Ringwood Raceway: Banger Heaven

Pictures courtesy of Dan Moth

I’ll be honest, stock car and banger racing had never appealed to me in the past. I live 5 minutes away from a main raceway in Arlington, East Sussex when not at university, but I’ve never been, and had never really considered a visit. But when I was invited to attend a bank holiday event at the local racetrack, Ringwood Raceway, situated just outside Bournemouth, I couldn’t resist but attend, even if through blanket curiosity, and an urge to find out more.

Ringwood Raceway was opened in the mid 1950’s and events run regularly from January through May, and commence again in August after the summer break. I attended a special bank holiday event, which included 4 hours of straight racing from a variety of car formulas. As less than a stock car racing expert, I was told the day would include; rookie banger racing, hot rods, thunder rods, junior rods, and the jaw dropping spectacle that is caravan bangers, or ‘caravan chaos’ as was reverberated around the arena by our commentator for the day.

My immediate attraction was of course the banger racing, as mindless destruction is always a satisfying force, and it didn’t fail to deliver. Within the first lap of the first race, there had already been 4 retirements, with blooms of smoke filling the air and the course laden with fresh debris. But this race wasn’t just a reckless surge to destroy opponents (that was saved for later with the caravans); it was part of the rookie British bangers championship, with £400 prize money up for grabs. So whilst the drivers obviously relished the adrenaline rush that comes from such high intensity racing, and found room for ‘exaggerated collisions’ for the spectator’s amusement, these guys wanted to win, and that was clear throughout the whole day.

Wandering through the pits before the races exemplified this.

A massive space filled with around 100 cars, each with mechanics making their last final adjustments to their cars, preparing for battle.

And with this, broke one of my main presumptions of banger racing, in that it was primarily a cheap way for aspiring racers and adrenaline junkies to get their latest fix, without anything ever being at stake.  But this was far from the case; cars had travelled from far and away to compete in the event, and seemed genuinely disheartened when their cars were barely able to roll off the track.  This obviously comes with the sport, and destruction is part of the appeal, but the pride the drivers took in their cars preparation was certainly striking.

Yet all of this purely fuelled the environment, and created the electric atmosphere like nothing I had ever experienced before. The roar of the cars approaching the track, the first corner mayhem, the photo finishes and the greater sense of community was exciting to experience, if only for the day.

The sense of family within the pits as I walked around was contagious, and you really felt the people involved were in their element, and had such a rich sense of belonging, partaking in the hobby they loved.

One of the main appeals of stock car racing is obviously its accessibility. With day licences to race at £20 and a year licence at just £45, the opportunities to partake in such a high intensity sport cannot be rivalled. And whilst the cost of cars is an additional expense, many of the cars involved were picked up for between £200 & £300,and from the state of many of the cars I saw before the races, they had certainly been put to good use. 

But what of the dangers of the sport?

Kids as young as 5 were rallying the latest crash and the true excitement of the day often came with danger, as both the bangers, and the caravan chaos attracted the most audience participation. Whilst there are strict regulations on the content of the cars, such as no glass, no flammable materials, and bolts on the bonnet to prevent it flying up into the drivers, the structure is still essentially a stripped down, average car, with little thorough reinforcement. I asked keen stock car enthusiast and official photographer at Ringwood Raceway Daniel Moth about the dangers of the sport.

“The nature of the sport means injuries are never uncommon, but they’re not as frequent as you may imagine, and never are they ever serious”

So whilst the danger element is not one to glazed over, the drivers are fully aware of the risks held for them, and choose to participate willingly anyway, and due to the number of moderations made to the car, safety is improved tenfold.

The day wasn’t just about banger racing though, but held host to a number of different competitions, including a personal highlight of the junior rods, which featured competitors as young as 10 firing their way around the oval race track. Some of the talent on show from such young drivers was truly impressive, with one girl winning all three races with impeccable displays, even when starting back of the grid. This wide scope of participants was so fresh to see in a sport like this, as often sports with such intensity are often guarded away from young people, as ‘for their own good’, but here it was openly embraced by all of the audience, which was fantastic.

This was then followed by a series of hot rod races, featuring the fastest cars on offer at the event. These thrilling races were amongst the hottest contested of the day, and the fast paced action roars of each car was reminiscent of NASCAR racing, if only on a smaller scale.

With the climactic ‘caravan chaos’ destruction derby as a finale for the day, people’s excitement really began to grew as the commentator urged us to step away from the guarding fence as to avoid flying debris from decimated caravans.

Not a bad way to build to tension for the forthcoming event. But he wasn’t lying.

The finale: Caravan Chaos saw complete destruction across the whole track

Within the first few laps, past caravans lay in shreds around the course, and a massive pile up prevented other drivers from even using the main track. It certainly was a fitting finale, as the course lay laden with ex-holiday homes, and everyone just about recovered from the hectic 10 minutes that preceded them.

So as the day came to an end, and another successful exhibition over, I felt nothing but content having experienced this wonderfully uniting force, witnessing everyone chipping in to help bundle out the annihilated remains just helped reinforce the sense of family at the event. So whilst banger and stock car racing may never reach the popularity it probably deserves, the richness, and not to mention the pleasure of utter chaos that it spread to me within just one day, it’s certainly worth a try.

To find out more about upcoming events at Ringwood Raceway, visit http://trojaninternational.co.uk/