Watch demolition derby - a
thrilling motosport entertainment. Enjoy the
smell of burning rubber and adrenaline pumping action. Demolition
derbies can be dangerous. Although serious injuries are
rare, occasionally they do happen.
The sport's popularity is growing again. Most North American demolition
derbies feature local amateur talent. Competitors traditionally used
full-size American made sedans and station wagons, especially those
from the 1960s and 1970s, which have larger and more robust frames and
are much heavier. With the decreasing availability of the older
vehicles, smaller full-sized vehicles of the 1980s and 1990s are more
frequently encountered today.
A separate class of demolition derby for compact cars
is increasing in popularity. A compact (North America), small
family (European) or c-segment car is a classification of
cars which are larger than a supermini and smaller than a large family
car. Compact cars usually have wheelbases between 100 inches
(2,540 mm) and 105 inches (2,667 mm). The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a "Compact" car as
measuring between 100 cubic feet (2.8 m3) and
109 cubic feet (3.1 m3) of combined passenger and
cargo volume capacity. Compact car events have the advantages of
an abundant supply of usable vehicles, which also tend to be more
mobile and thus, more entertaining to fans. Being largely front-wheel
drive,
their back ends can sustain considerable amounts of damage before the
vehicle is immobilized. However, this increased speed, coupled with the
fact that compact cars tend to be less crashworthy, makes injuries more
frequent.
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