The 24 Hours of Lemons Race (no, not the fruit)
Via the 24 Hours of Lemons Website
When you open up the 24 Hours of Lemons website, the first thing that they assure you is that “racing’s not just for rich idiots. Racing is for all idiots (this includes you).” Scrolling down, you will see “all it takes is a cheap car, cool friends and one weekend. Drive fast. Laugh hard. Most laps win. That’s it.” Can it really be that easy? P1 Exotics competed in the 24 Hours of Lemons race in New Jersey Motorsports Park in 2021 and 2022 and is ready to tell you the victories, as well as the trials and tribulations, we faced.
Via the 24 Hours of Lemons Instagram
How to Get Started
The 24 Hours of Lemons FAQ section defines a qualifying racing car as being worth $500 or less, minus safety equipment, brakes, and wheels/tires. Basically, feel free to skimp on flashy upgrades and a nice paint coat on your lemon, but absolutely do not cheap out on the safety gear. Antonio Unanue, leader of the P1 Exotics racing team, notes that safety gear includes an “SA approved helmet, fire retardant, undergarments, racing suit, gloves, shoes, etc.” While you may think you are balling on a budget, this equipment adds up quickly, and “can be a couple grand typically.”
Any car that was street legal when made and passes the safety inspection can race. Which addresses the next question that many people ask. Can you really find a car for $500? I mean, the blind spot warning system feature that you can choose to install in your Porsche Targa runs you $850 in itself. 24 Hours of Lemons puts it best: “See a $1000 car on Craigslist? Bring $400 cash and a 12er of Old Milwaukee. Nine times out of ten, you’ll be driving it home.” Antonio also notes that “even if [your car is] over $500-that's okay, but you have to net $500 at the end of it.” You can sell parts of the interior, car seats, and air conditioning to lower the value of your lemon.
Other than having the proper safety equipment and a car worth under $500, all you need is teammates, a cool team name, and to pay the entry fee. Entry is $1550 per team, which includes the cost of entry for one car and four drivers- this fee covers registration, track time, insurance, etc.
The Car We Brought (The Mazdalorian: a Love Story)
Our P1 Exotics team was put together at the very last minute in 2021. Antonio was lucky enough to find an old Mazda Miata in Texas that was selling for a few grand.
He paid for open trailer shipping, which instantly turned into regret when it rained while the car was being shipped, effectively soaking all the seats in the car on race day.
The car was decorated in Star Wars like fashion (complete with a Baby Yoda on top) and affectionately named the “Mazdalorian”. One reason why this Miata was selling for such a low price could be the seats that were not attached to the car, which Antonio and the team had to weld themselves.
Upon our safety inspection in 2021, the P1 Exotics team forgot to “pull a pin on the fire suppression system,” which would have prevented the suppression system from working in the event of a fire. After failing the inspection, Antonio and the team were booted to the back of the line to await reinspection, consequentially forcing them to start in 130th place. Eventually, due to a lack of functionality, the Mazdalorian was not able to finish the race. However, spirits remained high and even more determined to place in this year’s 24 Hours of Lemons race.
Our Performance in This Year’s Race
The way the 24 Hours of Lemons race operates, “you never know what position you are going to start in. They suddenly wave the green flag at any sporadic point on the track,” Antonio said. This year, “we were pumped because we were about to get on the track as soon as the green flag was waved. Our transponder recorded that we were in sixth place.” However, this is where the Cinderella story comes to an end. Just as the team approached the track, the safety inspector noticed that the six point harness was not tight enough on the driver, once again forcing them to the back of the line to get reevaluated. This dropped them to 105th place, but they were determined to leave their mark on this lemons race.
Via the 24 Hours of Lemons Instagram
Antonio said, “I learned a lot from racing in the lemons last year, and this year I intentionally drove a few seconds slower so that I wasn’t getting any black flags.” This strategy paid off: the P1 Exotics team went all the way up to 35th place. However, many inexperienced drivers will try to push the limits of the vehicle by reaching top speeds, which can be dangerous and cause spinning out. “To have a good performance in the race, you have to not spin and not get black flagged, but it’s inevitable with beginners who are pushing their limits.” Eventually, this spinning, caused by other members of the P1 team, dropped us into 60th place, with more spins coming.
Ultimately due to spinning out, the team broke a wheel and blew a diff. Antonio sighed, “once our differential was out we were done for the rest of the race.” The team finished in 85th, with high hopes for next year. A fellow Mazda Miata finished in the top 10, so we know our car is capable of doing the same. Antonio ends with, “I’m really really hoping that next year we could actually put together a race that doesn’t have any black flags, that no one goes off the track, no one gets penalized…All we need to do is put down consistent lap times without spinning off.”
Results of This Year’s Race and Impact of the 24 Hours of Lemons
Via the 24 Hours of Lemons Instagram
Overall, the winner for ‘Most Laps’ in our 2022 race was the Bostonwhiners. Other winners include the winner for ‘Most Heroic Fix’ which went to Wrong Way Racing and winner for ‘I Got Screwed’ which was The Wife Said I Could. Team Wrong Way Racing used a 1996 Mazda Miata.
The impact of the 24 Hours of Lemons, while in many ways simply provides comedic relief, extends beyond smiles and laughs. Racing and owning luxury cars is often a privilege only given to the wealthy. Many people will never get an opportunity to even see a luxury car. This race breaks the barrier between the stratified class system and allows anyone to push their luck at racing in a fun and noncompetitive way (although we still ended up being very competitive). I appreciate the fact that 24 Hours of Lemons opens up opportunities for people regardless of social status or income in a completely non-judgmental manner.
Before we part ways, I would like to leave you with our unofficial mascot of the P1 Exotics Team: Tenzing the Golden Retriever
