Boy racers use YouTube to boast about street racing

22 November 2006 12:32 GMT / By Jonathan Goddard

Boy racers have been driving through quiet suburban streets at more than 100mph and then posting their times on video-sharing website YouTube for others to beat just like you can in computer games.

The site describes two leafy residential roads in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, as the "ultimate driving challenge" - despite having a speed limit of just 30mph.

It includes a map of the 500m ‘course’, which starts at Greenway Lane, goes over a set of traffic lights and then down Copt Elm Road, in the Charlton Kings area of the town.

The Press Association reports that dozens of drivers have taken part in the challenge and posted their times and the car they drive on to the website. These are then added to a league table and each driver is given a rating.

One claimed he had hit 115mph as he tore down Copt Elm Lane in his Honda Civic - earning himself a rating of 8.9 out of 10.

Five other drivers have raced at more than 80mph through the course - which has been dubbed by boy racers as the 'Copt Elm Challenge'.

Seven videos capturing the men as they drive down the street were posted on their own website as well as YouTube. In one, a young driver is seen careering round a corner and nearly crashing into an oncoming car, while another shows a teenager laughing while approaching a blind bend at high speed.

Their homepage was now been taken down by an ISP, and YouTube has withdrawn the offending vid-posts.

Full tags

Car And GPS, Cars, YouTube, Subaru