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Gears And Tears is a documentary series which follows the rivalry amongst the Smiths and the Wainmans who compete against one on the stock car circuit.

A tale of thwarted love as the stockcar saga takes a truly Shakespearean twist. In the emotional climax of the World Final, a real life story of Romeo and Juliet emerges between the rival camps of the Smiths and the Wainmans. Will young love prevail - or can the enmity between the families only be sorted out in the mayhem of the track?

Episode 5 of Gears and Tears was filmed during the battle for the British Championship, one of the
oldest championships on the calendar, having been run since 1956.

The cars have developed in that time from large American saloons with extra bumpers welded on to today?s purpose built racing cars. A modern BriSCA F1 car can have as much power, and more torque, than Jenson Button?s Formula 1 car, although at 1350kgs or more a stock car is double the weight of a McLaren.

Engines used must have an iron block, two valves per cylinder and use carburetion. There is no capacity limit! All use American V8s, with Chevy based engines of around 7-8-litres being the most popular. Most top drivers have at least 700bhp, some over 800; a better power to weight ratio than a Bugatti Veyron, the fastest road car in the world.

Because they only race on oval tracks the cars have simple two speed gearboxes, a crawler gear to use in the pits, and a race gear; ratios are changed for different tracks.

The chassis are purpose made from steel tubes with an integrated roll cage. There is no crumple zone, save the driver?s ribs. Both live axles are based on those from light commercials, usually Transits, but machined to allow them to be offset to the left for better cornering.
Differentials are welded shut meaning an F1 stock car can only go
sideways around a corner, yet another reason why they are so spectacular.

After each race the winning cars are weighed on four-wheel scales to make sure that no more than 52.9% of their total weight is on the inside wheels. This stops cars having all their weight as far over to the left as possible.

Many drivers build their own cars, however Frankie Wainman Jnr (FWJ) makes his living building and repairing stock cars for 
other drivers. Well over half the grid use ?FWJ? built cars.

An F1 stock car race starts with a rolling start because they have so much power that a standing start would literally tear the car to pieces.

Een mooie Engelse documantaire over een FANTASTISCHE sport, waarbij je als gewone man nog dicht bij de coureurs kunt komen.

Zaterdag 4 September World Final Stockcar F1 in Coventry (UK)
Zondag 12 september Laatste ACON Cross St. Maarten (NL)
Zaterdag 18 september Emmen (NL) Gouden Helm F1-F2- Vrije standaard