[Ronnyboy]

My friend's Dad is building a LeMons race team for next year's Road America 24Hr race. If you have no idea what LeMons is, it's an endurance race done with cars that are $500 or less. He's currently sourcing either a Lincoln Town Car or a ZX2 from Craigslist. However, my friend, his brother, and his Dad already race his RX3 at Autocross events across the area so they have all the race gear. They are all also short and rich, so they all Puma race shoes, and custom fitted suits and helmets. If I want to participate I need to find some cheap gear to buy in the future.

LeMon's website offers a $490 kit:

http://store.24hoursoflemons.com/dirt-chea...-kit?tag=safety

Now while it does offer everything, can anyone recommend a website or brand to ebay search for cheap?

[Desmosedici]

omg

you're my hero

[sivispacem]

QUOTE (Ronnyboy @ Wednesday, Jul 25 2012, 05:50)

Now while it does offer everything, can anyone recommend a website or brand to ebay search for cheap?

That LeMons kit is truly insane in terms of cost. I genuinely think you would struggle to beat any of that buying parts up individually. One note of caution is that whilst an SA2010 specification helmet is generally the required standard for most events, some have more stringent lists of "approved" helmets (often using the FIA approved list as a base) though these tend to be more expensive events. I'd seriously recommend getting a HANS device, too.

If you want to hunt for other stuff, here are some recommendations that are decently cheap and good:

1) AWS suits- I've got a Proban racing suit in one of their generic styles (I looked at getting a custom one, but it turns out their size 40 regular one fits me perfectly). I think I paid about £69 for it with a 20% discount, so brand new they can be had for well under £100 (and start around £60). Approved for pretty much all club and national amateur class motorsport in the UK.

2) Sparco/OMP shoes- I bought a pair of OMP Akros very cheap a number of years ago, but looking at current retail prices they still seem to float around £150 which is a lot. As a driving shoe, they are great, but as a racing boot, they don't offer the kind of protection you'd want for track work. A brief browse on Ebay brings up the cheapest buy-it-now FIA approved boot as a Sparco Top Drive, at around £90.

3) Helmet- The cheapest SA2010 one I can find first-hand is £150, made by Black Cat. Its HANS-compliant and looks to be a decent piece of kit. FIA approved ones are available, but only from about £2000 it appears so rather outside the budget for this.

I make that about £300 for the three major components of the suit (minus gloves and undercrackers) so probably quite competitive in terms of cost with the LeMons kit.

[lzw3]

I'd never heard of LeMons. I love the play on words thoug.

[Ronnyboy]

Thanks Desmo.

I appreciate the info Siv, I figured the LeMons deal was pretty decent, I figured I could save some money by going cheap and geting used stuff, bf what's wrong with new if its the same price though right? Although one of my NASCAR loving friends keeps telling me to buy a used NASCAR suit shame I can't fit into one... or afford one...

[Lurch]

QUOTE (Ronnyboy @ Saturday, Jul 28 2012, 03:19)

Although one of my NASCAR loving friends keeps telling me to buy a used NASCAR suit shame I can't fit into one... or afford one...

I was going to tell you to do the same with dirt track firesuits and remembered you were way too tall compared to anyone else racing. Shame, as that makes buying new pretty much the only option.

[Ronnyboy]

Apparently there is a 6'6" NASCAR driver who ownly shows up for the road courses, but he's probably leaner then me as well

[GTAction99]

QUOTE (lzw3 @ Thursday, Jul 26 2012, 07:43)

I'd never heard of LeMons. I love the play on words thoug.

I heard of it before, sh*ts hilarious!

You bassicly find the crappiest (but fastest) car under $500, and hope to win the grand prize of a I think $1500.

They also have a BSF (Bull Sh*t Factor), which means that for every ten dollars over 500 doallars, you will get a penalized lap.

You can also use ANY car, as long as the base price is under $500, nd you have the following fitted on your car: 5-point rollcage, Racing seats that end at the middle of your helmet (Sparco and Recro are reccomended), fire hydrant etc. (Bassicly slightly changed F.I.A. Racing Regulations.)

[sivispacem]

PPC's 999 Challenge is similar, if a little better. Basically, you are given a budget of £999 to build a race car for sprint, hot lap and drag, with additional points given for kookiness or wackiness. The 999 isn't a firm figure that there's plenty of "gentlemen's agreement" style stuff like getting machining work done at mates rates, or doing work for parts- basically you can exceed the budget by a small amount as long as you remain in the spirit of the competition.


Previous competitors include:

>A victorious 2.2i VTEC Prelude with no modifications other than cut springs and a set of £400 ex-BTCC slicks.

>A Skoda Estelle with an RX8 engine in the boot

>An old Subaru Legacy with a WRX STI engine transplant

>An E36 BMW saloon with an M60B40 engine transplant

>A mildly fettled Celica GT4

>A KV6 powered Rover 25

>Several twin-engined cars, including a twin 16v Mk2 Golf Driver and a twin KA20 Civic