WRECKS IN PIECE
Banger racing, those two words can strike up enough controversy to equal anything that the rich & famous can provide! The divide that are classic car owners & racers has raged on for years, and no doubt still will, with mud being flung in both directions! On one hand, the general concensus is that racers are all bad but they are not; yes there are a minor few who spoil the sports reputation but some will offer the spares to the owners clubs or even sell a decent car they may have bought and many drive road-going classics too. What they do race are wrecks that are in most cases beyond restoration or would require incredible amounts of money invested. But sometimes you do get the odd racer with more money than sense who buys a decent classic, often rare or unique!!
On the other hand are we classic people also at blame? The majority of the time now, classic cars appear for sale on ebay, and when this happens it’s easy pickings for racer/restorer alike; if you don’t want the car raced then buy it, even if it’s for spares! We heard that one racer called the owners club of a particular marque, said what he was doing and offered the whole stripped spares for free and just had the phone slammed down on him..incredible.
Whilst the club as a whole has to frown upon the sport, ourselves, Dean & Sandra, can see both sides of the story. Sandra used to race herself so can appreciate what can or can’t (shouldn’t?) be raced especially when hearses are concerned but lets face it, an old coachbuilt hearse would require alot of work to remove the panels to access the wood and where the glassfibre bodies are concerned, access to rotten metal is nigh on impossible especially around the roof framework although sill areas can be bad too!
Looking at the lists of hearses raced over the years, there have been many ending their lives on the track.
During the 1980s, they were few & far between but the 1990s saw the banger hearse scene explode with DR45Os, Farinas, Mk3/4 Zephyr Zodiacs, the odd Austin 3Ltr, Pre Farina models all appearing (albeit in small numbers) but most popular were the big D-series Austins
Only a handful of DS420s were appearing each year as were Mk1 Granadas but as the older tin dried up, the Daimlers & Mk2 Granadas took their place and now in the present day, it’s the Vauxhall Carltons, Mk3 Granadas, Volvo 7-series that dominate – and when something old does appear, its a track favourite.
Sadly, the CHR can take part blame for this. Whilst in 1993 when it was first started, the concept of getting together enthusiasts/owners was a good idea, it also brought out of storage from many FDs garages/barns old examples asking to be saved and thus were advertised in the club mag which led them into the jaws of the racers. Now we have fewer racers in the club and any that are hiding behind different aliases are in for a shock as we have very few classifieds in The Mourning News simply because of ebay!
We at the club rarely get told of anything now, it just goes onto ebay. If we can save a hearse by finding a member we will but space & money is a big problem, and the cost of transportation is another factor, especially if said hearse is the opposite end of the country!
Summing up, there is no doubt that there are many surprises sitting in the racers yards as some store up cars/hearses for years but as we keep saying, we cannot save them all so it’s time we should all try and get on togther..we certainly have no beef with the racers.
Check out the links opposite for some banger websites that do get updated as & when races happen.
We would like to thank Steve & Daniel Stacey of Banger Madness (both sites) for their help with logging hearses, and of course club members Lee Gibson & Mark Josey – well, on & off member!