THEATRE PLAY PERFORMED AT CORNISH RACETRACK DRAWS BANGER RACING COMMUNITY

The Kneebone Cadillac, a play by Carl Grose about a banger racer and her family, was performed on the track at United Downs Raceway in Cornwall this month. The production marked an unusual crossover between theatre and motorsport, bringing racing drivers and their families to a live performance at the venue, also known as St Day. Director Kyla Goodey described the event as a "bridging of worlds" between audiences unfamiliar with theatre and the local racing community. Lexi Crosbie, a 14-year-old racer, attended the show with her family and said it was her first theatre experience. "I really enjoyed it," Crosbie said. "My whole family did."

Banger racing involves modified cars stripped of non-essential components and fitted with safety equipment for "nudge and spin" races, where controlled contact between vehicles is permitted. Leeta Rawling-Aldridge, a local care-home worker, has raced at St Day for five years alongside her brother, with her father having driven at the track for three decades. Rawling-Aldridge acknowledged that spectators attend primarily for the collisions. St Day, built on the site of a former tin mine, has become the focal point for banger racing across Cornwall following the closure of numerous other tracks in the region. Crosbie described the racing community at the venue as "like you've got a whole family there."

Grose, who grew up attending St Day, created the play to capture the sense of community fostered within the banger racing world. Goodey noted that seeing racers who do not typically engage with theatre attending the production represented the intended outcome of staging the performance at the track itself. The venue has survived previous threats of redevelopment and remains central to the region's motorsport culture.