“This harms our image”… In the Sights of the Authorities, Wild Runs Annoy the Tuning Community

SKIDDING: While the phenomenon of wild runs is growing with dozens of gatherings every weekend, tuning enthusiasts deplore these illegal urban rodeos which do not really serve their cause

he scene repeats itself every weekend across the four corners of France. Every Friday evening, it’s a “rasso” for tuning fans who take over the deserted car parks in craft and commercial areas. At nightfall, hundreds of people arrive at the meeting place set on the networks to admire the transformed cars and observe what they have under the hood. Many of these gatherings are static with a ban on squealing tires, skidding or accelerating. “No running, no drifting and no overflow tolerated”, the organizers regularly remind us.

In parallel with these supervised “rassos”, even if not all are necessarily declared, wild runs are multiplying attracting an audience in search of ever more thrills. Ruining the lives of local residents, these urban rodeos are also particularly dangerous with drivers doing anything to impress. With sometimes dramatic consequences like in April 2023 in Bordeaux when a driver lost control of his vehicle, rushing into the crowd and injuring 13 people.

An illegal assembly degenerates in Ain

Two weeks ago, an illegal tuning gathering was banned by the prefecture also degenerated in Ain. While around 3,000 people and 800 vehicles gathered in a supermarket parking lot in Bourg-en-Bresse, clashes broke out with the police, with three police vehicles being damaged by thrown items.

If this phenomenon of wild “rassos” is growing and worries the authorities, it also annoys within the tuning community itself. “A tuning gathering is not basically that: it’s during the day, car stationary and hood open”, explains an enthusiast on the networks. “And then we wonder why no one allows us to come together to share our passion”, laments another.

“It’s getting difficult to find places”

Passionate about beautiful cars since a young age, Damien Le Chevalier knows this environment well. President from the Les Pilotes Bretons association, he has been organizing car rallies throughout the region for four years. “We meet up with enthusiasts and in a good atmosphere”, he explains. For the public, it is also an opportunity to see beautiful cars and take a photo of themselves in front of them. “Far from the “fast and furious” atmosphere of wild runs. “All it takes is for a guy to burn out and it could go into a tailspin”, laments the young man, who doesn’t really understand the madness of “screwing up a tire in a parking lot”.

In the gatherings he organizes, the rules are strict. And beware of those who would like to do the spins. “When we see borderline behavior, we gently remind them of the safety rules”, he assures. Because we are not here to act crazy and put people’s lives in danger, we have responsibilities as organizers even if some think the opposite. “Doing things right, he also recognizes that urban rodeos “harm” their image. “It is becoming difficult for certain small associations to find places legally because it is increasingly monitored and town halls or owners are becoming afraid because of the excesses”, underlines the president of Pilotes Bretons.

Videos that are a hit on social networks

As for free parties, prefectural decrees to prohibit any tuning gathering it also rains almost everywhere in France. Which does not prevent their outfit. “The law exists but there will always be people who break it”, smiles Krys. This thirty-year-old from Aisne is well placed to know this. Managing the Volrox application on networks every week, it offers a calendar of all self-organized events in France. “I have four official ones and twenty-three illegal ones just for this week”, he explains.

No longer frequenting the wild “rassos” which he now finds “too dangerous”, he nevertheless understands that it pleases. “More and more people come because they see videos on social networks and each time it’s those where it goes freestyle that get the most views”, says the content creator. By listing them in his gathering map, he is also responsible for promoting them a little. But in the hope, according to him, “of pushing the organizers to do legal things”.