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Most UK towns/cities have some form of 2 lane ring-roads around them with traffic lights quite frequently. That's pretty much the only form of 'street racing' we get here now, not 1/4 mile just from one set of lights to another so could be over a 1/4 or a whole mile. Little traffic after 7.00pm and pretty much the only place that's it's safe enough to do it when someone pulls up beside you. Inner towns are far to congested and no-one does it anymore, which i have to say is a good thing.
I get my thrills from fake races. When you see some Chevy Tahoe or some Lexus SUX or whatever those SUV things are. Pull up to them at a stoplight and then inch forward like you want to get ahead of them. And maybe even race the engine a little Then watch them waste a gallon of gas taking off like the space shuttle while you are taking your sweet time slowly starting off
I was at a red light when a last gen turbo Supra pulled up next to me. It had all the usual mods; giant fartcans on the back, added ground effects, neon, etc. A real mookmobile. He revved up and down, and kept popping the blow off valve for most of the time we sat there. Just before the light turned green I looked at him and smiled, revving up to about 4000 RPM. The light turned green, and he blasted away in a haze of rubber smoke and chirping tires, as he went across the bumpy pavement in the intersection. OTOH, I nearly stalled my car because I let off the gas so quickly and eased the clutch out.
Apparently my co"racer" had not seen the city police car in the exit of the convenience store across the intersection. He'd been watching us the whole time we sat at the light. He lit up the Supra before it even cleared the other side of the intersection. The tire smoke was still rolling through the intersection around me as I went by.
This is not really a car story, but a speeding bike story... Today I pulled up to an interesection on a 4-lane highway thats less than a mile from my house. I drive on this road daily. Pulled to the intersection (stopsign) and seen two motorcycles bolting down the highway. The closer they got to the intersection, the faster they went! By the time they got to the intersection, they were easily going 100 mph (speed limit is 55) and gaining speed!! Everyone setting there watching, stunned, when they got about 4 more seconds out the road, a car switched into the left lane (not knowing the bikes were going 120 mph almost caused one to crash. They drive these bikes on this highway often like this... dont know why the highway patrol or the sheriff dont set there more often watching for them. They are going to kill somebody or themselves.
What if a deer (which we have alot of around here) ran out in front of them, or a car had of pulled from that intersection. It would have been all over for someone. I dont know why these people have to drive this "crotch-rockets" as they call them like that. They could lose their life in a flash and very easily acting foolish like that.
Back around 2004, my cousin (15 years old at the time) "stole" his dads motorcycle and took off. He thought it would be cool to go about 140 mph on a 2-lane in rural upstate South Carolina. He went over a slight hill and on the other side was a stopped/turning truck. He hit the back of the truck, flew off of the bike and rolled/flipped for what witnesses said seemed like 60 seconds. He was in the hospital for months, almost died. Amazingly he is able to walk again and appears normal (which is amazing considering the damage it did to his face and body), but is always in tons of pain. He is full of metal pins and plates. He will never be the same. He is in his 20s now and feels like he is about 90 years old - what a shame, all because he wanted to act stupid on a bike.
... one thing I find amusing is when I stop at a traffic light on a 4-lane, when I am in one of my big old American luxury cars, people (especially younger people in sports cars or something like a Civic or Integra, etc) will often get in the left lane, I guess thinking I am gonna go slow. I never abuse my cars, nor do I drive dangerously, but if I am in my Town Car or Grnad Ville, I will sometimes let them know I am not in a underpowered car when I accelerate (I dont speed, but I will accelerate to the speed limit as quicky as they do, just enough to let them know their car is no faster than mine if they act like they want to get around me to show me what their car has. Then it could be where alot of older people drive the big American cars and they do normally tend to drive slower/accelerate slower (which I do in normal cases), so they may get in the other lane because of that?
Then you have these people in these Mustangs... not realizing the engine in my Lincoln Town Car is the same as they have in their Mustang. lol. Then if you have a Mark VIII... you really have some horsepower.
Back in high school we used to go out to this road in a development that was under construction. It had a blinking red light, you pulled up and went on the third blink. It was a t-intersection that only went through one way. On dead-ended at a levee, the other they were building an underpass on. Perfect spot with brand-new pavement, no traffic, four wide lanes. The other popular spot was a business park on Saturday nights, but you had problems with drugs, alcohol, and gangs there.
My truck looks like it should be fast. It's low, it has nice, big and wide wheels and tires tucked under the rear, it has a nice rumbly, but mellow exhaust, and it's painted a very conspicuous shade of blue. It's not exactly slow, but I never built it for racing. It's more about looking good and going through corners like a slot car. When I used to drive the thing around all the time, I would constantly have guys in their rice rockets or ragged out Camaros or Mustangs pulling up next to me trying to get me to run them. Half the time I could have probably taken them, but that's just not what I'm about when I'm in the truck. It's amazing how pissed off some guys get when you don't give them the satisfaction. It makes them even more upset when they see you laughing at them for it.
There was one time I was in my truck, stopped at a red light. A friend of mine pulls up next to me in his 5.0 Mustang. The car was fast and very loud. We were 2 blocks from the computer store that he owned at the time. We chatted at the light real quick and decided to stop at his store and carry on our conversations. The light turns green, so I hang back and let him get in front of me to make the left turn into his store. He was never going more than 30 mph (in a 40), but his car was a stick and he wound it out getting there. We pull into the parking lot and a cop pulls in behind us. The cop gets out all mad as hell accusing us of racing. We just look at him like he's friggin' nuts and deny. There's no way my truck would have a chance in hell against his Mustang. I'm pretty sure the cop was going to write us up for it anyway until another squad car pulled in. That cop just happened to be a neighbor of mine at the time, so they ended up leaving us be and went on.
I have plenty of friends who were into street racing. I've ridden along on plenty of street races. There's a stretch of 4-lane divided highway where they had a 1/4 mile marked off. The road is seldom traveled at night, so the racers loved to head out there. Spectators would line up along the access road and watch the fun. In my smaller city, it was never about drugs or gangs or anything like that. It was all purely about the cars and bragging rights. There may have been some $50 or $100 wagers now and then, but usually it was just to see who had the faster car.
Most of the guys I know where were heaviest into street racing now have dedicated cars for the strip only and keep it on the track. We're all older and have families now, so everyone has gone legit.
Yep, but very very very rarely. I used to do it alot more, and was in the scene a bit before Fast and Furious ruined everything.
usually pretty empty roads, not weaving through traffic or anything. Actually stomped a turbo beat up 240sx, in a v6 Camaro, no way it could have been an Sr20det, this thing was horridly slow. Maybe the first race in 2 years.
and yes my driver's license says "safe driver" so I must be one.
I haven't tried any of those stunts since around 1966. I thought I was hot in my sky-blue 1956 Fairlane with Keystone mags, a Hurst shifter and a Thunderbird 312 c.i. V8 that I built under an oak tree. That old long-stoke Ford could take most of them back then in the top end but off the line it was a lame tortoise.
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Then watch them waste a gallon of gas taking off like the space shuttle while you are taking your sweet time slowly starting off 
