Spedeworth International drew the best Banger racers from around the country to deliver a night of explosive action at Wimbledon Stadium on Feb 15th when close on 200 cars were demolished as Banger pilots put the pedal to the metal in the London Open Championship.
Race 1 set the scene for what was to follow with a series of massive pile ups on the pit bend as the cars thundered into each other with no quarter being given by the drivers. 468, Colin Quinnell steered through the chaos to take the first win of the night ahead of 400, Kevin Shinn.
The remainder of the night's races continued to whittle away at the field with a series of crashes and rollovers that a Hollywood movie director would envy until the battered qualifying cars rolled onto the track for the London Open Championship.
With a grid of star drivers from the Banger racing world all keen to claim the title the race was set to be a classic feat of automotive anarchy. This was born out as soon as the green flag fell and the drivers ploughed into each with abandon. Wimbledon's famous Plough Lane circuit soon resembled a cross between a war zone and a scrap yard as car after car was smashed into the safety fence to expire in a cloud of steam and twisted metal. As the field destroyed each other 28, Ian Gooier wove his way through the carnage and smoking wrecks to take the chequered flag and the London Open Championship title ahead of 869 Tom Sheppard and 7, Colin Farley.
As the crowd got their breath back from the action in the deciding race of the London Open the wounded cars were dragged back to the pits to be coaxed back into life for the demolition derby finale.
Amazingly some 30 odd cars made it back onto the track for the event. The drivers wasted little time in turning their cars around and delivering a series of bone-crunching head on collisions that ended with 706 Danny Lucas emerging from the smouldering remains of once immaculate racing cars to claim the final win of the night as the last car left moving at the end of 2004's London Open.
There will be more stock car action at Wimbledon Stadium on Sunday February 29th at 6pm, when the Stock Cars, Superstox, Hot Rods and V8 Stock Cars take part in a four formula meeting dedicated to the memory of the late Stock Car racing legend 'Foxy' Dance.