Article in the Globe

"There has been street racing ever since the second Model T came off the assembly line," says York Regional Police Sergeant Dave Mitchell, who runs a program known as ERASE (Eliminate Racing Activities on Streets Everywhere).

Talk about norrow-minded thinking.

Wayne, I can't thank you enough for this find. Now I know where to go. ;)

THANKS!
 
Great read...

Horrible what happened to the 26 year old woman though...
He deserved more than 2 years and a life-long ban...
 
I love how they give tickets to people with lowered cars... then they have a "PACER" Focus that is slammed and has big rims... Good show boys.... good show..... :rolleyes:
 
I especially like the comment:

"There's been a lot of negative media coverage. Not every guy with a spoiler on his car is a street racer . . . Enforcing the law is one thing, but what's going on now is more like racial profiling."

This is happening so much...and I have first hand experience with this. Some officers are discriminating people because they mod their cars. How does mods like tint, tires/rims, and a spoiler make you a racer?
 
Last edited:
it was a real good read .. i can also relate to the one part in the article about it doent matter what you drive if you goin to race you will.. i was 17 and in a real bad car crash when i was street racing and i was driving a 1979 Ford Bronco full size and i was racing a Mazda RX7 .... we where racing here in Brantford and he was in the curb lane and i was in the passing lane... he had to slow down for a car that was turning into a store parking lot so slowed down too.... but once the car turned into the parking lot he was commin for me. so i throttled up and after looking in my rear view to see where he was i looked ahead of me and seen nothing but chrome... a guy on a motorcycle pulled out in front of me and i could not stop... he died instantly from what the doctors and the police told myself and my parents later on at the police station... but there where other factors involed the guy on the bike was 4 x over the legal limit and the bike was not road worthy stolen plate and he had no insurance on the bike.. there was a witness that said the guy on the bike did ont stop for the stop sign b4 he came onto the road i was on ... but all in all it was my falt that i was racing... and the exact words that came out of the judges mouth where " you (meaning me) are getting of lucky because the other man got life " and now my insurance is through the roof.... the price those guys in the article are paying is nothing compared to what im paying and will be paying untill the year 2025.. thats when all of the lawsuit $ will payed off on my end... but it goes to show you that anything can happen and will happen.. and anyone will race anything... and if you are wondering yes i have learned my lesson and thats why im not a real big drag race fan...
 
to be young again...6000 for insurance um think the fine would be less than that ...so i wouldn't be paying that ..6 grand just enough to get a slip to get plates and sticker .. dave
 
info

Turbo351 said:
I wish all the hype would try to highlight the really stupid from the still illegal yet improved saftey type of racing ie
The crash of racing at Paliment and Adelaide; the 3km WOT race to the ramp on airport Rd, afternoon race on Woodbine These are totally stupid and really the problem vs still illegal yet reasonably responsible 1/4 miles on wide open vacant streets in the middle of the night. Or short drags up to the speed limit conditions permitting etc

IMHO the biggest problem is more money than brains, parents paying for inexperiened drivers to modify cars beyond ability of the driver. At least if the kid is slowly bulding it up as $ permits at $13/hr they will learn as they go.

My wife wants me to restore a Powder Blue Kcar station wagon for Cameron who is now 9months :)

My 2c's
 
Peterdroy66 said:
I wish all the hype would try to highlight the really stupid from the still illegal yet improved saftey type of racing ie
The crash of racing at Paliment and Adelaide; the 3km WOT race to the ramp on airport Rd, afternoon race on Woodbine These are totally stupid and really the problem vs still illegal yet reasonably responsible 1/4 miles on wide open vacant streets in the middle of the night. Or short drags up to the speed limit conditions permitting etc

IMHO the biggest problem is more money than brains, parents paying for inexperiened drivers to modify cars beyond ability of the driver. At least if the kid is slowly bulding it up as $ permits at $13/hr they will learn as they go.

All,

I respect Peter's opinion, but the way I look at it, whenever we get into a little race on the streets, we're taking unnecessary risks. Not only are we risking our cars, and more importantly our health and our lives, but we're putting other innocent drivers and/or pedestrians at risk. We can try to be careful all we want, and may even choose to do this stuff in the middle of the night to reduce risks, but ultimately we cannot control the environment when we race on the street.

For example, on the way out of the GTAMC meet on Sunday, Wayne and I 'fooled around a bit' between the light on Ford Dr. and the exit I took up to the 403 Westbound. We both happened to stop first at the light, and accelerated quickly to a little above the speed limit before I got to the ramp. It seemed like harmless fun, and in this case it was truly harmless, but any of a number of things could have gone wrong to change that. Even something so stupid as a failure in one of mine or Wayne's suspension components could have made our cars a tangled mess, or worse, we could have collided with other vehicles on the road which happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The point is, what we did was pretty tame in comparison to the stories featured in that article, but there was still the real potential for a bad situation. Both of our cars were under complete control during that stint, but it wouldn't have taken much to change that.

BTW, you wouldn't believe how loud the sucking noise is from Wayne's car unless you happened to be positioned right near where his intake is situated when that turbo spools up!!! ...And I hope that Wayne is cool with me bringing this story up.

Anyway, IMO the one quote in that article from the speed shop guy who suggests to all his customers that they leave racing to the drag strip is good advice. That way, you're likely to only be putting yourself and your property at risk, and maybe that of the racer in the next lane who has accepted the risks willingly. Additionally, there is the benefit of an ambulance and fire crew to mitigate the hazards should an unfortunate wreck happen.

