World of Sport | Wimbledon | Winternationals | 1977

Here is a look at the 1977 Winternational that took place on January 1st, 1977. This event was televised on the popular ITV show World of Sport. Featured in this event were the famous the Jaguar Bangers, the National Hot Rods, and the Van Bangers. Hope you enjoy this look back in history. Over 30 minutes of fantastic oval racing.

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Chapters:
00:00 - All Jaguar Banger Race
07:55 - Van Bangers (Oval Race)
16:48 - National Hot Rods
24:56 - Van Bangers (DD)
35:32 - Outro
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Banger racing is a tarmac, dirt, shale, and chalk track type of motorsport event popular in countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands Vehicles are raced against one another, with the winner being the first to the checkered flag after a set number of laps.

Contact to damage an opponent's car is permitted and encouraged within the formula, with cars progressively becoming more damaged throughout an event. Races are held at an oval or tri-oval circuits that are up to 1⁄4 mile (440 yd; 400 m) long; however, on certain occasions, races are held in a figure of eight configurations. Banger racing is often confused with stock car racing, although there are differences between the two, despite often racing at the same tracks.
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Hot Rods refers to a number of British oval racing formula (not to be confused with hot rods, which are generally road-going modified vintage cars). Hot Rod racing was introduced at Hednesford Hills Raceway in the early 1960s as a British counterpart to NASCAR-style production car racing. The term 'stock car' was not adopted because it was already in use for a form of oval racing in Britain that had evolved in a very different way than American stock cars.

In south west England, hot rod racing evolved from a class known as sports and production car racing, which began at to be held at tracks in Plymouth and St Austell in the 1950s.

Most vehicles that race are based upon European or Japanese hot hatches, although compact cabriolet cars such as the Vauxhall Tigra are also widely used. As time has moved on, the sport has evolved to allow sportier cars such as the Ginetta G40, Lotus Exige and Mazda MX-5 to be raced, in order to increase the variety of cars on track. Races are conducted on tarmac ovals 1/4 mile in length. Despite deliberate contact between cars being banned, accidents can be common due to the large number of cars (30+) racing within a tight environment.

The fastest and most expensive Rod formula are the National Hot Rods (not to be confused with the American-based National Hot Rod Association) which use tube chassis, kevlar bodies and highly tuned 2 litre straight-4 engines. This formula also races in Ireland, continental Europe and South Africa. They have similarities with some of the more sophisticated mini-stock divisions in the USA. The World Championship race for the National Hot Rods is staged at the annual Spedeweekend at Foxhall Stadium in Ipswich, which is traditionally held during the first weekend of July each year.
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