XK120 banger racing!

Author
Discussion

plonker751

59 posts

164 months

Wednesday 7th July 2010
quotequote all
Im sorry, im not trying to piss anyone off here, but alot of you seem to be just jumping to the conclusion that banger racing is just get any old car, smash it up end of, well i can tell you, ITS NOT.
Believe it or not, ALOT of time and effort and not too mention money goes into these bangers, for instance, some may think its mad, but near on £500 went into just the paint alone on th xk150, i no of cars that have had more than 5x that amount spent on them. So before you start sayin that were all the same and dont give a t*** about the cars, think again. I can think on more than one occasion where ive seen a 'banger' thats had so much work put into it it ends up rivaling how good it looked when it came out of the showroom!
Also, the cars arnt just built and smashed up without a care in the world, some cars will last alot more than one meeting, so not being funny or anything, but before you go slating 'us lot' for ruining nice cars, get your facts right, most of the 'classic cars' that have been bangered are well passed it for road use and alot of the parts we strip off we offer to the classic car community to keep YOUR road cars going not just chuck all the bits in the scrap.

I like to think of my 'crime' in this way, where it may have been a shame to race the xk150, all the bits weve sold off it are keeping another buety on the road, in fact, we have already sold the WHOLE car to someone once weve finished with it anyway. So not a complete waste.
On a brighter note, greatly apprieciate the good comments ive read on here people smile

a8hex

5,829 posts

222 months

Wednesday 7th July 2010
quotequote all
plonker751 said:
a8hex said:
plonker751 said:
Hello
Thought i would introduce myself, im the person who raced the xk150, i can fully apprieciate the unhappy thoughts/comments that have been thrown myway, im the driver and even part of me thought it was wrong pullin onto ipswich track in the car, yes it was a very clean car with not a bit of rust on it anywhere and im not joking, but best part of it was missing, all the interior but the dash which is still up for sale, no wheels, roof had been cut off etc etc, it probably was restorable but we decided to have abit of fun with it, seeing as it was the 1st of its kind to hit the track.
Can I ask you to provide the details of the car from the chassis plate plate, so the archivists at least know what has happened to the car.


On a 1957 car it should be by the firewall on the exhaust side (outlined in white in the picture)
The chassis number will be something like S824XXX possibly with BW (Auto) or DN (overdrive) at the end.
The engine number would be V followed by 4 digits then -8 (this is the compression ratio, could also be -7 or -9, although I'm not aware of any being built in 1957). Was this the engine and head still fitted?
Hello mate, i can fully apprieciate what your asking, as i wanted to find out abit about the history of the car, and im being 100% honest when i say this, the car doesnt have that plate on it and never did when we got hold of it, the engine on the other hand, weve been told by the previous owner that this was the original engine, i cannot verify this though, just going by what we were told when we went to pick it up.
To everyone thouh who has called me one name or another for racin it, fair enough, your opinion, just gonna say this, i never hear you moan about people smashing nice classics up on the rally curcuit, its just us banger boys who seem to always get it in the kneck.
The car WAS NOT financailly viable to repair IN OUR OPINION, it got raced and i can tell you this, we have heard more good opinions than bad so far, and i enjoyed myyself racing it, thats all that matters to me.
Hi,
OK, if the data plate is missing then there are two copies of the chassis number on the chassis itself, but there are a bit of a faff to find. I think one is near the front under where the radiator is/was.

The engine block number is down near the oil filter. But the head number is really easy to find at the front of the valley between the cam covers.



This isn't an original XK150 head, yours should have a V number and be worth a lot more. I would have thought a running XK150 motor would be valuable enough to warrant you swapping over to a XJ6 4.2 lump. If it has the same block and head number.

V????-? is a 3.4
VA????-? is a 3.8
VS????-? is a 3.4 S, triple carb
VAS????-? is 3.8S, again triple carb.

