Shabby

Want to find views re: Street Racing. I personally hate it when some youth in his dads crappy BMW tries to "take me" at the lights or whatever - I usually let them roar off into the distance and hope that they have gained some sort of thrill for themselves - any other views

Tifosi Red

I've posted about my experiences on this in the past but cannot condone it (and feel guilty about doing it). I'm sure many of us speed or have had encounters on some nice A roads etc. but not post about it but "boy racers" speeding in built up areas goes through me - all too often innocent parties are the ones who come off worst. Case in point happened recently in Oldham. 2 youths leave a petrol station in their Renault 5 GT and Punto HGT - about a mile up the road the Punto has lost control and ploughed into pedestrians on the pavement with a couple of fatalities The driver walked away unscathed. He's now serving time but that doesn't bring anyone back.

Kobe

very true words - I think we all have to admit at doing some stupid driving at some point in our life - but this also includes the Police - who seem to quite like speeding through built up areas that they are not familar with.

Tonky

Let's be honest street racing is stupid and dangerous. Having said that, I've no doubt we all get involved in little traffic light jousts from time to time. The quick 'Who's got the biggest' sprint away from the lights is one thing, but the drawn- out protracted street racing we hear about at 3 figure speeds is criminally dangerous.

I'm often torn between letting the no-hopers get on with it and thinking... "Why should I endorse this guys stupidity. Would I act like he's doing if I was parked next to a McLaren F1?"

Difficult choices involving maturity. I don't always make it!

Frenchie

I confess I like to get away from the lights PDQ, but that's because I like to be 'ahead of the traffic'. I see that as different from racing. If someone obviously wants a race (e.g. Modded M reg BMW 2.5 wanted to prove something on Sunday morning) I let them get on with it.

I KNOW that my car is faster than most others on the road; I don't feel the need to prove it. More importantly I don't feel the need to take chances with my life and the lives of others in order to prove it. That doesn't mean to say I don't drive quickly; I do and, in 100 overtaking situations, it's me doing the overtaking in 99 of them

IMHO, people who race in built-up areas are totally irresponsible and criminally stupid. Tif's comments on that incident in Oldham say it all.

hazdjc

I find street racing stupid and dangerous. I enjoy driving my car. When I get a BR wanting to race me I just let him go. We all know what our cars can do 0-60 & top so why prove it to someone else. If they know anything about cars (which they mostly do) then they know we can leave them standing or they can leave us in a cloud of tyre smoke.

I drive through Nottingham City at night (11.00pm), where many MAX car enthusiasts gather (some times up to 100), some try and race me through the city, but I know that I have a better 0-60 than a V Corsa

dave

S2000RJ

I guess it depends on your definition of street racing. I choose it to mean racing at high speed on a public road, which may involve aggressive overtaking maneuvers and almost certainly illegal speeds and lack of attention to other road users. On this basis, I find it juvenile and dangerous.

I exclude from this definition the casual burn-up at traffic lights. If the conditions are suitable, I may have a fun joust with another car, up to my chosen (non-license threatening) safety limit. I have outdragged a Boxster S from traffic lights (on a dual carriageway, national limit). I know that I can drive in an intimidating manner sometimes, but I hope that I don't push either of us past our safety limits. The worst case was getting stuck behind a Sierra XR4 Turbo, he couldn't get the thing through or out of corners, but I didn't have the space to get by him before the turbo kicked in and he was off. I couldn't believe how bad the turbo lag was

The most fun I had was one year on the run down to LeMans. I was driving a rather elderly Cavalier 1800. It was about 2am with deserted straight and open roads, so I was happy to drive a bit above the speed limit. There was a Ferrari (can't remember the model), who was driving at the speed limit, so everyone was overtaking. Then he opened it up and screamed past everyone, pulled in ahead and dropped down to the speed limit. This happened two or three times, it was brilliant just to hear the roar of that car coming past Not racing, but someone enjoying the power of a beautiful machine. I like to think that I'm a bit like that in the S2000.

PS Try spell checking Boxster

MarkB

I find the best way to wind up your average boy racer is one of three gestures as they roar away in a cloud of blue 'whats an oil seal' smoke:-

a) The shakey head - says "Silly little boy, I know I can beat you, YOU know I can beat you so why bother"
b) The Hand Clap - says "Well, that was clever, I can see you're well endowed now, arsehole" - this one is especially good with BMW drivers for some reason...
c) The Gareth 'Nescafe' Hunt signal - I think that one speaks for itself and usually results in the return signal one or two fingers followed by another cloud of blue smoke.

Shabby

yes - I find that the best signal to give rather than the Gareth Hunt Arthur J Ranker signal is a broad smile - seems to wind them up no end.

ianl

You are so right! A few weeks back an M3 came storming down the outside of a slowly moving queue of traffic and made an 'either you back off or we both have an accident' maneuver to pull into line in front of me - I applauded this skillful, public spirited piece of driving and the BMW driver got very animated indeed!