Illegal car meetings

“Real tuners never put people in danger!”

The police issued hundreds of reports at illegal car gatherings in Styria (symbolic image)

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel/Pressefoto Scharinger )

Since the Corona period, there has been an increase in illegal car meetings in Styria, including daredevil races and driving maneuvers. The car enthusiasts play a real cat-and-mouse game with the police. The "real" tuning scene does not want to be lumped together with this and distances itself. 

Howling engines, smoking tires, daredevil races on the open road: the so-called roadrunner scene caused a stir and a major police operation in the Graz and Deutschlandsberg area in mid-April. Predominantly young car freaks organize themselves at such gatherings on social media and prefer to meet in commercial parking lots to put the pedal to the metal and show off their driving skills. Videos of them are shared and cheered online.

Scene has been growing since corona
"In Styria, this has become particularly virulent during the coronavirus period, since when the scene, which is mostly young and male, has been growing," says Kurt Lassnig, head of the Styrian traffic police. The fact that the last meeting was announced in advance under the motto "Graz out of control" testifies to the attitude of the PS freaks. With around 700 vehicles and a good 1500 onlookers - many from other federal states - the meeting in mid-April was one of the biggest ever in Styria. Last weekend it happened again, albeit with significantly fewer participants according to the police. 

The roadrunner scene is predominantly young and male.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel/Pressefoto Scharinger)

"In total, we took around 30 license plates at both meetings and filed hundreds of reports," says Lassnig. It's mainly about unauthorized technical modifications to cars and reckless driving manoeuvres. "The big danger here is when a driver, surrounded by hundreds of fans, drifts at high speeds or does wrestling, and then suddenly loses control and crashes into the crowd," says the traffic police officer. Apart from that, these actions create a lot of noise and stench as well as - to the displeasure of the owners - garbage and tire tracks in the parking lots.

The roadrunners are of course aware that what they are doing is illegal and therefore constantly change locations, which they announce on social media channels at short notice.

Kurt Lassnig, Leiter Verkehrspolizei Steiermark

The police keep an eye on the roadrunners and also monitor what is happening on social media, but the challenge is still great: "The scene is very mobile and the exact location is usually only announced an hour in advance and then changes all the time," says Lassnig. 

"Real tuners don't put people in danger"
The fact that these roadrunners are usually mentioned in the same breath as the tuning scene is increasingly causing headaches for the self-professed "real" tuners. "These illegal meetings have absolutely nothing to do with the tuning scene. I've had a look myself, and in my opinion, most of the cars there are close to standard. Removing the particulate filter is not tuning for me," says Dominik Schablas from Styria, himself a passionate car freak and organizer of legal tuning meetings and motor events for years.

Dominik Schablas will once again bring thousands of car fans to the Red Bull Ring on Saturday.

(Bild: Schablas)

"As organizers, we have enormous requirements; safety comes first. And a real tuner doesn't put people in danger, like the roadrunners do when drifting," says the trained kindergarten teacher. 

Next Saturday (May 4), Schablas will be organizing what is now the largest car and tuning fair at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg for the ninth time. Under the title "Low Scty goes Red Bull Ring" (formerly "PS Arena"), Schablas wants to create a "Disneyland for car enthusiasts" - where you can legally go full throttle and there is also something for the whole family. Because: "In the tuning scene, community and helping each other plays a big role!" emphasizes the tuning fan.