Introducing: The Lawnmower Men

Every year in a field in West Sussex, the world’s most extreme endurance motorsport race takes place, on Lawnmowers.

Motor racing enthusiasts have been meeting for the annual BLMRA 12 hour endurance race since 1978. The rules are simple, drive a lawnmower around the track for 12 hours straight and the team with the most laps wins. No sponsorship, no commercialism, no cash prizes and no modifying of engines. It’s competitive, dangerous and very, very fun.

A cinematic look at a quintessentially bonkers and extreme British motorsport

“We took the cheapest competitive motorsport in the world and shot it with lenses that Stanley Kubrick once used and the camera they used to shoot the new Topgun movie, the Sony Venice,” says Base Films Creative Director Danny Etheridge. “The result, a cinematic look at a quintessentially bonkers and extreme British motorsport.”

Our brand new film, The Lawnmower Men documents this race and delves deeper into why someone would want to take part in such a bonkers sport, the ethos behind it and what the future holds for the world’s cheapest grassroots motorsport. The first 12-hour endurance race in 1978 was won by racing legend, Sir Stirling Moss.

Credits:
Directed by Brendan Cleaves
Produced by Fifth Eye
DoP – Ossian Bacon
2nd Camera – Richie Simkins
Sound recordist – Harry Stanley
Drone – Fifth Eye
Edited by Greg Hayes
Colourist – Jason Moffat
Animation by Lieke Milder
Audio design – Rick Smith