[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/136061500[/vimeo]
What is the soul of LeMons? Why do these hundreds of insane car geeks take terrible cars, paint them something weird, and race them around a track for hours on end? This video by Marcus Ubungen endeavors to understand them. As one member of the Hella Shitty Racing team puts it, LeMons is “Halloween meets gasoline. It’s like Burning Man for car geeks.” and that’s some of it. The rest of it is the work and effort that goes into producing a cheap, terrible, ugly racing car of your own blood, sweat, and tears. I’ve driven a few of these LeMons creations, including Ferkel the Nein-11, and you can tell that these cars are built with a passion for the sport. If, when you’re done building your LeMons car, you can’t step back and laugh about the absurdity of the thing, you’ve either built it wrong, or you’re probably not mentally prepared for LeMons.
LeMons is all about levity and camaraderie and a little insanity. These aren’t people who do it for fame or international acclaim, they do it for the love of the sport. For the enjoyment of their time on track. Everyone I’ve ever met that is involved in LeMons in one way or another has been wonderful. They’re all great people, including those of the Hella Shitty guys interviewed for this film. They’re true car guys, and they’ve got moxie, dammit! Zandr’s “If the thing runs, and it’s unlikely to kill bystanders, then bring it out” is unlikely to stop being quoted for years to come. Quite apropos…
I must say, this video is very well produced, and extremely well shot. It’s a pretty thing to view, and that alone makes it worth your few minutes of attention. Add in the phenomenal cars they showcase, and you’ve just got to watch it. JUST GO WATCH IT ALREADY!