Former boy racer, 32, who was paralysed for life in a fatal crash while his best friend was driving says it ‘rips him to pieces’ that he can’t cuddle his sons
- Greg Sumner, from Bristol, is in The Secret World of Boy Racers: Untold]
- READ MORE: Revealed: The social media boy racers terrorizing Britain
A former boy racer who was paralysed for life in a fatal crash has revealed his pain at not being able to pick up his two sons for a cuddle.
Greg Sumner, 32, from Bristol, was in his early 20s when he was involved in a head-on crash when his friend was driving at more than 90mph in a race with other drivers.
He speaks of his regret in The Secret World of Boy Racers: UNTOLD, which is currently streaming on All 4, as filmmaker Ben Zand speaks to boy racers.
The film, which investigates the underground car scene in the UK, reveals how boy racers from around the country meet late at night to show off their cars and reach speeds of nearly 200mph on Britain’s roads.
As footage emerges of them racing their cars at dangerous speeds, they brag about evading the police in a game of ‘cat-and-mouse’.
While many of the racers in the film claim they are good enough drivers to avoid disaster, even at frightening speeds, Greg speaks of how he is lucky to be alive following the catastrophic crash he was involved in.
The father-of-two, who admits he used to love driving fast until his accident, recalls the night of the crash, in which his best friend collided with another driver.
He says: ‘On the way home a race developed with a car full of young males. Some poor bloke coming towards us on his way to work. Both the drivers, they’re gone on impact.
‘Our car was doing 91 going through a 40mph area. I broke 27 bones. The most devastating injury was the impact on my head.
Following the crash, Greg was left in a coma for four months and was left completely paralysed. He now has to have a full-time carer.
Greg Sumner, 32, from Bristol, was a passenger in a fatal car accident which killed his best friend and another driver when he was in his early twenties. He has revealed his heartache at not being able to hold his children in a new documentary for Channel 4
Greg (left) speaks to filmmaker Ben Zand (right) about the night of the accident which left him paralysed for life
Greg (pictured before the accident) was a boy racer who loved to speed in cars. But the accident left him in a coma for months, and when he woke up he was paralysed
He tells Zand: ‘Trying to be a father without picking [my sons] up for a little cuddle whenever I want – that’ll rip me to pieces as long as I breathe.’
He adds: ‘I was the lucky one. This is lucky.’
Elsewhere in the film, Zand speaks to anonymous boy racers who organise car meets in the dead of night in UK streets that would be full of cars on a normal day.
One of the organisers, Min, reveals how he puts together the car meets while evading law enforcement.
He tells Zand: ‘It is definitely a cat and mouse game with the police.
‘It’s the adrenaline. Not everyone’s into partying and taking drugs. Some people like cars. This is like fast and furious in real life.’
Min invites the film crew to a car meet in Bond Street, central London, late at night, where dozens of drivers are filmed revving their cars and causing a racket and setting off car alarms on stationary vehicles.
A race organiser called Min speaks to filmmaker Ben Zand about the events he sets up and argues there is no intention to disrupt other people
‘We’re not trying to disrupt the public,’ Min argues, adding that in that particular location, car alarms ‘normally go off all the time’.
The loud noises from the engines appear to frighten a passer-by as Min comments: ‘Yeah look she dropped her phone.’
Later in the documentary Zand meets another driver, who speaks from behind a mask and is given the name ‘Race’ because he has a 9-5 job and does not want to be identified.
Race tells the programme: ‘I’m gonna be honest with you I couldn’t give a s**t about the police… I couldn’t give a f**k.’
The driver, in his early 20s, reveals he has 21 points on his license – but still insists he is a ‘good driver.’
He tells Zand he was disqualified from driving for six months because he was caught driving at 140mph on the M6.
When Zand confronts him with the concerns many people have about boy racers driving dangerously, he responds: ‘Just tell people to shut up man, honestly they’ve got absolutely no clue.
‘There’s people out there that drink, doing something the government tells them is fine, and die.’
He adds: ‘I pride myself on being quite a good driver. I’m not gonna hit anybody. I’m not gonna hit anybody, I know that for a fact.’
Another driver, called ‘Speed’, who also speaks from behind a mask, tells Zand that he ‘wants the attention’ of driving fast, which he says makes him feel ‘unstoppable’.
‘I think this car is a way of me expressing myself. It’s like my personality spilled out onto a car,’ he says.
Speed reveals the races he takes part in can sometimes reach up to 200mph on the motorway.
As he speaks about spending £105,000 on cars, he explains he pays for the enormous expense through ‘businesses and entrepreneurial kind of stuff’.
Robin, a boy racer who was caught in a car accident at one of the boy racer meets, also speaks to Zand.
A few years ago he was watching a race at a car meet and was knocked over after getting caught by the wingmirror of a speeding car.
‘He flipped me up in the air and i just landed on the back of my head,’ Robin recalls.
Following the accident, which saw the two drivers involved jailed for a total of nine years, Robin was left with a concussion and a back injury.
He tells Zand that, to this day, he still struggles to get out of bed sometimes because he is in so much pain.
As he reveals that he has spent £30,000 souping-up Volkswagen cars to take part in car meets, Zand asks him if the accident has put him off racing.
He replies: ‘I don’t think I ever could step away. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have a car. I’d have nothing.’
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