How the Fuck Is Banger Racing Legal?

"mwoodski" (mwoodski) 04/21/2015 at 21:42 • Filed to: None

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For those unaware, Banger Racing is a European “motorsport” that’s essentially a rolling demo derby on an oval. How the fuck it’s legal in a Health and Safety obsessed place like Europe is absolutely beyond me.

Nevermind the fact that at certain “race” meetings people try and find the rarest car they can to turn into a small ball of metal, but the lack of safety cages and safety on the tracks is absolutely astounding. As this video shows, these cars aren’t equipped with rollcages:

...and the tracks themselves are laughably inadequate when it comes to barriers, as you can see from the video above, the Wimbeldon oval’s outside “wall” is merely a bunch of posts and wires, like a shitty highway “barrier.”

Now, what’s known as the “follow-in,” while highly illegal, happens quite often. As the name implies, the following car simply doesn’t touch the brakes going into a corner and serves the car in front of it into the wall without stopping, something that is ridiculously dangerous as well.

How shit like this is still able to be put on is absolutely beyond me. At least put some goddamn roll cages in the things.

dogisbadob > mwoodski 04/21/2015 at 21:44

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Ever heard of LeMons and Chumpcar? :p

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > mwoodski 04/21/2015 at 21:45

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i dont see how this is any different than american demolition derbies? the ones ive been to dont use roll cages or even firesuits

mwoodski > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero 04/21/2015 at 21:48

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You’re also not doing 60-70mph straight into the back of a stationary vehicle.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > mwoodski 04/21/2015 at 21:55

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maybe not the ones youve been to but the ones ive been to have seen speeds of about 40-50 which is still pretty bad for only have lap belts and a helmet

KirkyV > mwoodski 04/21/2015 at 21:58

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I don’t know about the rest of Europe, but - outside of our far stricter approach to driver licensing and yearly inspections - the UK tends to be pretty lenient with this sort of thing, when it comes to both racing events and road legal cars that probably shouldn’t be. We are the land of Atoms, Caterhams, Morgans, Nobles and the like, after all.

Baeromez > mwoodski 04/21/2015 at 22:11

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Figure eight racing:

Skip to 3:15

mwoodski > Baeromez 04/21/2015 at 22:35

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Yeah, both of those cars are caged.

They do wacky shit like that out in the midwest. The pro-stock Figure 8 cars are even crazier.

Baeromez > mwoodski 04/21/2015 at 22:38

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Yeah, beyond the speed of those things on a figure 8, the whole giant plexi wing panel things is pretty strange.

dieselectric > mwoodski 04/21/2015 at 23:45

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I don’t know - perhaps having a country with really good health care makes people a little more carefree about barreling towards each other in tin cans? They smoke a lot in Europe too.

I could not make it all the way through that video of “greatest hits”. I truly think there was at least one fatality in there, and agree - they need roll cages.

mwoodski > dieselectric 04/21/2015 at 23:51

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No fatalities.

dieselectric > mwoodski 04/22/2015 at 01:31

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That makes me feel better, but really it is just a matter of luck on many of those hits.

mwoodski > dieselectric 04/22/2015 at 02:13

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I agree. One of the other fun things is people try to find the most interesting cars to wreck. Which takes away a lot of classics, and then there’s the more modern classics that get stuffed like this...

ministox_777 > mwoodski 05/17/2015 at 17:40

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Actually Banger racing is a very safe sport. The cars are built professionally and the cars not having roll cages is actually good, because the energy of the impact is absorbed. If the cars had roll cages and wouldn’t bend all the energy of the impact would go onto the driver. There is a very strong H-Frame made of thick steel behind the driver and there is a thick steel door-plate on the drivers door. I’ve been to many banger races in the Neterlands, Belgium and Great Britain and I haven not seen a single driver seriously injured or killed. The most severe injury I have seen was a broken leg.

Also the post and wires at wimbledon stadium are very safe too, because they are strong but give way on a hard impact, so the driver is safe. But there are other tracks with concrete walls or even SAFER barriers as well.

By the way: Follow inns are not illegal in banger racing. ;) The only illegal thing is driving into the drivers door.