Banger Racing = Retro Blasphimy?

[driveby]

I'll probably russle some feathers but I really am interested on what the oppinions are within the classic and retro community.

Now I myself find banger racing(racing used loosely) abhorent and mindlessly destructive but am more surprised it's not outlawed due to the safety aspects alone than just the mutterings of a car enthusiast like myself. If a vintage restorer can rescue/restore/produce an entire car from just a block and a bulkhead bought at Beaulieu then surely any rolling shell is a potential classic worth saving?
I've seen firsthand the destruction of cars worth saving and limbs worth keeping by friends and aquaintances.

But what are the feelings of the RR collective??

Chris

[tofufi]

Personally, I'm not keen. But the vehicles aren't mine, so I don't have any right to say what should happen to them. It's like the TG / Marina debate again.

I just don't take enjoyment in destroying things, especially cars which (IMO) are quite good looking. I know most cars bangered are hanging wrecks, but still could probably IMO yield a few spares or panels. And occasionally cars in rather better than average condition get bangered too.

Just my tuppence...

[HoTWire]

A lot of people will say that what we do to cars ruins them beyond redemption.

[Davenger]

It's generally a very small minority being twunts and ruining it for everyone else.
But you get that everywhere

[keithyboy]

Mixed feelings from the Keithyboy camp.

It's like the alledgedly immaculate Marina destroyed on Top Gear. Someone, alledgedly an enthusiast, has sold the car to the micreants in question. They've paid good money for it and can do with it what they wish.

On the other hand, buying rare cars with historical significance (e.g. Winston Churchill's old car) to demolish it makes you a complete curse word in my eyes. An attention whore with a small cock if you will. Stealing rare metal to race makes you a curse word parasite and a leech on society.

I think ultimatelythough, if you've bought the car for a fair price and choose to banger race it, that's your choice.

[murran]

no decent car deserves burning out for no reason! but that marina for example..... its no ferrari 250 gto is it?? but if i valued a cars preservation i would not be selling it to topgear.... what did the chap who sold it expect?? its his own fault it got burned!!
we should be slagging him off! not topgear who are there to entertain the masses not the people "into" marinas.
on the flip side...... i for one would not be entertained by a full 10 minute slot on topgear featuring some guy wearing an anorack, polishing the bumpers on a marina with brasso!

oh yeah topic! (sorry about my rant)

while i agree no cars beyond saving........ you cant force people to restore them.
if a car isnt worth much in bits and is guna get scrapped anyway then you may aswell have a laugh and crash into other similar piles of scrap on wheels to entertain folks watching.

[BenzBoy]

The owner of the car can do exactly what he or she wishes with it. Whether that's restore it to concours, drive it into the ground or smash it to pieces on the oval.
And nobody has the right to tell someone what to do with their own property.

I think it's sad to see a rare classic destroyed, but then I can find plenty of people who are sad to see my Merc slammed and b*stardised. ;D

[fatbaldbloke]

Dec 26, 2008 20:52:16 GMT tofufi said:

I know most cars bangered are hanging wrecks, but still could probably IMO yield a few spares or panels. And occasionally cars in rather better than average condition get bangered too.

Broadly in agreement there. The majority of the cars raced are in very poor condition to start with. I have a pal who works on Rolls Royces and the resto firm he works for regularly supplies a banger team with Shadows that are beyond repair. The banger boys strip all the usable trim parts, glass, electrics etc off them and deliver them back to the garage to be used saving cars that are worth repairing, the rotten hulks get 'raced'. Everyone wins.

The downside of bangers is that not all organisers are as scrupulous as they maybe should be and there are a few stolen cars that get through. But then the same is true of scrap yards...

[dickdasterdley]

I've known a few banger racers over the years and I do think it's a shame to see so much classic metal get mangled, but banger boys only ever buy the cheap scrap stuff, so I suppose it's not too bad

Especially as the guys i knew used to break the cars for spares, so it was literally the shell that got written off- they even had one engine/box combo that they just transplanted into the various cars...

Having said that, I've seen liteally hundreds of mk2 Grannys bite the dust, not really a fan, but it's still a shame...

My mechanic, who at one time was the world champion in his class is currently prepping a Bently turbo for bangering...he paid £2000 for the car, but reckons he'll make that back from the parts!

[murran]

me and my mate drift our e21, but then we saved it from the crusher, so we reserve the right to thrash the curse word off it!
me being me i wouldnt feel the same about it if we'd bought the mintest 323i full of nice bits for £3k and doing what we do with this one.

a question for the topgear crew tho..... why didnt they buy 2 marinas? one decent one for the ing around bit of the feature (non destructive) and another knackard (full of holes) rolling shell to burn out??? id suggest that to them for next time!!

[namless]

personally I believe, Your car Your way..... ;D for example; people like drag racing their cars... well then be it! other people like banger racing their cars well then be it! else its going to get crushed if it goes to the scrappy anyway...

[needabeetle]

My opinion is an option you didn't provide:

The cars used should genuinely be shagged and essentially worthless, using good condition, potentially rare cars should be against the rules and anyone entering should be disqualified etc from race.
By shagged cars I'm referring to structural integrity problems, rust so bad its not worth saving the vehicle etc, not poor engines.

Much as that applies, sometimes it doesn't, I accept that my arguement has flaws in, but were the organisers willing to aim for something like that, things could be arranged and thought out properly and thoroughly.

[briandamaged]

Some people restore them, some chop them, some drift them, some race them, and some smash the living sh1t out of them, there's one thing they all have in common.....

