to thrive, attracting more drivers than the Wimbledon World Finals were able to facilitate. Around the late 1980s and early 1990s, promoters began hosting 'open' meetings with significant prize funds and very little regarding car limitations; the first of these being held was Ringwood Raceway's 'British Open' and the Arena Essex 'Firecracker 500'. Meetings like these continued to grow over the coming years, producing more cars and attracting drivers from all over the UK and often overseas. The 'Firecracker' event held at Arena Essex was so popular that it became the venue's biggest meeting for fans and drivers alike, and was subsequently held every year until the stadium's closure in 2018. The peak number of cars to compete in one season was around 13,000 in 2003, of which around 9,500 were 'fresh' and had not been raced at any previous meetings. As for individual meetings, the largest turnouts vary depending on the banger class racing. Meetings with 200+ bangers in attendance would be considered some of the biggest in the sport's history. The largest accurate meeting turnout on record was the Spedeworth Unlimited National Banger World Final of 2017 in which 269 cars were in attendance. The 'Heavy Metal Classic' meetings hosted at Standlake, are the only ones to come close to this figure with a turnout of 266 at the 2005 running and 265 cars the following year, however both of these meetings consisted of 'Unlimited' and 'Under 1800cc' bangers. Banger team meetings have also become popular in recent times, producing turnouts of over 200 cars on some occasions. The Unlimited 'Icebreaker' meeting, held at Swaffham Raceway on 8 February 1998 drew 209 competitors. Not only was this event the first of its kind to break this barrier, but at the point of running, it was the largest accurate turnout on record. Since then, there have been many other team meetings that have produced 200+ turnouts. The biggest team meeting on record was the Unlimited teams event held at Oval Emmem in 2016, which produced a turnout of 240 cars, also making it the biggest turnout at any Dutch venue. Another turnout of significance in the sport is the 2013 Olly Moran Memorial weekend held at Arena Essex in 2013. This meeting holds the record for being the biggest 'one-make' turnout in the sport's history, as every driver in attendance had to race either a 'Mark I' or 'Mark