish straight for a group photo, the unique single row rolling start, then – particularly for the many drivers new to the experience – the run through dusk then on into the night proper with only your car’s headlights, and strategically placed cat’s eyes, to guide you.
Fortunately the weather was mild during the day with no rain (other than a light dusting at midday Friday) and not much wind. In saying that it got very cold during the night, with fog rolling through for a couple of hours (very) early on Saturday morning.
As Dr Simonsen explains.
“The single file start was incredible – never a dull moment on track and not many gaps – then we had lots of groups of cars battling it out, until things settled down about two hours in.
“Once night fell the teams really settled into their work and drivers had to concentrate hard, with visibility low (it was extremely dark in places with no moonlight). There were a few mechanical failures and off-track excursions, leaving approximately 75 teams in the race by morning.
“In saying that there were no real car-on-car incidents to speak of, and overall, it was an incredibly clean event. Such fantastic camaraderie with teams helping each other in times of ‘need’ (mostly ‘I need spare parts!’)
“Seriously though,” Dr Simonsen continued, “while the spectacle of racing was one thing, the spectacle of the costumes and themes was quite another – from Ninjas to cowboys, muppets to roadworkers… and everything in between!
“It was actually quite surreal at times… we knew this was going to be a big event – but it far exceeded expectations. As an event producer, creating milestones and breaking records is something I love – and the continuous 24-hour Lemons Enduro delivered in spades.
“The vibe over the weekend was incredible – it was more like a Mardi-Gras than a motorsport event – and judging by the social media storm of positivity over the past few days, those that were fortunate enough to participate are finding it hard to wipe the smiles off their collective dials!
“Even though the event is aimed at being ‘fun’ there is a serious side to it in terms of safety procedures. We try to keep the rules, politics and health & safety in the background, however, allowing competitors to use common-sense and self-control when it comes to their driving styles! This has translated to our events holding an impeccable safety record – in this case with 100 cars on the track at the same time and running for 24 hours, we had no injuries and very few car-on-car incidents.”
“Finally I must take my hat off to Hampton Downs and their team – they’ve watched us mature as a series over the years, and grown to trust our methodology and systems enough to partner with us for this event – and the results, I strongly believe, speak for themselves…”
Having been instrumental in setting up and trialling the 24 Hours of LeMons events in Australia from 2015, Dr Simonsen brought the franchise with him on his permanent return home to New Zealand, where he ran his first (non-continuous) 24 Hours of LeMons at Hampton Downs in 2016.
He has since run various formats of 8, 12 Hour and 24-Hour Lemons races for an ever-expanding group of keen teams, with an impressive raft of events under his belt so far!
More information on upcoming NaZCAR events can be found on the 24 hours of Nazcar page on Facebook at facebook.com/Nazcar24
RESULTS (TOP 20 OVERALL)
1/ Get In Behind (Lime) 554 laps
2/ Ghost Dog Racing (Lime) 552
3/ BMW Bandits (Lime ) 543
4/ Team Pineapple Racing (Lime) 538
5/ Team Bond 008 (Lime) 536
6/ Assassin Racing (Lemon) 527
7/ Ghost Dog M111 (Lime) 527
8/ Busty Bertha (Lemon) 524
9/ Top Gun (Lemon) 522
10/ Dixie Prix (Lemon) 518
11/ One Red Wing Mirror Racing (Lemon) 517
12/ NaZCAR Oranges (Lemon) 516
13/ ACME (Lemon) 512
14/ Hooncorp 1 (Lemon) 509
15/ Too Much Duff! (Lemon) 509
16/ Team Bond 005 (Lime) 509
17/ Brauch’s Bavarian S*!t Box (Lemon) 507
18/ Thunderbirds (Lemon) 502
19/ Tokyo Dragons (Lemon) 501
AWARDS
Supreme award (the Spirit of Lemons trophy): Prince Harry
Judges Choice: It’s not dead yet
Back From the Dead: Top Gun
Best Fix: Fullon Bogans
Above and Beyond: Team Pineapple
Nincompoop Award: FIV 1 for having to be pulled out of the shit (again)
Peoples’ Choice: A Family Affair
Fresh Start: F’N racing
Battlers award: Ghost Dog M111
Cooperation award: Buckland Bombers
Benevolence award: One red wing mirror
Most consistent: Morris Garage
TRON award/Best lightshow: The Undertakers
Good Bastard award: Aussie Spares
Special mention: Superior Racing
Most Laps (Lime): Get in Behind (554 laps)
Most Laps (Lemon) Assassin Racing (527 laps)
Fastest lap: No prize awarded this year, cos we don’t care!.’
Best Themed team: Maximum Duff and Too Much Duff (2 teams shared award)
The Ugly Stick: Do it for Dale
Best Presented Car: 6 Ugga Duggas
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