Hong Kong Avenue Racing Is a Type of Protest
2 min read

A lot 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 people, throwing collectively pleasant challenges or greenback wagers to see whose automobile is quickest. Hong Kong, nevertheless, 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 fanatics use their defiance of visitors legislation as a type of anti-police praxis. Their high-speed runs via 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 vehicles of Vice’s story are an eclectic bunch, one which would slot in at most unofficial automobile meets right here in the USA. An 800-horsepower GT-R right here, an Audi TT there; tuned Volkswagens and Hondas aplenty. These are all vehicles you’ll see racing right here, for enjoyable or glory, but in Hong Kong they develop into a press release.
The full piece from Vice is price a learn, chronicling the lifetime of an unnamed fintech inheritor whose obsession with road racing, medicine, and mixing the 2 ultimately price him his life. Via his story, we get a glimpse into the lives of different racers, the neighborhood that all the time appears to spring up round vehicles wherever on this planet — significantly when these fanatics are linked by different, extra actual issues. Whenever you’re going through an authoritarian police power, hell-bent on catching you and your mates, can any race simply be a race?