“Every last one of you who finished the race this weekend is a winner in my eyes,” the organiser of the weekend’s May
Mayhem 3-day/24 Hour race for budget road cars, Dr Jacob Simonsen said at a packed prize-giving function at Hampton
Downs on Sunday evening
Certainly, by completing a total of 23,417 laps and - in doing so - covering a grand total of 63,225.9 kms, the 45 teams
which started and were all officially credited with finishing the first full NaZCAR/Lemons 24-Hour race of the 2022
season, gave a lie to the prevailing wisdom that once a car is worth no more than $2000 (a Lime) or $1000 (a Lemon) its
useful life is effectively over.
In saying that Dr Simonsen added that any sort of long distance motor racing event required a lot of preparation work
before an event and planned maintenance during it; and that a 24-hour event was ‘literally, the ultimate test of man,
woman and machine.’
As such the jewel in the crown for any Lemons or Lime car owner is the annual ‘continuous 24-hour Enduro (overnight)
race which this year is set to run over the September 16 - 17 weekend on the full international circuit at Hampton
Downs.
With over 100 teams and 500+ drivers expected to start that event it will likely claim the record as the largest
competitive ‘participatory’ event on the NZ motorsport calendar, breaking NaZCAR’ s previous record of 80 teams and 400+
drivers at the 2020 Lemons 24-hour event.
Because an event like a continuous 24-Hour race requires such a different mindset to a typical sprint or even a single
day endurance event, Dr Simonsen created the 3-day/24 Hour May Mayhem one at Hampton Downs which ran from last Friday
(May 06) until Sunday (May 08) so that teams keen to ‘step up to the full continuous 24 hr race in September at least
have an idea of what to expect….on as well as off the track.
That included the return of the NaZCAR organisation’s resident Chief Judge, Nik Brown, who dished out plenty of whacky
penalties across the three days.
More information on NaZCAR/Lemons race weekends can be found on the 24 hours of NaZCAR page on Facebook at facebook.com/Nazcar24NaZCAR LEMONS MAY MAYHEM 3-DAY/24 HOUR RACE FRI-SUN MAY 06-08 2022Ghost Dog Racing (Lime) 777 lapsGet In Behind (Lime) 772 lapsAssassin Racing (Lemon) 732 lapsTrickle Racing (Lemon) 704 lapsCowboys (Lime) 694 lapsTeam Bond (Lime) 691 lapsNot So Super Mario Bros (Lime) 690 lapsThunderbirds (Lemon) 678 lapsTeam NASA (Lemon) 672 lapsCruse Racing (Lemon) 657 lapsTROPHIES AWARDEDMost laps (Lemon): Assassin Racing 735 lapsMost laps (Lime): Ghost Dog Racing 777 lapsDaCrap award: Index of performance): Team NASACooperation Award: Shell V-Power RacingScab Award: Go Gecko GoBest Fix Award: A Family AffairBack From The Dead: Cruse RacingBad Maffs Award: ThunderbirdsBattlers Award: No Eye DearFresh Start Award: Ranga Racing“Give It The Jandal’ Award: Mike HoweNincompoop Award: Aussie SparesQuality Manufacturer’s Award: Team NASAGrenade Award: Reverse EngineeringUgly Stick Award: Team Busty BerthaResurrection Award: Team PiranhaBanana Award: Team Richard Petty/SpinderellaBest Presented Car Award: The Real LawBest Theme Award: The UndertakersPeoples’ Choice Award: ThunderbirdsJudge’s Choice Award: Ghost Dog x 2Supreme Award/Spirit of Lemons Award: Golden Asses/Subzilla