If the car is an S, either 3.4 or 3.8 then it would almost certainly have been an economical rebuild.
(Of course IMHO all XKs are worth saving :-) )


I guess the way I would see the difference between the way that you race your cars and what happens in classic racing and rallying is that they don't set out to damage the car and when they do get damaged they are usually fixed. There is a healthy racing scene for XKs. XK150 FHCs are very popular in this series. I can understand that you enjoyed driving her, I love to drive mine and I take her on the track when I can.

a8hex

5,829 posts

222 months

Wednesday 7th July 2010
quotequote all
Our postings crossed.

I'm glad to her that you have sold her.
A straight chassis and engine can be very valuable to someone who wants to rebuild a car and as I mentioned there is an active community who race XKs, they need an original chassis as a starting point, the rest can be replaced.

Spottedlaurel

461 posts

168 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
I watched this car race at Foxhall on Sunday. I was surprised to see it there, but I’m really impressed with how plonker751 has put his case, and also with the work put into it and how it looked. It survived remarkably well against a field of mainly XJ saloons.

Don’t know if anyone else here went, but there was also an XJ fitted with an awesome-sounding V8.

As my thing is old Japanese cars, especially Datsuns, I made friends with my local racers when these cars were commonly seen on the oval. I ended up with many parts, swapped panels so I ended up with better ones, sold them the odd car when I’d stripped something which was too far gone, etc. Thanks to one racer I once found a spectacularly rare Laurel coupe (one of only two known in the UK) which I helped find a home for.

village idiot

Original Poster:

3,158 posts

266 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
just for my 2p's worth (as the original poster)... i am a great lover of stock-car racing and i look forward to seeing the extra special efforts made by the banger boys for the ipswich spedeweekend (which is not traditionally a major banger fixture)... with many thousands of people in attendance, the entertainment factor is worth plenty, but as a lover of cars, i will admit that more than an eyebrow was raised to see that car heading round the track.

the general idea of banger racing (and indeed stock-car racing) is great... cars are intercepted between being taken off the road and put in the crusher and given a new (and sometimes final) lease of life... this surely makes it one of the most environmental forms of motorsport out there (ignoring the national hot rods, superstox and f1 stock cars which are purpose built).

as i mentioned in my original post, the historic stock-car circuit on the other hand is fantastic... cars which are probably non-economically viable to repair are being lovingly converted to stock-cars which thanks to their body armour have a relatively infinite life... if anyone ever gets a chance to watch historic stock-car racing, i am sure you will love it... they definitely don't hold back and the field is now beginning to out-numbered those more modern formulas.

i look forward to ipswich next year!

guru_1071

2,768 posts

233 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
RetroCosworth said:
guru_1071 said:
i guess this is no different from people using valuable cars in historic racing.

it only takes one huge crash to wreck a comnpetition car.

other peoples cars, other peoples money, if they want to banger race a xk let them, the value of all the other ones left have just gone up!
As said, Historic racing is very different to banger racing.

ive competeted/spectated in a few historic races where some of the drivers with, shall we say, larger wallets than me treated their and other peoples cars as if they where banger racing!!

my point was this chap has found a car and made the economic choice to do with his property what he wants - i dont agree with it, but good luck to him - and kudos for been man enough to face the criticism of doing so!

Spottedlaurel

461 posts

168 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
I agree, the historic stock cars were excellent. It was good to have the 1300 and 2-litre stock cars on at the same meeting too. Despite the main event of the day being for the National Hot Rods with their World Championship race (and the same for the Lightning Rods, although there was as much contact in that as some of the banger/stock car races!) it was a remarkably contact-heavy set of formulae they had on.

I’d like to see the classic hot rods race too, Mk2 Escorts were the car of the day when I first started going, with Starlets just creeping in, and that one on display outside the turnstiles looked gorgeous.