They're just cars. There are a million things in this world more worthy of your indignation, terror and anger.

Get over it, enjoy what you've got.....as long as it floats your boat they why waste time crowing about someone else's?

Just my £0,02....

[bmcnut]

As someone whose been in the classic car game for almost 25 years, i love banger racing. Banger racing is how my dad got his love for classics 20 or more years ago, then it rubbed off on me. As far as the complaints go for too many classics being raced, then that surley means there needs to be more people to save the cars, yet in many cases its banger racers or ex banger racers who do save the cars. Some good cars do get raced, but then some good cars just get crushed, or modded beyond any reasonable standard. The one sport that has actualy killed off more rust free cars has surley got to be rallying???

[marinanut]

Dec 26, 2008 21:42:10 GMT murran said:

me and my mate drift our e21, but then we saved it from the crusher, so we reserve the right to thrash the balderdash off it!
me being me I wouldnt feel the same about it if we'd bought the mintest 323i full of nice bits for £3k and doing what we do with this one.

a question for the topgear crew tho..... why didnt they buy 2 marinas? one decent one for the ing around bit of the feature (non destructive) and another knackard (full of holes) rolling shell to burn out??? id suggest that to them for next time!!

I have seen lots of Marinas and Ital go for bangering, BUT the big difference between what the majority of banger drivers do and what TG did is this - banger drivers SELL ON USEABLE SPARES/PARTS/INTERIORS before they trash the rest. TG just trashed TWO MOT'd Marinas because they are twunts. According to one of 'their people', they DID buy two cars, one of which was modified and even resprayed before it was burnt out, the original car gouiing to 'an enthusiast' for restoration. This was complete b*ll*cks as was proven the week after. They are a bunch of lying toerags - period.

As I said, most banger drivers are happy to rebuild a tattered wreck for one or two nights racing, using the income from the sale of the bits and bobs to finance it. The finished article may have a completely different drivetrain from original, and up to a few years ago if someone had a good engine/gearbox combo it could see several meetings unless it was creamed. Of course, there are the less scrupulous end of the spectrum (and I remember a very fraught thread over some rare stolen cars being bangered) who will cock it up for everyone else.....

Oh, I agree with BMCNUT, rallying has killed off more good quality cars than anything else (and put the price of anything Escort through the roof.....) and still more top condition cars are bought up at stupid prices to be hammered to death. In a way its worse than bangering them....

[murran]

lol. you wont find me tearing down a forest track in a knackard sierra estate with no exhaust and all valuable parts removed at 100mph!
can just see the look on sebastian lobes face tho, while hes looking looking round the "new" car he has to compete in under these new rules!!

[hongkongphooey]

I sold my old runabout Nova to a banger racer,it probably would've passed another mot but i couldn't be bothered to do it and didn't need it anymore,so it was out in a blaze of glory or to the crusher,it lasted 3 races and went out in spectacular fashion,a far more fitting end than being picked over and crushed imo.

[daverapid]

Dec 26, 2008 21:53:30 GMT @briandamaged said:

Some people restore them, some chop them, some drift them, some race them, and some smash the living sh1t out of them, there's one thing they all have in common.....

They're just cars. There are a million things in this world more worthy of your indignation, terror and anger.

Get over it, enjoy what you've got.....as long as it floats your boat they why waste time crowing about someone else's?

Just my £0,02....

You are of course absolutely spot on, they are just cars.

However, at the risk of sounding even dafter than most people think I am already, RWD Skodas to me are not just cars, they are a big part of my life, part of me. I've come through childhood, got married, had kids ect, and through all of that I've been Skoda mad....[generally mad! ;D] It genuinely upsets me when old Skodas get trashed. I know it's me being stupid, I know I can't save every Skoda, and know that there are more important things to worry about, but it's how I am, and there's nothing anybody including myself can do about it. Anybody else here feel like that about their choice of car? It can't just be me...can it?

Banger racing/TopGearing [same thing ] isn't a bad thing as long as the car is obtained in a legal and moral way.

[Lankytim]

99% of cars that end up on the track were on their way to the crusher anyway. Its not like theyve been taken away from a concourse competition or anything. As they're howling round the track on their way to oblivion its easy to imagine then with shiny rust free bodywork being polished every sunday but the reality is far far different.

don't forget that cars that end up on the banger track have had their fair shot on the open market and classic buffs have rejected them. The bottom line is the weighbridge... sometimes via the banger track.

[V-Force]

I think that Banger Racing should be just that: knackered old 'normal' cars such as Mk3 Cavaliers, Mondeos etc that are no loss to anyone as millions were produced and they are, to me just boring old plain cars with no soul.

I can just about tolerate cool cars being raced so long as they are knackered, especially structurally. It's when cool cars or cars that are perfectly useable with good parts on them are raced, thats when I get annoyed. I was at Buxton Raceway recently watcing Bangers and its brilliant to watch. Apart from the 3 or so cars that you see that you would happily own

There were loads of VTEC Civics there which got well and truly killed and would have been perfect engine donors. A 2.0 Calibra (C20XE getting a rare engine now apparantley) which got totalled on the first corner, among other things, such as a cool Bluebird diesel which was killed in a single crash (although that seemed knackered anyway engine-wise)

Glad I wasn't there to witness these though

Click the thumbnails to enlarge

www.buxtonracepix.com/080713.htm

www.buxtonracepix.com/080629.htm

Dec 26, 2008 21:55:55 GMT bmcnut said:

The one sport that has actualy killed off more rust free cars has surely got to be rallying???

But how many Rally cars were destroyed intentionally?