London tunnel run
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tunnel Running refers to the act of driving through a road tunnel such to amplify the sound of the car's engine using the tunnel's acoustic properties. One of the most notable groups of car enthusiasts involved in this are known simply as the London Tunnel Runners. This group organises itself on the Internet and arranges to drive in a convoy with as many as 200 sports cars, GT cars, Motorbikes and Supercars to drive through a selection of the road tunnels in London. The emphasis is on noise rather than speed and as such the runs have been noted as being "Usually well behaved" by the Metropolitan Police Service.
[edit] History
The London Tunnel Run started as a car meet in London by TVR owners. After one particular meeting a group decided to drive in a convoy around London and agreed that it is entertaining to run the cars hard in the many underground tunnels that pass under various parts of london. After this first convoy the group decided to create a semi - regular meet at midnight when the traffic is lighter in order to drive through the tunnels. The first Midnight London Tunnel Run attracted over 250 participants. As the runs continued and the group became larger more variations on this theme came into effect. In a bid for even less traffic "Dawn raids" were conceived with Tunnelers embarking on their journeys as early as 3 or 4 am and usually finishing with at a venue for breakfast. The runs sometimes finish outside London such as Wales, the south coast and one run has even travelled as far as Paris.
[edit] Organisation
While the runs started with TVRs it has evolved now so any car being made welcome regardless of marque, model, speed or condition and the runs now regularly feature everything from the Minis and MR2s to Marcos(car), Moslers and Motorbikes. The runs are organised within a restricted Internet forum to prevent them from being gatecrashed by unwanted parties who may drive dangerously and bring the London Tunnel Run into disrepute, to date this has never happened.
Details of runs are never published outside of this central point until the run has happened. The route, start points and destinations always change. The group has active relations with the Metropolitan Police Service to make sure that inconvenience to the general public is kept low.
Acts of dangerous driving are frowned upon within the group and have resulted in people being banned from further events organised by the Tunnel Runners.
During a tunnel run the group slows to a crawl within a tunnel to create a gap in the traffic then accelerate hard to create loud engine noise within the confines of the tunnel. The cars usually feature large displacement engines with well tuned exhaust systems and the resulting sound is very pleasing to a car enthusiast. You can see a video of a Tunnel Run here.
Many copycat runs have been created by other internet forums which has caused the London Tunnel Runners to be blaimed for dangerous driving when it has been other parties. To combat this the London Tunnel Runners now inform the police of every run that they have planned in order for the police to be able to deal with genuine complaints with regards to them
[edit] London Tunnel Run in the Media
The programme "Vroom Vroom" on mainstream satellite channel Sky One carried a report on the tunnel run where presenter Emma Parker Bowles was invited to join the run. Youtube videos available here.
Islington Gazette article ran an article on a noise complaint caused by cars attributed to a tunnel run. Article here.
An article in Rides Magazine (USA) in the May/June 2006 edition.
Article and gallery in Channel 4's 4car website available here.
