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Vineyard Church members were “absolutely thrilled” after both their cars finished the gruelling 24 LeMons held at Hampton Downs race track on May 12.
The church’s racing team, Realife Racing, entered a Honda CRS and Honda Civic in the race, which runs for 24 hours.
Team members took turns driving the cars for two hours at a time.
Cars must be “lemons” costing no more than about $1000, though race teams are permitted to spend another $1000 on every car to make them go as fast as possible.
Team member Steve Pound said although neither car won the race, it was a huge buzz just to finish, especially given electrical problems and having to deal with heavy rainfall at night.
When the distributors failed on both cars, an immediate replacement was found for the Civic. An urgent appeal for a replacement for the CRS was made on social media at around 10pm.
A motorist from Hamilton responded saying he could supply the distributor, but it was unable to be fitted until the following morning, putting the car out of action for several hours.
Steve praised the largely inexperienced drivers on the team. They achieved high speeds, but managed to avoid the frequent spin-outs and crashes that plagued other teams.
“I’m just so proud of our drivers. We had just one spin-out for the entire race and neither of the cars were crashed,” he says.
Steve was also pleased to note the cars’ brake pads and tyres lasted the entire race, another tribute to driving skill.
He says Realife Racing driver Jeff Eastwood proved especially proficient, at one point overtaking five cars on the outside while taking a corner.
Steve says the experience has been a wonderful bonding opportunity for fathers and sons on the team, and Realife Racing was hoping to participate in future LeMons races.
Realife racing is sponsored by Kroon Oil, Snells Beach Motors and Sign Masters Warkworth.