The problem then becomes a lack of accessibility to appropriate race tracks. How many enthusiasts are there in the Toronto area, and they've all gotta drive to Shannonville or Cayuga or St. Thomas if they want to hit a drag strip. Furthermore, these facilities are only open certain days of the week, and rarely late. Maybe part of the effort by programs like ERASER should be to work towards providing sanctioned places for this kind of activity to occur legally and safely.

...My $0.02 worth.

Best regards,

Sean
 
As a final insult, police/MTO/MOE stake out Cayuga, and ticket people going to and from the track. Rumour has it Joe DaSilva got pissed when he got a ticket for his trailer being overweight.
 
Sean brought up the best piont, I think. Their are only a few places for our "races" to happen. Its difficult to think they can cut down on the street racing, when there are only a couple of places to go and race, propperly. I'm now against the "street racing". I've been lined up at stop lights with other cars, have them rev at me and me back at them. I know I shouldn't really do hat either. Once the light turns green they fly off, well I'm just not moving. I can't afford what may happen to me, in reguards to gettign a ticket with the words street racing on it. Its no longer worth it for me to TRY and prove my car is faster than the guy next to me at a light.

The paragraph on the profiling, I agree with. I hate the fact I fell nervous driving my car. I have tint, a spoiler, and aftermarket wheels. Now its one thing to be pulled over for a "routine check" and another be pulled over for youre tint being to dark. Which by the way is all up to the officer to decicde if your tint is to dark or not. So one day you may get a ticket, but with the same tint, later on that week, you may not. Please explain hwo thats NOT a cash grab.

This hole topic makes me mad. :(
 
I guess there are plenty of factors resulting in a lack of appropriate venues for drag racing...

  • It requires a fair amount of real estate, which is at a premium in the GTA, and all of Southern Ontario for that matter.
  • The associated noise levels result in neighbours who will fight tooth and nail to ensure you can't construct such a facility or that you can't get a permit to operate such a facility.
  • Insurance costs to own/operate such a facility are ridiculous, even when you have racers and spectators sign waivers upon entering.
  • It's a seasonal operation, although I suppose that one could offer snowmobile drag racing in the Winter months, or keep the track open for when milder Winter weather allows for operation.
  • You still need to provide appropriate safety gear, staff fire crews and have ambulance/emergency personnel available.

...And I'm sure I could go on.

It's common throughout smaller towns in the US to have small local airstrips used for sanctioned drag racing events. Asphalt or concrete runways make great drag strips, usually. I don't know why this hasn't caught on here.

It seems the government has worked very hard at making it difficult or impossible to operate such facilities, and yet they also want to solve the problem of street racing. One is working against the other!!!

Does anyone have any ideas as to how we could solve this???

Best regards,

Sean
 
more

SeanMatteson said:
I guess there are plenty of factors resulting in a lack of appropriate venues for drag racing...

  • It requires a fair amount of real estate, which is at a premium in the GTA, and all of Southern Ontario for that matter.
  • The associated noise levels result in neighbours who will fight tooth and nail to ensure you can't construct such a facility or that you can't get a permit to operate such a facility.
  • Insurance costs to own/operate such a facility are ridiculous, even when you have racers and spectators sign waivers upon entering.
  • It's a seasonal operation, although I suppose that one could offer snowmobile drag racing in the Winter months, or keep the track open for when milder Winter weather allows for operation.
  • You still need to provide appropriate safety gear, staff fire crews and have ambulance/emergency personnel available.

...And I'm sure I could go on.

It's common throughout smaller towns in the US to have small local airstrips used for sanctioned drag racing events. Asphalt or concrete runways make great drag strips, usually. I don't know why this hasn't caught on here.

It seems the government has worked very hard at making it difficult or impossible to operate such facilities, and yet they also want to solve the problem of street racing. One is working against the other!!!

Does anyone have any ideas as to how we could solve this???

Best regards,

Sean
Sean
I agree with what you are saying, I was not trying to condone runs from the light, just point out the major difference of risk. 0 - 60Km/hr is totally different category of risk than 200km/hr on airport road.
The other problem with a run from the light - Person A may intend only to beat the next guy to 60Km/hr, while person B might be a total idiot and keep going to 100K +/hr without any regard to hazards.
Also I think the charge of manslaugter for the Woodbine incident was very justified.
Kind of like the guy in Montreal last spring - The new Cavalier he was driving records data in a short loop prior to air bags deployed. This was determined to be admissable evidence leading to a conviction that a few moments before the deployment the accelerator was to the floor and the vehicle speed was 170K/hr. The court decided that this was a minor intrusion of privacy compared to the relevance of the information.
IMO anybody who causes an incident going more than 50% over the posted limit should be treated criminally. this does not imply that 49% over is "ok".

PR
 
Peterdroy66 said:
Sean
I agree with what you are saying, I was not trying to condone runs from the light, just point out the major difference of risk. 0 - 60Km/hr is totally different category of risk than 200km/hr on airport road.
The other problem with a run from the light - Person A may intend only to beat the next guy to 60Km/hr, while person B might be a total idiot and keep going to 100K +/hr without any regard to hazards.
Also I think the charge of manslaugter for the Woodbine incident was very justified.
Kind of like the guy in Montreal last spring - The new Cavalier he was driving records data in a short loop prior to air bags deployed. This was determined to be admissable evidence leading to a conviction that a few moments before the deployment the accelerator was to the floor and the vehicle speed was 170K/hr. The court decided that this was a minor intrusion of privacy compared to the relevance of the information.
IMO anybody who causes an incident going more than 50% over the posted limit should be treated criminally. this does not imply that 49% over is "ok".

PR

Peter,

I agree 100%!

Cheers,

Sean
 
Back
Top