Illegal drag racing

Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel finished second and third this weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix, but these German F1 drivers may need some help with catching Britain's Lewis Hamilton.

Perhaps they should drop by Dortmund on any old weekend and pay a visit to the #link:https://www.facebook.com/DortmunderWallScene:Dortmund Wall#.

According to the Dortmund police, 92 cars were caught speeding this weekend during a special control of drag strips in this western German city. The police were out for seven hours on patrol and managed to nab a Smart going 155 km/h (96 miles per hour) in a 100 zone, a Lamborghini going 145 km/h in that same zone, and a host of other cars going even further over the 50 km/h limit.

Marco Müller of the Dortmund police says this culture of drag racing can have fatal consequences. "We've been monitoring the scene for a long time, and our actions are targeting at preventing further deaths."

Dozens of people have been killed so far this year by illegal auto racing in German cities.

Deadly driving, not only in Dortmund

The Dortmund drag strips, located near an industrial area called #link:https://www.facebook.com/phoenixwestdortmund/info?ref=page_internal:Phoenix West'#, have developed into an arena where drivers meet to race their illegally rigged cars. During this weekend's roundup, seven cars were taken by the police under suspicion they had been unlawfully altered to allow for faster speeds.

Judging from a Facebook page set up for the Dortmund Wall racing scene, that number would have been far higher had drivers not been forewarned not to drive through the no-go zone set up by the police.

But it's certainly not just designated drag strips, and not just Dortmund, where illegal racing on German streets takes place. In Cologne, drag racing commonly takes place on any normal street, on any normal day. If you have a car that appears worth racing, be ready, says Marcus Hellenbrandt, who spent years in the racing scene in Cologne.

"If you're in a souped up [VW] GT, all it takes is eye contact with anyone around you, and a race is on. It doesn't matter where you are, or when, or whether police are around, or anything else, the race is on," said Hellenbrandt, who said he'd been involved in drag racing in Cologne and the neighboring city of Bonn for some seven years.

"These people aren't scared of anything. Most of them have motorcycles and do the same with those too, even though it's even more dangerous. You hear all the time that drag racers aren't afraid of dying. But I will tell you from personal experience, they aren't."

Auto deficiency syndrome

"No, none of these racers are afraid of dying," André Bresges, professor of physics education in Cologne, said. "All they care about is being the fastest. They would rather die than end up in a wheelchair."

Karl-Friedrich Voss, a psychologist who specializes in driving behavior, said most of these racers are young men who "have something to prove but haven't managed to do so in any other social environment."

It's not necessarily how fast they go, but rather, says Voss, that they beat their adversary. "The races are held outside of big cites, organized via the Internet, but oftentimes they take place spontaneously on the streets of cities, too."

Bresges, for his part, has been working with police in Cologne to create a prevention program called "Crash Course." Police officers are to visit schools to educate young people before they get their driving license, or who already have one, about the dangers of drag racing. The program also includes interaction with former drag racers, people who have been in accidents and paramedics, all of whom offer their experiences with the students.

Marcus Hellenbrandt, who has since given up his illegal racing pursuits and is focusing on his career in chemical sales, is skeptical that any teaching program will ever stop the racing scene.

"Are you kidding?"

His reaction to the question whether these programs will have any effect was unequivocal:

"The people on the streets would rather die than stop racing. A skimpy fine isn't going to stop them from doing what they're doing - just like an educational video or speech isn’t going to stop those young people from following the path they're already on."