Hednesford banger racing pic, 1973.

[danthecapriman]

There's no way on earth I'd be pilling into a Austin Cambridge in a banger race. If they are as rotten and uneconomic to repair as the racers often claim they must be close to collapse. Despite being strong in their day or what ever I wouldn't fancy my chances in a bang against some moron in a Mondeo or what ever they use as the modern alternative.

This.

They are strong if they aren't rotten. Sadly most are now. The same is true of the Granada's. They are big tough cars and they race well. But the youngest mk2 is now 30 years old and after that sort of time the ones that end up oval bound are usually hanging! Hence why they now struggle to compete against the newer, less rotten cars.

 

One of the guys I worked with dragged a mk2 in for racing one day having pulled it out of a garden. The sills were virtually non existent, A pillars rotten, holes in the chassis legs etc. predictably it didn't last long, it just folded up after a few hits! You could even see piles of rust and bits falling out of it.

[plasticvandan]

ive only ever been once or twice,last time i went it was all Maxis and cortinas!

a friend of mine used to do it for years a long time ago,his mission was to find the most ridiculous car he could,i think his last was a fiat 126.... he didnt race again

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I recall going to a banger track in Devon somewhere in 1982 and still seeing mainly Oxbridges and even a couple of the tall fin 59-61 cars such as the A55 Mark 11. They were rare cars on the road then.

[oldcars]

Never watched banger racing, not my cup of tea. Hate to see stuff destroyed for no reason at all. Yes some of it may be rotten and cant be fixed but its still not for me.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It's entertaining when worthless shit is being wrecked, W reg Mondeos and stuff. 

[Partridge]

^^In a few years we'll all be wanking over W reg Mondeos, trust me

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I can believe that - my "A-Z Of Cars of the 1970s" by Graham Robson, published in the early 90s, basically writes off any non-prestige car that doesn't have a British or Italian badge. He goes out of his way to reiterate how 'undesirable' virtually all 70s Japanese cars are, and directs a shocking amount of vitriol towards Moskvich and Wartburg.

I think it was Graham Robson that coined the term 'Grey Porridge' to describe 60's/70's mass produced saloons, specifically Farinas and pre-Arrow Rootes saloons.

 

Just remembered that I sold a 4.0 and 3.0 VdP and a DS420 limo in wedding Dulux White to a banger racer about 20 years ago, sorry!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Morris 1100 Mark 1's being used for grass tracking - probably mid 1970's when thousands were being scrapped.

[Junkman]

Never watched banger racing, not my cup of tea. Hate to see stuff destroyed for no reason at all.

 

As long as there are people who enjoy it, there is a reason.

[dugong]

As long as there are people who enjoy it, there is a reason.

The perception of banger racing is tainted by the small minority of idiots who steal and destroy 'decent' cars, leaving the 99% of legitimate racers to shoulder the blame. For the latter, their money, their choice I'm afraid.

[Partridge]

Aye, not my kind of thing but it's not my money either or my car either.

[Junkman]

After a long hiatus (I'm more into the non-destructive form of short oval racing, which isn't really that non-destructive), I returned to a banger race meeting at Hednesford last Autumn.

I mustard mitt that I enjoyed it very much, and urge all people with mixed feelings towards the sport, to attend a meeting, just to verify their disposition. You might be surprised.

 

I also suggest an "Autoshite In The Community"® event at a banger race.

[danthecapriman]

It did used to bother me, when it was the good cars getting destroyed. I used to hate seeing the old classics, yanks and the Cortina's, Granada's etc smashed because I just love all those old cars.

But I don't mind it at all nowadays, now they use Lexus', Mondeos, X300's etc, all the newer cars really. I couldn't give a shit if they smash up all the modern rubbish!

It's not something I'd want to actually do myself however.

[tooSavvy]

A$ has entered the 'marmite zone' again...

 

... do we have enough lifeboats

 

 

TS

[HH-R]

I'd attend weekly if there was an "Audi A3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10" only section.

[MrDuke]

I think that's the difference, the modern stuff that's being raced now isn't really designed to last more than 20-odd years at the most (apart from Merc, Lexus etc) so there's no great shame in destroying them a few years early, in style. The classic stuff will last for as long as someone keeps welding it, which makes it heartbreaking to see them destroyed. Although, in reality, very few will deliberately race a perfectly sound or easily recommissioned classic - in fact. there seem to be a good many whose daily/weekend drivers are minty examples of the same models they smash up on the track.

