"Banger" Racing?

Has anybody seen this on Youtube?

It appears to be British, and it looks like a combination of Enduro racing and demolition derby.

But I can't figure out what the point is, and how the drivers decide to try and make laps, or intentionally crash into other crashed cars.

It is strange, but maybe it makes more sense if you understand it? I don't know.

Greg

We have been watching it during lunch at work and I can only imagine that some of these drivers have a death wish. I am also confused on how it is scored because some of the hits render the driver or the car unable complete any more laps. It's a wonder nobody gets killed during these things.

Gus

Wonder how a 60's C-Body Mopar would do in that race ?????
Seems to be all about 'rear ending somebody'
Doesn't seem to be many fires or such.

Thats UK and Holland mostly , sending the car out with a bang ... Rules are like speedway, the one with most laps wins the heat, but you can also go out just to wreck people, choice is yours...whats crazy, that most of the drivers will pull total wreck with HIABs and race it in another heat the same day ! Some of the crashes have to be close to 50-60MPH , I lived in UK near one of the tracks, I thought the drivers are mental, they probably are...Cars have floor, roof and door plate and H-frame behind the driver with fuel tank, do not have rads, just big water tanks behind the engine...welding should be limited to rust repair, mostly bolted together with the plates. They let prepped Imp to couple of the meetings and had to ban it after that...one of the head-ons resulted in other drivers injury...It is brutal sometimes, favourite cars are old Granadas, E-class mercs, Volvos, and whatever US wreck they can get their hands on...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4szAE96LoDA

I’ve watched a bunch of it on youtube over the years. The “follow ins” into a corner can be brutal sometimes, with the leading car folding up pretty good. You occasionally see American cars in them, they do pretty good but can be ganged up on as well. The guys over there do some modifications that don’t make sense to me though. The v8 is almost always replaced with a 4 or 6 cylinder, and the live axle is replaced with a Jaguar independent setup which seems backwards for strength, especially if the car originally had leafs. But I guess it’s what they’re used to, and I’m sure spare parts are hard to come by.
I’ve seen a few vids with Imperials like the one above, they can lay waste to pretty much anything across the pond on a one on one I would think.

Can't be as dumb as drifting.

a fully prep imp or vic

I spent 7 of my 10 years in the USAF in England. Every year in the fall, they have "Grass Track Racing" out in the country. Take a mowed hay field put up some cones to mark the track, and have at it. A couple of heats of race Minis, then the Bangers would come out. occasionally someone would lose the steering and crash into a spectator's car. Great fun to watch, but just like at a hockey game, don't take your eyes off the action...

Yeah, the thing I didn't mention in my original post was the violence of the crashes! The speeds seem okay if your trying NOT to crash (like an Enduro), but way too fast if you ARE trying to. I am surprised more drivers don't end up hurt based on some of the crashes I've seen.