Reverse Racing - Great entertainment or a complete betrayal?

[rmclark]

Hi all,

I'm an author and journalist in England, looking into writing a story about DAF cars and the cult of reverse racing. 

At first, I just thought they looked cool going backwards. Then I started reading on these forums and I became conflicted - because I totally empathise with how it must be difficult to watch if you're an enthusaist of the cars themselves. I used to own a 1990 K10 Nissan Micra and I'm not sure I'd see the funny side to loads of those beauties getting trashed.

What are people's opinions on this? Is it cool that the cars are still being talked about through these events - or is it a betrayal that they happened in the first place?

I'm also hoping to track down a couple of "racing drivers" from back in the day, as well as maybe some spectators who went to watch the events. I can't find much of a history for these events online, so it would be really cool to be able to properly piece it all together.

If anybody has any strong opinions or memories on this subject then please do share. Many thanks.

[andrew]

Reverse racing was a peculiar sport that was popular in the 1960s &70s, although it may still be taking place now. Dafs were excluded from these events, for the simple reason that they went just as fast in reverse as forwards, thereby beating every other vehicle! Some Dafs had an inhibitor fitted to the transmission that prevented it from "changing up" in reverse, but I know this wasn't the case in the water-cooled ones (Daf 55 & 66 cars) as I well remember driving my 66 out of a multi-storey car park in reverse and finding the car's speed increasing as I reversed-very strange!

Their exclusion from the events in later years may have saved many Dafs from being written off, and although I've seen many of the videos I can't say I approve of this form of racing! The editor of the 'Belting Along" might be able to supply more information on this.

[Richard DAF Webmeister]

I think reverse racing is a fall out from banger/stock car racing. It took off in the Netherlands probably in the early to mid 80s, when DAF cars were mainly of an age where they were getting old but not "classic" or "of note". Therefore they were cheap to buy and, as is well known, the Variomatic transmission (a work of genius even if we say so ourselves) did have the peculiarity of being able to drive as quickly in reverse and forwards.

There is regularly viewed/shared footage from Dutch TV of such races, where many DAFs were destroyed. Some of them looked pretty decent as well and I wonder if there is much regret now that a few minutes of cheap "entertainment" meant the loss of a lot of cars which nowadays are regarded as collectible and important in the world of motoring.

[rmclark]

Sept 15, 2024 20:46:30 GMT Richard DAF Webmeister said:

I think reverse racing is a fall out from banger/stock car racing. It took off in the Netherlands probably in the early to mid 80s, when DAF cars were mainly of an age where they were getting old but not "classic" or "of note". Therefore they were cheap to buy and, as is well known, the Variomatic transmission (a work of genius even if we say so ourselves) did have the peculiarity of being able to drive as quickly in reverse and forwards.

There is regularly viewed/shared footage from Dutch TV of such races, where many DAFs were destroyed. Some of them looked pretty decent as well and I wonder if there is much regret now that a few minutes of cheap "entertainment" meant the loss of a lot of cars which nowadays are regarded as collectible and important in the world of motoring.

Thanks for this Richard (and thanks to Andrew above). I'm wondering if you'd be interested in being interviewed to help with the article? Happy to do via email or phone, whichever you'd prefer. Many thanks.

[Richard DAF Webmeister]

Yes happy to help.

[andrew]

Likewise!