Friday Matinee: VICE Goes Inside the British Street Racing Scene [Video]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MdZDBXB4GQ[/youtube]
With hefty insurance, registration and fuel costs (compared to here in the U.S.), more rigorous licensing requirements (ditto, though the same could be said of most other first-world nations, sadly) and, most notably, about 15 speed cameras and radar traps for every resident (give or take a couple), you would think thatstreet racingisn’t much of a problem in the United Kingdom. However, that thinking would be incorrect; the“boy racer”culture(“Ricer” doesn’t really fit, since many of the cars favored over there –Vauxhall Corsas,Peugeot 206s,Fiat Puntos, etc. – are native to the European Union.) may have declined since a decade or so ago, but what’s left of it is still very vibrant. And, unfortunately, it’s still very open to courting disaster on Britain’s roads.
EnterVICE, the media company that takes journalism to places you never knew existed (and, often, probably don’t want to visit if you value your safety). It sent a film crew to tag along with some boy racer types (and their hangers-on) in the north of England, as well as riding along with a couple of semi jaded cops aiming to keep a lid on the hooliganism (read: actual street racing). There’s a fair amount of colorful language, but if necessary you could mute the volume as it’s subtitled throughout (Seriously, we’re sure a lot of Brits native to the Midlands and the South need them just as badly as us Yanks do for some of the interviewees.).