Hong Kong Road Racing Is a Type of Protest
Many of the road racing you’ll hear about right here within the U.S. is the Quick and the Livid selection — teams of car-interested of us, throwing collectively pleasant challenges or greenback wagers to see whose automotive is quickest. Hong Kong, nonetheless, brings one thing else to the road racing world: Political motivation.
In case you missed it:
Vice journalist Mehi Melwani investigated the world of Hong Kong street racing, the place teams of younger fans use their defiance of site visitors legislation as a type of anti-police praxis. Their high-speed runs by way of the mountain passes aren’t only for the fun of velocity or a number of {dollars}’ prize — they’re an express center finger to authority.
The automobiles of Vice’s story are an eclectic bunch, one which would slot in at most unofficial automotive meets right here in the US. An 800-horsepower GT-R right here, an Audi TT there; tuned Volkswagens and Hondas aplenty. These are all automobiles you’ll see racing right here, for enjoyable or glory, but in Hong Kong they grow to be a press release.
The full piece from Vice is value a learn, chronicling the lifetime of an unnamed fintech inheritor whose obsession with road racing, medication, and mixing the 2 ultimately value him his life. By his story, we get a glimpse into the lives of different racers, the neighborhood that at all times appears to spring up round automobiles wherever on this planet — notably when these fans are linked by different, extra actual issues. Once you’re dealing with an authoritarian police drive, hell-bent on catching you and your pals, can any race simply be a race?
