Hi,
I dont banger race but think it is great to watch. On the few occasions I have been, I went to Ringwood Race way and a one near Great Yarmouth.
Don't know about your cars, but the weapon of choice is usually one of the following:
1. Ford Granada
2. Ford Cortina
3. Austin A60
4. Nissan Laurels/bluebirds etc
5. And I once read Nissan Stanzas arn't bad neither!
At the great yarmouth event, there was Reliant Robin racing, Banger racing, Stunt show and banger ramp rollover, all in the same night. It was a shame to see one of very few Opal Senators (Mk1) bite the dust during the stunt show by smashing into the side of a Sierra.
The only objection I have to it, is when some increasingly rare car bites the dust at the hands of the of a banger racer. A60s in particular are one such car which is in danger of being banger raced to oblivion. Some cars herald some rather useful parts before-hand. But I have to admit that the majority of people say that the useful panels and parts are sold on, and the car itslef is "beyond repair" so there would be no other use for it.
Game on!
Roberson.
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Hi mate,
I mainly use 2.8 mk2 Granadas and sometimes for the lesser class Mk3 vauxhall cavaliers or sierras,
cheers
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Haven't been since I was a kid, but seem to remember the Volvo 240's being almost unbeatable at highedge raceway in Buxton. Also once went to a track in Bournemouth and someone was racing a huge American behemoth of a car, it's crumple zones were bigger than most of the other cars wholoe length.
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I used to go regularly to the old Rayleigh Stadium when I was a young teenager, my schoolfriend's BIL used to drive and we used to help him in the pits, mainly with sledgehammers bending wings out of the way I recall! Great fun, plus I learnt a bit about cars and a lot about people and the big, bad world outside of the schoolroom, talk about the University of Life...
Sadly it all came to an end for me when friend's sister discovered kids which meant his BIL had more important things to do with his time and money, or so he was told :-} It also didn't help that they pulled the Stadium down and built a Sainsbury's there instead, the heathens.
Looking back it breaks my heart what we did to good old cars which are todays classics, mostly used to run Ford Consuls and Zephyrs, Westminsters and Cambridges but we did once run a MkII Jag, a la Inspector Morse, in the Death Destruction Derby; probably should have got life for that!
Forgot all about it until last year when my eldest decided that he wanted to take his mates banger racing for his birthday, still, to this day, I don't know where he got the idea from. We all toddled off to Arena Essex and it took about 10 minutes for the old buzz to return. Had a cracking days entertainment and have been back several times to top up the fix, seems a little more civilised than in days of yore but still makes the adrenalin rush.
Cockle
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It also didn't help that they pulled the Stadiumdown and built a Sainsbury's there instead,
so that's why it's called stadium way where Sainsbury's is!
Had a mk2 Granny several years ago, could never get spares at the breakers for it as all the Grannys that came in ended up on the banger circuit (well they were built like tanks!)
One particular breaker even advised me to lock my car away in a garage every night as they were highly desirable to be nicked by some unscrupulous racers.
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so that's why it's called stadium way where Sainsbury's is!
Too right!
I spent many happy hours in that stadium, it was ramshackle but it was ours, if you know what I mean.
Not only used to go banger racing there but also to the speedway to watch my beloved Rayleigh Rockets, standing on the third bend being covered in shale by the likes of Terry Stone, Tiger Beech, Dingle Brown et al.
I'm not ashamed to say I wept when the bulldozers went in, well, to be honest, cried my eyes out.
When the Sainsbury opened several of us got thrown out for racing trolleys around the aisles, our excuse that we thought the bakery department was where the starting gate had been didn't seem to wash. It wasn't but we felt we had to make a point!
Cockle
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Ha ha,
Some good replys turning up.
Banger racing has indeed I think Improved with time, No one should steal a car of any description for any purpose it just shouldnt happen. Mk2 Granadas are drying up a bit now but I have contacts to get mine from, I only race ones which are really "Beyond Salvage" No point in killing a good car, Still plenty of Sierras available for me though
Cheers
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Have been to several meets over the last couple of years in Essex, i enjoy Arena Essex but i don't think it had the raw appeal that the Braintree Auto club circuit at Felsted had. Now that particular circuit has had a by-pass built through the middle of it, i started visiting the north Essex track at Henham. Now while i enjoy banger racing very much and indeed any form of motorsport, i'm still dissapointed that every time i go my kids have to hear either foul language or to witness the ubiquitous punch up between drivers that seems to occurr at every meeting.
Maybe the sport has an image problem? i'm not sure. You could say that it's at the bottom end of the motorsport scale and some people wouldn't be seen dead at a meeting which is a shame 'cos it has arguably the best close at hand raw racing you'll ever see.
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I used to go to Hednesford Raceway, the noise and the smell is amazing, thought figure of eight was a bit dangerous-looking, do you go in for that RL?
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I've been to see banger racing a couple of times at the Dover raceway which is at the bottom of a great natural amphitheatre. Also to the Stock and Banger racing at Warton nr Carnforth, Lancs. Good harmless fun!
Andy
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I used to go to Hednesford Raceway, the noise and the smell is amazing, thought figure of eight was a bit dangerous-looking, do you go in for that RL?
Oh, that's brought back memories. We used to go to Hednesford occasionally too, usually for the end of season funny races.
There was the tandem racing where two cars were lashed together side by side, but my absolute favourite had to be the caravan racing. Fantastic.
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Just had to say: All those people on here who really hate caravans, you would adore caravan banger racing :D
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Yes Caravan racing is good, I normally drive through the back of the Caravan in front and use the chassis to jump over the car!
Only raced a figure of eight once, good fun but a bit complicated and easy to spin out
Cheers
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Ah yes, memories of watching caravan destruction at Buxton...
Particularly humourous was a van being towed at speed up a ramp and smashed to pieces. Might have been the same occasion someone drove a Reliant too fast on two wheels and rolled it - just for a laugh.
I can almost smell the hotdogs. Great stuff.
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Saw a Ford Consul MKII c1960 vintage on its way to a banger race and destruction this week. It seems such a shame that such a car cannot be saved when you have so many Cavaliers and Sierras to use instead!
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I'm very interested to hear about what used to be where Sainsbury's is now in Rayleigh, i.e. a Stadium! We moved down to Benfleet in 1986 and I can clearly remember Saisbury's and Perrys etc. being there then, so this must have all happend well before.
Banger racing? Is that what we all do on the A13 twice a day?!
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I'm very interested to hear about what used to be where Sainsbury's is now in Rayleigh, i.e. a Stadium! We moved down to Benfleet in 1986 and I can clearly remember Saisbury's and Perrys etc. being there then, so this must have all happend well before.
The Weir Stadium was home to the Rockets from 1948 until 1973, which is when they pulled it down, the Rockets, and many of the supporters travelled to Rye House near Hoddesdon, Herts from 74 on. The Supporters Club used to run coaches from the Weir pub car park every Sunday up to Rye House for some years after. The actual stadium itself wasn't actually on the site of the Sainsbury's store, we used a bit of licence to make a point, but further up Stadium Way nearer where Perry's/Essex Ford is now.
I have to admit to my misspent youth being in the late 60's/early 70's!
Cockle
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I've got some pictures taken in 1988 at a banger race. Looking back it is a bit sad to see several Citroen GS's, Alfasuds, Triumph 2000's and Peugeot 504's being trashed. But at the time they were just old production cars.
In 10 or 15 years, I expect the same will be said about Sierras and Cavaliers.
There is an upside though - think of all those NIssans and Daewoo's that can be used in the future...
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