I race at Crimond stockcar track in the north east of Scotland which is a small oval, but unlike most tracks has tires around the sides not a wall.
I race in two classes the saloonstox which are heavily modified car based on ford sierra that run a tuned 2L pinto engine. This is the main class I race in, the other is just for fun.
The other class I race in is bangers. Within this class there are different car rules depending on what meeting it is. There are 1400cc bangers which is for cars that have engines up to 1.4L, this is the class I race the justy in( I thought the 4wd would help the car handle better than the other so the lack of horse power wouldn’t be to bad). My brother races a Nissan sunny in this class which has a 1.4L twin cam 16 Valve engine which is quite a bit faster than the justy but handles like crap
and my friend Pete races a rover 214.
The other class of bangers are unlimited which means you can race anything. I currently race a 88 Honda Accord in which I’ve won 3 out of 6 races this year (would have been 4 but I got a back passenger side tire puncture and on the last lap i went too fast in to the corner hit the tires and flipped on to my side
)and has me placed 3rd in the points
. In this class my brother races a Volvo 740 but he doest race much, he helps me win by slowing every one else down (it is legal I’ll explain the rules later). My friend Pete did race a rover 827 but I’m not sure if it will go again as its about 2ft shorter than it should be and the front passenger side sits about an inch off the floor.
The Bangers are a cheap formula to race in as they are just old cars that aren’t worth much anymore. To get them ready to race you remove most of the interior, anything that might be flammable and all the glass. Then you put in a roll cage in and a thick metal plate over the drivers door. All the doors have to be secured shut so it’s best to weld them, some people chain the shut but welding helps the rigidity of the car. The Battery must be moved inside the car and covered. If you want or if the petrol tank is behind the rear axle you can change it and put it inside the car (most people use fire extinguishers for this). Another optional thing you can put in side the car is the radiator so if you damage the front end you don’t puncture it.
The reason for most of these rules are contact is permitted in this class which means you can spin people out, hit them in to the tires etc. the only things not allowed are hitting stationary cars, head-on’s and follow-in’s (when you get behind someone going in to the corner and “follow” there car in to the tires), this is banned as it folds a car up like you wouldn’t believe
and is very dangerous for the driver, but some other tracks in the country allow this.
The rules make it easier if you race in a team as you get one person in a faster, smaller, lighter car racing (me in my Honda) and other people in bigger strong cars taking out and slowing down the competition (my brother in his 740).
The rules make the racing fun but it can also be extremely annoying as you car can get wrecked in one race ( there are 3 races for each class on a normal meeting). A wide variety of cars race in the bangers from normal family cars, to jaguars, Mercedes, and even hearse’s.( I’m currently trying to get a Rolls-Royce to use, just have to persuade the owner to let me have it, as its currently sitting rotting in a field) Although the favorite cars are old ford Granada’s and Cortina’s
Ill post some pictures of the justy some time soon. But if you go to
community.webshots.com/photo/135733420/135734165MyzPbvYou can see a picture of my Honda (255), Pete’s Rover 827 (250), and a little bit of my brothers Volvo(277). With the usual type of Scottish weather
Crimonds home page:
rankinracers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/page22.html I’m number 45 in the saloons, my brothers 77, and my sisters 57
rjm045
ps sorry for the long post