A QUIET Oxfordshire village is set be the scene of motoring mayhem on Sunday, when the new banger racing season gets under way at Standlake Arena.

All sorts of clapped-out cars, from hearses to Citroën 2CVs, have graced the 300-yard concrete track, and with more than 100 drivers registered to drive, it looks like being another bumper-to-bumber season.

Track owner Keith Hook said: "We're raring to go for the new season. We had a great year last year and we think it will be again.

"There's probably not very many things in life these days where you can get such an adrenaline rush.

"Anyone who does it gets hooked and it just becomes a way of life.

"The preparation that some of the banger boys put in and the spray jobs they do is unbelievable."

advertisement Mr Hook, 52, added: "The drivers are all well protected. You can get some bruises but the racers are a tough breed and they prepare well for it.

"For some of the big meetings you get racers from all over the country, and we've even had drivers come over from Belgium."

Banger races usually comprise of two heats and a final, before an all-comers meeting, ending with a demolition derby.

Black Bourton scrap merchant Alan Cartwright, 35, a veteran who has wrecked more than 450 cars in his 18-year racing career, said: "It's unlike anything else in the world.

"There are no rules and you never know when you're going to get hit by somebody or when you might run into someone else.

"There's a real skill involved in picking your way through the cars while all hell is breaking loose around you."

Gemma Bricknell, 25, a mother-of-two, from Axtell Close, Kidlington, who gets teased for not having a driver's licence, said: "It's just such a buzz. I've had a few head-on smashes in my time. It's just carnage."

The first race on Sunday, February 17, starts at noon and tickets cost £10.