THE major banger meeting at the GMP Cowdenbeath Racewall last season was the BBA Unlimited World Cup and again it was a hugely popular meeting with both the fans and the drivers, writes our Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

The banger meeting attracts big crowds all wanting to see cars being wrecked and literally scraped off the track as a result of being picked upon by a few others.

Although there were quite a few Scottish drivers in action at the last World Cup the field was basically made up with drivers from south of the border and mostly with the top names in the sport.

This event has not been a great one for the Scottish drivers with Hoagy Wallace the only home driver to have won it. At times the Scots have got close but not close enough when it mattered!

Jim “Jimbo” Riddell was scheduled to make what could be one of his last banger appearances as he celebrates 50 years of banger racing! Riddell has often appeared with a limo and has gone home with it wrecked but still smiling! Limos are not the quickest of cars to get around the Racewall and usually end up as targets for the drivers who are just out to wreck – but boy they can be spectacular when they crash! Imagine a limo going round the bends with the tail breaking away!

The other car which attracts the wreckers is the hearses and it is not uncommon to see another car stuck in the back of the hearse and getting pulled along as the hearse keeps going!

At one time the meeting was dominated by Team Stinkbridge, whose cars were always painted pink although they did have another driver who would race in an unpainted car - just in case! Some of the shunts had to be seen to be believed and many a Granada or Volvo was only fit for the scrap yard after they were done with it!

Whilst their cars may not have looked other than a MOT failure with a mucky engine under the bonnet, when they put the foot down you knew it was a racing engine!

Two of the top banger teams, the Suicide Squad and the Blues Boys, paid a visit one year and went home with their tails between their legs after getting themselves wrecked.

Some of the bangers have been eye catching with paint schemes and sign writing that would not be out of place on top class racing cars.

One driver who takes great delight in bringing out different cars with excellent paint schemes is Mr. Grumpy, James Dillon, and he is being joined now on the grid by son James.

However, it is not always how a car looks that makes it a winner as highlighted by Team Stinkbridge!

There was another bumper field in April this year with drivers from Northern Ireland, Devon, and South East of England whilst a whole host of the Crimond drivers headed south for the occasion.

Previous winners on the grid included Jack Foster Jnr and Jason Jackson but they had the likes of Jack and Kyle Overy, Joey Palmer, Gary Madgwick, Timmy Aldridge, Lee Clarke and Brett Ellacott all looking for a win.

The cars ranged from Granada’s, Jags to a Hearse and one of the longest stretch limos you could imagine that struggled to get itself around the bends. Mind you at the end of the night there were quite a few cars that were wrecked with the limo of Jim Riddell having its roof kinked after being hit hard in the Destruction Derby.

The bangers lined up nose to tail filling almost half of the track and it was action as soon as the green flag dropped. The race had to be suspended after Gary Madgwick rolled his car, but once he was removed from the cars the action continued. Car after car was removed from the race with Jack Overy celebrating his win and becoming the 2016 World Cup winner.

There were wins for Steve “Pikey” Bailey and Joey Palmer – the latter having raced a saloon at the Racewall the season prior.

There weren’t too many cars out for the Destruction Derby with Jim Riddell’s car bursting its steering early on and whilst he did his best to remove the others he ended up being wrecked. In the end Neil Naismith survived after making contact with all the others and he was the last car running.

There was a good turnout of cars for the annual rookie banger meeting with quite a few drivers wrecked after the first heat! The meeting was dominated by Sean McConnachie who took the three heats but he was stopped however in the DD by Dayle Ashall.

A good amount of interest was shown for the Siamese bangers Scottish Championship.

The driver on the bottom on these cars works the pedals whilst the driver on the top steers. It is a bit off putting to see the cars whisk around the track especially if the driver working the pedals is reading a paper!

The sway on the cars as they swerve is nerve wracking and it looks as if they are going to topple. It all led to some spectacular action with rollovers galore and this meeting certainly attracts a big crowd and they are generally not disappointed. The Scottish Championship was won by Scott Jamieson and Daniel Kennedy.

The micro bangers were the stars of the show twice at the Racewall, with the first meeting having around 40 cars race during the course of the evening! The cars may look small, but can pack big punches – there were several cars drifting around the track with ratchet straps holding the back axle in place! However, when they crash they tend to draw in other cars and a one car spin generally ends up with four or five cars joining in the fun!

Prostox driver Tam Melrose proved unstoppable in his Micra, taking it to both meetings and winning the DD at the second one. Other winners included Steve Allan, Ryan Thompson and Brian Youngson, whilst the first one saw the Scottish debut of James Dillon Jnr.

The 2 litre banger Scottish Championship was held towards the end of the season and again there was a good turn out of cars with quite a few heading north from England.

Both the Dillon’s raced that evening with James Jnr running in second place for most of the time but just couldn’t catch the eventual winner Mark Morrison.

At the New Year holiday meeting on January 8 the banger drivers take top billing with big van bangers in action along with Micro bangers racing in teams of four.

The van bangers are good value for money and usually there are numerous shunts and spins with the odd rollover thrown in. It‘s strange to watch a Transit roll and once they do go there can be quite a thud as they hit the deck.

One of the micro banger teams will be led by formula II star Chris Burgoyne and he is scheduled to be partnered by saloon driver Graeme Shevill and two others who are heading up from the south of England just to take part!

They are going to be the prime targets for the rest of the micro banger drivers and it is not hard to think that the Burgoyne team could well be in for a hard afternoon – one way or another!