Street racing: Too fast, too furious in Pakistan

On Saturday nights, when the clock strikes 12, there are streets in Pakistan that reverberate with the pounding sound of heavy muscled cars that leave tyre marks and burnt rubber smells behind as they speed away into darkness.
Welcome to the underground street racing phenomenon in Pakistan.
While street racing is illegal here as it is in India, youngsters continue to race with passion and zeal that probably can't be matched with any other sport in both the countries.
In the dark, youngsters with their Mazda Rx7s, ToyotaSupras, BMWs, Hummers and even modified Honda Civics, get together on a particular lonely stretch, usually on late Saturday nights in Islamabad and indulge is what is called as 'drag races'.

It is almost like a scene lifted from the Hollywood flick 'Fast and Furious' when the cars come together.
"These races happen only after midnight or early morning when the roads are empty. The race happens not just in Islamabad but in Karachi and Lahore too," Ali, a former racer and a software professional told PTI.

The average age group of racers is 20-35 years and almost all of them come from well-to-do elite families.
Ali, who claims to have quit racing since he got married, swears by cars and is quite active on the Facebook page 'Islamabad Underground Racing'.

Asked what are the prizes involved, he said, "There are no fixed prizes. If the two racers want, they can fix something. But nowadays, there is a thing called 'pink slip' which means the winner gets to keep the loser's car".
The Facebook page, which has lot of pictures and videos of the races, has over 2,000 likes, while the 'Racing Community of Pakistan (RCOP)' has over 46,000 likes. There are many other such pages on the social networking site.
"Street racing was a phenomenon which started in 2000 when people started modifying their (Honda) Civics," says 19-year-old Arslan Mustafa, another racing enthusiast.

He said the racing scene in Pakistan was dealt with a heavy blow when in December 2010, a sports car crashed into spectators of a drag race, killing five.
"The Courts stepped in and police crackdown started. The racing had almost stopped till 2012 but is now making a comeback. We take extreme precautions and keep an eye out for policemen," Mustafa says, adding that the Islamabad Traffic Police is very strict.
Mustafa wants the government to build for them a proper racing track so that the youngsters can race in a safe and legal environment.
RCOP's page says, "It's a platform for all the racing communities of Pakistan to join hands and work on a larger scale to make racing legal in Pakistan".

The organisers also hold car shows, giving an opportunity to owners of fancy cars to showcase them.