RetroCosworth

7,211 posts

203 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
plonker751 said:
Im sorry, im not trying to piss anyone off here, but alot of you seem to be just jumping to the conclusion that banger racing is just get any old car, smash it up end of, well i can tell you, ITS NOT.
I know of an ex banger racer who would nick any car on the road that wasn't in use and use it for banger racing, this is how I came to my conclusion. He had no respect for them and would abuse anything whether it be worse £5K in mint condition or rare.

plonker751 said:
Believe it or not, ALOT of time and effort and not too mention money goes into these bangers, for instance, some may think its mad, but near on £500 went into just the paint alone on th xk150, i no of cars that have had more than 5x that amount spent on them. So before you start sayin that were all the same and dont give a t*** about the cars, think again. I can think on more than one occasion where ive seen a 'banger' thats had so much work put into it it ends up rivaling how good it looked when it came out of the showroom!
I've been to a couple of banger racing meets and to be honest I can't see the logic in ploughing money into a car you're going to eventually ruin. It's like getting drunk continually, where is the benefit? There isn't one.

I've seen some good examples, but no way are they near the showroom look.

plonker751 said:
Also, the cars arnt just built and smashed up without a care in the world, some cars will last alot more than one meeting, so not being funny or anything, but before you go slating 'us lot' for ruining nice cars, get your facts right, most of the 'classic cars' that have been bangered are well passed it for road use and alot of the parts we strip off we offer to the classic car community to keep YOUR road cars going not just chuck all the bits in the scrap.
Well clearly they're if they are hit with a hammer to last another meeting and the engines are pushed until they don't work. I'm sure of them are 'past it' but it seems a waste to rag it to death rather than restore it and look after it.

plonker751 said:
I like to think of my 'crime' in this way, where it may have been a shame to race the xk150, all the bits weve sold off it are keeping another buety on the road, in fact, we have already sold the WHOLE car to someone once weve finished with it anyway. So not a complete waste.
On a brighter note, greatly apprieciate the good comments ive read on here people smile
I still can't see the logic of 'banger racing' and never intend to. It's just a grown up form of bumper cars for those who don't want to do proper racing.

Nick_F

10,154 posts

245 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
Reassuring to see that snobbery matters.

I was once beaten to a car by a bloke who wanted to use it for bangers - I was annoyed at the time, but I finished up helping to prepare it.

On the track or gone for scrappage, which would you rather?

MX7

7,902 posts

173 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
Nick_F said:
Reassuring to see that snobbery matters.

I was once beaten to a car by a bloke who wanted to use it for bangers - I was annoyed at the time, but I finished up helping to prepare it.

On the track or gone for scrappage, which would you rather?
Neither.

plonker751

59 posts

164 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all

Hi cosworth
Well for one thing, that ex banger racer who went out and stole other cars laid up or not is the sort of person who gives banger racin a bad reputation which the makes you tar us all with the sae brush, I would NEVER EVER think about knicking someoneelse's property for banger racing, EVERY SINGLE ONE of my cars hvave been legally aquired.
You cant see the logic in 'ploughing money' into a car im going to smash up, fair enough, your opinion, if i new abit more about you i could probably find somthing i think is abit pointless in your life, not having a go here, just expressing my opinion.
To your third comment, have you ever even seen a banger getting built, yes, at the track after the 1st race and it dont matter too much about the appearance, yes the hammers do come out, but on initial prep, alot of effort goes into a banger, for instance, the Spedewort Banger World Final, the work that goes into some of them is unreal, better than original on a few occasions, people get cars powder coated, proffesionally sprayed, last year some one had a Mk2 Ford Granada painted completely in Chrome!
Not trying to rude as i dont want this all going tits up and turning into an arguement where i will most likely be out numbered, befre you start telling me what banger racings like, get all the facts, noit just a few of them and drawing conclusions from them, you dont just read the ending of a book and assume what the beginings like, you read it all, exactly the same here mate.
Engine wise, there are some that get ragged right up until they s**t there pants and sieze solid, as ive done it many occasion, only last november i siezed up my only 2ltr pinto, im 18 and even i no there getting hard to find, probably reason why i havent got a replacement yet, but alot of the top drivers spend alot of elbow grease and some cases alot of cash on there engines, and when you dont have the money us banger drivers at least give the engine a good service as theres really no point putting all the work into a banger, get to the track, engines only on 2/6 cylinders and it blows up 1st lap.
Lastly, i quote you
I still can't see the logic of 'banger racing' and never intend to. It's just a grown up form of bumper cars for those who don't want to do PROPER RACING.
Banger racing is a proper form of racing, jsut you dont think it is as you dont agree with it, simple question
why isnt it a proper form of racing?

bigblock

772 posts

197 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
Well said young man.

