Swaffham Raceway are celebrating the Ford Cortina’s 50th anniversary – by smashing up 100 of them in an all-Cortina banger race on July 22.

Swaffham Raceway in Norfolk have announced what many classic enthusiasts will consider to be a rather bizarre celebration of the Cortina’s 50^th birthday – an all-Cortina banger race that’s taking place on Sunday July 22! All Cortinas can be entered, even the now rare Mk1 and Mk11 versions.

According to Swaffham promoter Shawn Mason, “almost 100 cars have been booked in already” – although the entry list on the meet’s website currently lists 64, and entries are still being invited. The vast majority of cars entered so are MkIV and MkVs – though even these are now surprisingly rare − but there are also a number of MkI, MkII and MkIII models. Nine cars entered are also estates – one of them a MkIII.

The ‘event’ is also open to contemporary (T20M and newer) Taunus-badged cars from mainland Europe, and a number of ‘overseas’ competitors – from Belgium, Holland and the Irish Republic − have booked in.

Many enthusiasts have condemned this particular ‘celebration’ as inappropriate, in bad taste and, of course, as a means of reducing surviving numbers of cars that are already rare.

Another consideration is that whereas the £5000-plus prices of good Westminsters protected the best examples from being smashed up at the controversial Arlington event last year, good MkIII/IV/V Cortinas are worth significantly less – under £1500 in most cases. This in turn means that many viable examples that are running and roadworthy will be within the ‘sub £800-£1000ish’ price range that some banger racers will pay for a car to be used in high-profile meetings like this.

Obviously it is up to the person who owns a car what they do with their own property. However if you have a restorable Cortina that you are considering selling but would prefer that it did not end up being raced, it might be an idea to ‘quiz’ potential buyers a bit – or if possible, to postpone your sale until after July.