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M25 Racing

James_H

And I like to roam the land
Joined
May 18, 2002
Messages
7,626
Very interesting program on the radio this morning: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/pip/3aiq5/

In it, the eternally annoying James May tries to pin down the truth about rumours that were apparently in common currency during the mid to late '80s - was the M25 used as a giant race course for coked-up city boys in the early hours of the morning, in the days before cameras and traffic cops put paid to their shenanigans?

In the program, they frequently refer to this belief as an 'urban legend', though they finish with a positive view on its veracity. They never meet anyone who'll admit to having been part of it, and most of the accounts are very much FOAF.

Does anyone who was around at the time remember these rumours?

Anyway, listen to the program before they take it offline, it's really interesting

james
 
I remember being told about these by my driving instructor in the late 80s, but they were FOAF stories.
 
I don't know if it's like The Fast and the Furious exactly, but aren't there street races held in Britain? Or at least in more isolated locations? The racers have to race somewhere, don't they? There must be footage on YouTube...
 
I was working for a South London company in the early eighties and remember being told by the other reps that on Friday night at midnight, at the Dartford tunnel, the race started, the first car back to the tunnel was the winner. Also I was told the M25 is 100 miles of motorway and the race took an hour.
 
I heard a program on Radio 4 late last year which featured this very subject. Unfortunately it was too long ago to still be featured on 'listen again' but it concluded that the races were indeed a real - if rare - occurance.
 
Maybe the one I heard was a repeat?

I saw a sign on a road yesterday which said 'No racing in horse-drawn vehicles' :shock:
 
H_James said:
Maybe the one I heard was a repeat?

I saw a sign on a road yesterday which said 'No racing in horse-drawn vehicles' :shock:

Was that near Arundel?
 
I know the one you mean! Always makes me chuckle when I bomb past there in my pony n' trap.
 
There's a sign like that near me.

As if the erm, errrrr, ah, "friendly Romany folk" would even think of doing such an anti-social thing as racing their pony-and-gig on the public highway. No, they would read the sign, realise it was against the law, and immediately stop. As they always do.

As for the OP, I can't comment on racing round the M25 when it first opened, I was probably still riding my pushbike to school then. I do, however, know of certain people who have, on occasion, done a circuit of the M25, in the wee small hours, on their shiny new GSXR1000, attempting to beat other times set by certain other people.
Not head-to-head racing, but the advent of tiny digital video cameras means the whole lap can be scrutinised afterwards for short-cuts, along with the slightly-over-the-limit speeds attained on the speedo. (182mph on the one I saw!!!!) If someone has a "loose" number plate, and it falls off, just as the rider pulls away, they probably won't get caught on speed cameras, but will be re-united with the plate upon their return.

I believe that with live camera feeds, and the increasing possibility of being nabbed by an operator tipping off the police, these certain people may have decamped to less over-looked places for their little spins. ;)

And, thanks to You-tube being so eager to grass people up for posting vids of their antics, the camera evidence just gets passed around, rather than posted for the world to see.

I recall someone posted one of a biker doing the Paris ring-road during rush-hour some time back, again achieving stupid speeds, and it made me wince and cringe at his close calls!! Maybe someone has old video cassettes of them racing the M25 in their 911, waiting to be digitised and posted online?
 
vaguely related - I saw a couple of people drag-racing on the marine parade in brighton at about 12:30 last night.
 
H_James said:
vaguely related - I saw a couple of people drag-racing on the marine parade in brighton at about 12:30 last night.

As in racing in frocks, or racing in cars, or knowing Brighton's reputation, both...
 
H_James said:
vaguely related - I saw a couple of people drag-racing on the marine parade in brighton at about 12:30 last night.

Did you see the guy getting flattened by about 6 bouncers at about 12.35?

Don't know if he was involved, but....
 
H_James said:
vaguely related - I saw a couple of people drag-racing on the marine parade in brighton at about 12:30 last night.

When I lived in Brighton (1999-2000) there were always people racing there. Can't see that it does much harm. There is stretch of road or car park in each town where people race. At least there it's out of the way and not by people's houses.
 
Not any more....the boy and girl racers used to use Madeira Drive down by the beach, but the council put traffic calming measures in and that put paid to that.

Apparently Worthing is the place to go nowadays.... :shock:
 
I lost a handbag on the way there once.
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
Not any more....the boy and girl racers used to use Madeira Drive down by the beach, but the council put traffic calming measures in and that put paid to that.

Apparently Worthing is the place to go nowadays.... :shock:
Think I meant Madeira drive... don't know where my head is at.

And no, I didn't see the bouncers :shock:
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
Not any more....the boy and girl racers used to use Madeira Drive down by the beach, but the council put traffic calming measures in and that put paid to that.

Apparently Worthing is the place to go nowadays.... :shock:

Yes I meant Madeira Drive too.
 
I recall Motorcycle News (MCN) doing an article in about 1989 or '90 in which one of their staff writers did a high speed circuit of the M25 in the early hours of he morning. As I recall (and it was a long time ago) the piece spoke about the races (by both cars and bikes) and was extremely cautious about actually naming the aurthor's times and speeds.
 
I've always fondly held the belief that the motorway speed limit was introduced because the various motor manufacturers around the West Midlands at the time used the new M1 as their high-speed test track.
 
When I lived in Brighton (1999-2000) there were always people racing there. Can't see that it does much harm.

A woman has died after a car ploughed into pedestrians in Greater Manchester during a “car meet” for dozens of drivers staging unofficial road races, police said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...nchester-woman-dead-pedestrians-a8379801.html

Two men have been been jailed after a woman was hit by a car that mounted a pavement during a Reading street race and later died.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-34596633

Six people died and 113 were seriously injured in crashes linked to cruising and street racing in Essex in 2002...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jun/27/motoring.ukcrime

Etc.

maximus otter
 
A woman has died after a car ploughed into pedestrians in Greater Manchester during a “car meet” for dozens of drivers staging unofficial road races, police said.

It was inevitable I'm afraid. 2 lane road each way with idiots standing blocking one lane trying to video and entice drivers to do burnouts etc. Being a car nut I nearly went until youngest went, stayed 10 minutes, and warned me what was happening. Lots of You Tubes showing how bad it got. Awful.
 
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