You are obviously pasionate about your form of motorsport and have an interesting car with which to take part.

Good luck to you.

plonker751

59 posts

164 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
bigblock said:
Well said young man.

You are obviously pasionate about your form of motorsport and have an interesting car with which to take part.

Good luck to you.
thank you very much mate, greatly apprieciated!

Lotus 50

1,009 posts

164 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
Interesting post this...!

Ok so I personally wouldn't have gone banger racing in the XK150 - but it's entirely up to the owner what they do to their own car. What is interesting is the economics though. The car apparently had no rust, and the photos certainly suggest that the panels on the car were in very good nick. It would be interesting to know if Plonker 751 checked out the value of the panels on the car before going racing? (a new front wing alone without the headlight pod is probably a couple of grand so I suspect there was probably something like £5-£10k in second hand panels on the car) If not he probably missed a trick and has lost out - but then plenty of people probably spend getting on for that sort of money or more on fags 'n booze in a year. On the other hand it may just be that the market doesn't value the straight panels enough to make a difference in the value of the car before and after racing to make it in the owners interest to sell it and look elsewhere...?

Regardless, I hope it did well!

C

Nick_F

10,154 posts

245 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
MX7 said:
Neither.
Not an option. Please try again.

MX7

7,902 posts

173 months

Thursday 8th July 2010
quotequote all
Nick_F said:
MX7 said:
Neither.
Not an option. Please try again.
Didn't scrappage cars have to be MOT'd, and been owned for several years?

Tho options were far greater than the simplistic two that you offered.

Spottedlaurel

461 posts

168 months

Friday 9th July 2010
quotequote all
Couple of snapshots from me:





The wonderful Escort Classic Hot Rod on display outside the turnstiles, shame these weren't racing:


Nick_F

10,154 posts

245 months

Friday 9th July 2010
quotequote all
MX7 said:
Nick_F said:
MX7 said:
Neither.
Not an option. Please try again.
Didn't scrappage cars have to be MOT'd, and been owned for several years?

Tho options were far greater than the simplistic two that you offered.
That's not the question I asked, though, is it? I asked if you'd rather see a car sent for scrappage or put on the track.

plonker751

59 posts

164 months

Friday 9th July 2010
quotequote all
Lotus 50 said:
Interesting post this...!

Ok so I personally wouldn't have gone banger racing in the XK150 - but it's entirely up to the owner what they do to their own car. What is interesting is the economics though. The car apparently had no rust, and the photos certainly suggest that the panels on the car were in very good nick. It would be interesting to know if Plonker 751 checked out the value of the panels on the car before going racing? (a new front wing alone without the headlight pod is probably a couple of grand so I suspect there was probably something like £5-£10k in second hand panels on the car) If not he probably missed a trick and has lost out - but then plenty of people probably spend getting on for that sort of money or more on fags 'n booze in a year. On the other hand it may just be that the market doesn't value the straight panels enough to make a difference in the value of the car before and after racing to make it in the owners interest to sell it and look elsewhere...?

Regardless, I hope it did well!

C
Nope, i knew full well what the wings were worth, i was offered £1000 each for the wings on the day and turned it down, and i dont regret it in the slightest mate.

RW774

1,042 posts

222 months

Friday 9th July 2010
quotequote all
I`ve thought about this topic long and hard. The world`s full of experts on values, trouble is they never want to pay the correct amount for anything on the whole. Try to find a customer prepared to spend the right amount to restore an XK , they few, most run a mile.That`s why this vehicle finished up where it did and good luck to you plonker, for presenting it on the track.
I well remember back in the 70s a whole raft of Mk1s/2s XKs and Es were banger raced,in the days Barry Wiltshire and his A60s, these cars were worthless . I`d love to see the Top gear team out there in a proper banger competition