Banger Racing | Local banger racing info

A trend in recent years has seen banger races take place away from the traditional circuits in fields, with circuits marked out by hay bales and other ready at hand objects; it is easy to see that this form of grass track banger racing is homage to early motorsport, in which the same principle would be used.

Well known circuits for banger racing include Ringwood Raceway, Swaffham and Standlake Arena, all of which hold regular very well attended and publicised meetings.

One of the current trends in banger racing is for competitors to try and find the most unusual and often rare vehicle to race, something which has taken on its own essence of competition as a result.

This leads to a selection of very odd and rarely seen classic cars, all of which are scrap vehicles beyond repair, making appearances at events where there are titles to be won, and these headline events tend to attract a more professional type of driver and team, with engine preparation and tuning, special tyres and other modifications, often seen in the feature race of a meeting.

Popular cars are scrap Fords and Volvos – the latter loved for their well built and heavy construction, being difficult to trash as a result, and scrap Jaguars, while American cars are popular with those looking to present something unusual and out of the ordinary.

Banger racing remains a popular way of entering motor sport and with scrap vehicles – runners – available for very little cost, and little in the way of preparation involved, banger racing looks set to remain a sport of choice for many who simply wish to battle it out on a short oval on a weekend.

Banger Racing as a motor sport

Motor sport is a very popular form of entertainment, yet one that is by its very nature expensive to participate in. Not so banger racing, a branch of motor racing frowned upon by the purists yet very popular and very cheap to enter.

Banger racing is popular in the UK and also in parts of Europe, and takes place at a number of specially built tracks across many countries; these tend to be oval circuits that are essentially dirt tracks, and a popular innovation is to incorporate a figure of eight design into the layout.

This adds to the excitement for, while many banger racing heats are non-contact races, a good number are run with the exciting and often humorous intention of drivers trying their best to wreck rivals cars while keeping their own going to the flag.

As banger racing tracks are very short, generally a quarter of a mile, and the turns necessarily tight the speeds attained are not high, but in non-contact races a deal of skill is required to overtake and stay ahead of the pack.

Traditionally, the last banger race of the day is the contact race – now known as a ‘demolition derby' – and provides much excitement, something that banger racing provides in great amounts.

Banger racing is very popular and, in the UK alone, attracts many participants at the well used and attended tracks; spectator numbers are surprisingly strong as entry costs tend to be very low indeed.