German police crack down on illegal street car tuning as its season begins

The Guardian

18-04-2025

Police in Germany have pledged a crackdown on illegal racing and the unauthorised modification of cars as members of the so-called tuning scene meet across the country for the start of their annual season.
The Good Friday holiday marking Christ's death on the cross, called Karfreitag in German – from the Old High German word kara, meaning sorrow – is otherwise known by the extreme car enthusiasts as Carfreitag (car Friday) for its unofficial gathering of the 'tuners' and 'car posers'.
The day is also referred to in law as a Stiller Feiertag (silent holiday), with strict rules banning activities that could disrupt the contemplative mood or appear disrespectful to Christians. Dancing is prohibited, as is the use of lawn mowers, leaf blowers and other loud domestic appliances. Nightclubs are shut, and cinemas are restricted in the type of films they can screen, although rules differ between the 16 federal states.
Germany's state criminal police have said they will be out in force at scene hotspots, including retail car parks, alpine tunnels (favoured as they amplify the sound of car motors) and iconic racing tracks such as the Nürburgring in the mountainous Eifel region in western Germany.
Enthusiasts, who often gather from across Europe, also typically seek out long stretches of straight public roads for races that they illegally block, and sometimes the many sections of Germany's autobahn where there is no speed limit.
In statements to German media, the police said they would seek to clamp down on unauthorised tuning, illegal races and noise and emissions pollution, including that caused by so-called 'burn-outs', in which cars are held still with the handbrake on, the wheels spun so fast that the tyres smoke.
Those in contravention of the law could face high fines, punitive points on their driving licences as well as the revocation of licences and confiscation of their vehicles, police said.
Herbert Reul, the interior minister of Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany, where 3000 traffic violations were reported and around 4000 fines issued last Good Friday, said targeted controls would aim to pull over vehicles considered unfit to be driven. This included cars rebuilt for lowriding, the Mexican-American subculture of cruising as close to the surface of the road as possible.
'I have nothing against lowered cars, as long as they are roadworthy,' Reul said in a statement. 'However, it is important that all road users arrive home safely.'
The car tuning scene began in the US in the 1990s, spurred on by cult films such as 2001's The Fast and the Furious and its many sequels and is celebrated in everything from video games to toy lines. According to the publication Motor Trend, it has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, 'becoming a cornerstone of today's automotive passions'.