Street racers do burnouts on Riddell Rd in Glendowie. Video / Supplied
Residents in an Auckland street are terrified for their safety after a group of street racers turned it into an unofficial racetrack, complete with lap times and speed camera spies.
Riddell Rd in Glendowie was already a problem for dangerous driving and crashes over the past year, those who livethere say.
Now a group of street racers dubbed the street the "Riddell race-track" on social media - sharing their lap times and alerting each other about speed cameras on a private online group.
The group shows users posting photos of speed camera vans on the road, pitching signs warning motorists of cameras and comparing top speeds on the road's layout.
"Safety car is out on the Riddell Rd track, may pay to hold off your time trial run for a hour or so," one post on the group reads.
One of the vehicle involved in Monday morning's burnouts in the street. Photo / Supplied
The actions of street racing on the stretch of road has hit breaking point in the past week, where two instances of early morning burnouts awoke residents and, on Monday morning left locals scared for their safety.
Mary Garvie, a resident on the street, said she was woken up on Thursday morning last week to the sound of a car doing burnouts outside her house. Only four mornings later, she awoke once more at 5am to find the same thing - this time with multiple cars involved.
"I saw flashing lights and thought it was a helicopter or something but it was two cars doing burnouts."
Garvie said the road was covered in a liquid she believed was petrol, one car had lost its tyre - which was sitting in the middle of the road. Another car watched on, which she understood was a get-away car.
One car ended up stuck on its bumper, while the remaining cars and occupants disappeared. Police arrived shortly after and told residents the car left behind had been stolen.
"It's becoming a nightmare, I don't know what's going on but it's gone to hell in a handcart," said Garvie.
"People were standing outside in their nightwear wondering what's going on - we need some action."
Another resident, Carmel Hudner said the experience left her terrified the spinning cars would end up crashing into her house - which was nearest to the incident.
"We'd heard a dreadful scraping sound and it sounded like a huge truck was doing something. It was terrifying, we thought it was all going to come through our window," she said.
"It makes you feel sick really. You feel scared to go out as they might attack you so you just hide inside to stay safe."
Police said no arrests had been made in relation to either incident.
Garvie is taking matters into her own hands, pet ion ing local government officials and local MP Simon O'Connor for speed-reducing measures outside the Churchill Club, where most of the speeding and burnouts have occurred.
A mail-drop by Garvie in the area last year revealed to her a number of residents were also feeling concerned about the speeds of motorists on Riddell Rd. She said at one stage, a police officer told her of a motorcyclist which had reached speeds of up to 130km/h on the stretch of road during a police pursuit.
O'Connor said measures should really have been put in place by this stage - the issue has been raised with Auckland Transport for years.
"We get lots of complaints of speeding past the school, past retirement villages ... council should be well aware of it, I've written to them numerous times and police are aware of it also," said O'Connor.
"I think it's indicative of the wider problem we have with Auckland Transport and its priorities."
Auckland Transport has been approached for comment.
