Do you know about Motörhead? Of course you know about the heavy metal deities? Good. Do you know about the V8 Thunder Cars series in Sweden? No? You should. Basically, it’s analogous to the current Trans-Am Series TA2 Class, which comprises tubeframe American muscle cars. In Sweden, that means that almost everyone races a Howe chassis with Camaro body panels and a 500-horsepower LS engine in it. The racing is good and, of course, Swedes love their metal: death metal, speed metal, power metal, black metal…all of it.
It’s a natural fit, then, that the 2016 V8 Thunder Cars finale on September 24 has been christened the “Lemmy 500” in tribute to late Motörhead bassist/singer Lemmy Kilmister. What could possibly be more Motorhead than 15,000 horsepower shaking the Nordic glaciers near Ljungbyhed Raceway? The season concludes with an afternoon race at Ljundbyhed with the champion being crowned onstage that evening just before a performance by classic British metal stalwarts Saxon, who were a key part of the British metal scene along with Motörhead in the 1970s and 1980s.
So who else is packing their patched denim jacket and going to Sweden with me in September?
(Full details in English here or in Swedish here if you prefer for some reason.)
Free plane tickets for anybody that can correctly pronounce the name of the track! Lemmy was a cool dude. Can’t beat racing and metal!