Banger
race at the start
It is a nice sunny day at Essex Arena. It
is warm too, so there is a capacity crowd for the last banger racing event of
the 2004 season. Aidan Garrett is in attendance, along with his father Ted, to
watch his brother John competing. The day has been a big success so far with
John winning the majority of the races he has taken part in. Now though, it is
the last race of the day, and the crowd is eager for it to get underway. As is
the way with these things, the crowd starts chanting and singing as the race is
about to begin. The commentators are trying to gee up the crowd. The race
begins in a blinding cloud of dust and a deafening roar of sound from the car
engines. The first few laps pass without incident, other than a few bumps and
scrapes, which are par for the course, naturally, as this is banger racing.
John pits for some more fuel and some new tyres. He is extremely confident
about his chances in this race. As he gets back on track, the intensity of the racing
steps up a notch. Everyone is baying for blood. John is becoming rather
nervous, and is also starting to become sweaty where he has been in the car for
a long time and it is very hot. Several other drivers take calculated swipes at
the rear end and passenger side of John’s car. He manages to fend them off with
some skilled driving, but he can’t help but become ever more nervous about what
he is involved in. As the race nears its conclusion, he begins to regain
confidence, and begins increasing the pace of his driving to match the increase
in his confidence. It is on the next lap that things go horribly wrong. It
starts normally enough, with John in the lead and with his car in considerably
better shape than the one immediately behind him. However, as John attempts to
take the final turn before the checkered flag, he knows something is wrong. He
attempts to steer into the corner, but the car goes straight on, and before he
can do anything, the car is heading for the wall. Without deviating from its course
at all, John Garrett’s Granada ploughs into the outer perimeter wall at Essex
Arena at 50 miles per hour. As the car
collides with the wall, it is crumpled and bent almost beyond recognition.
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