[danthecapriman]

I think that's the difference, the modern stuff that's being raced now isn't really designed to last more than 20-odd years at the most (apart from Merc, Lexus etc) so there's no great shame in destroying them a few years early, in style. The classic stuff will last for as long as someone keeps welding it, which makes it heartbreaking to see them destroyed. Although, in reality, very few will deliberately race a perfectly sound or easily recommissioned classic - in fact. there seem to be a good many whose daily/weekend drivers are minty examples of the same models they smash up on the track.

Agreed!

I went to Arena Essex to watch the Firecracker event a few years ago, there were loads of amazing old cars there being destroyed, which was a shame. But there was a very old Daimler DB18 hearse being raced aswell, and I thought what a waste of a lovely old car that had lasted so many years and now it's being smashed to bits in the space of a few hours. There was an even older (1920's I think) Dodge at this event one year aswell! Irreplaceable cars that deserve better!

[solid61]

I used to go to the bangers a lot in the late 70s/80s. Top stuff to race was mk2 Jags and Daimler 250s.............quite a few used to lop the back end off presumably to help with corners. Landcrabs used to do quite well too. There were still loads of A60s.

 

Racing was at Bury Farm, Houghton Conquest in the grounds of an old school scrappy. Housing estate now...

Bury farm was a real outlaw track in  the late 70s,i spent many the sunday afternoon thrashing an old zodiac or 3litre rover round the dirt,the cars weren't old at the time but were terminally rotten and you very often had no brakes but didn't give a monkeys.Well done for giving it a mention,shame its been built on but that's progress (not).

[chaseracer]

I got excited then, I thought they were going to race that Audi.

 

If Incarace run true to form, they WILL race it at some point...

[CortinaDave]

Autoshite banger racing thread synopsis:

 

Pic of banger racing

 

Several comments - I like banger racing/ I dislike banger racing

 

Then the I only like banger racing when it's not classics comments

 

Then the banger racers only race rotten classics comments

 

Then a few anecdotes about mint classics that have been raced/ allegedly stolen and raced classics

 

..... Several posts later...

 

ALL BANGER RACERS ARE NAZIS comment

 

Everybody calm down comments

 

Thread gets locked.

 

I see we're on course so far.

[MrDuke]

[Squire_Dawson]

All threads could be broken down into a synopsis, though. The original photo is quite an interesting snapshot of the past. If you think too long about all the things that have been destroyed (and there are many more items of significance than old cars), then you will start to weep.

 

In the classic car world, we are dealing with nutters - from all sides.

[Junkman]

Speak for yourself. I'm the most normal person I know.

[garethj]

Nah, you're not even the most normal person you see when you look in a mirror

 

[tooSavvy]

Nah, you're not even the most normal person you see when you look in a mirror

 

The face YOU see in your mirror isn't you... 100% reverse.

 

Lots of valid work done into 'good/bad' face symmetry!

 

 

TS

[MrDuke]

See, this just looks like immensely good fun:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m8Va16pVWE

 

I wouldn't shed a tear for any of the cars there, plus he still gets to use a pre-war steering wheel. SKILLZ at 3:00 and 4:55, too.

[simmo]

Amazons aren't usually raced because of their collapsible steering column. Bounce off the hawsers or take a smash at the front and you lose your steering. An Amazon would get away from a Farina no problem but when the Farina met it again going round, it'd be curtains. They're not DD or race contenders, really. 120s are robust but not in the same way an as A60 - which smashes through stuff because it's ludicrously over-engineered.

 

Agree they aren't frequently used but they can take a crash.  Photos are from quite while back and the car was fairly rusty

[danthecapriman]

Emmen looks a good track with some good racing/crashes. Some look really brutal!

 

Check out the hit at 8:47 and the wreck it makes of the 240!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=chWyT9Lkqls

 

How they don't get hurt is amazing.

[Junkman]

If you want to be a goddamn race driver, get yourself a proper car!

 

[MrDuke]

Wow - at 12:05, a few inches to the left and he wouldn't have anything left inside his ribcage. I can't believe the serious injury/death rate is as low as it is.