Illegal street races on the Costa are back: watch as police smash gathering of 100 people and 40 vehicles

Videos of the event have surfaced on social media showing motorbikes doing wheelies and cars racing dangerously close to each other

Juan Cano

Malaga

Wednesday, 18 September 2024, 12:07

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Illegal street racing has returned to the streets of Malaga on the Costa del Sol, specifically on one of the city's industrial estates where 40 vehicles and their drivers gathered for an illegal event.

Local Police officers received several calls alerting them to a large number of cars and motorbikes in the streets of the Trevénez industrial estate last weekend. They found more than 40 vehicles with some 100 people involved in illegal racing through the streets of the industrial estate, which at the time was still busy with delivery lorries.

Police quickly arrived on the scene and broke up the illegal gathering, however videos of the incident have surfaced on social media showing motorbikes doing wheelies and cars dangerously racing against each other.

One of the most serious illegal street racing incidents in Malaga province happened on the very same industrial estate in the city. In 2021, the driver of a car involved in a race lost control of his vehicle and hit a group of spectators, injuring several of them.

Booming phenomenon

Illegal races are a booming phenomenon in Malaga, as drivers showcase their reckless behaviour on Instagram or TikTok to gain followers. Police investigations have made it possible to infiltrate groups where the events are organised in secret and to find out, for example, the street circuits and code names they use to meet up. 'Ocho focos' is the name they use to refer to the Cortijo de Torres fairgrounds; 'Palacio' is the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos; they call the Trévenez industrial estate 'CTM' and the Intelhorce road, 'Los desguaces'. Other usual meeting points are Los Montes de Malaga and the car parks of the Ikea store, Martín Carpena area or Carrefour-Los Patios supermarket.

In just over a year, police have arrested or investigated a dozen people for crimes against road safety committed at these rallies and publicised via TikTok or Instagram. Some of them have even been convicted for these acts.

In recent interventions to break up the macro-meetings, police officers have counted more than 100 cars and as many motorbikes. The scenario is often as follows: there are a number of cars parked on the sides that do not participate; they are simply motor enthusiasts with tuned cars who leave their boots open with drinks and music to enjoy the action.

Then there are the speeders, who put their foot on the accelerator of fast cars with engines up to 400 horsepower. Police have also identified drivers coming from other Malaga towns or provinces of Spain. Recently, they even detected a semi-professional Formula 3 driver. There is no evidence of betting or gambling on a car, as in the movies. They race for the adrenaline, for the thrill and the chance to show that their car is the most fastestl.

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