Boys just wanna have fun.

(From The Dominion Post)

Byline: BAIN Helen

Helen Bain goes, willingly, into the night with a group of boy racers and finds them surprisingly law abiding.

It is 9 o'clock on a Friday night in Wellington and Daniel Bailey is busy making cellphone calls. The action, it is rumoured, is happening at the Mobil service station at Paremata roundabout.

--------------------

We are cruising in the Holden Clubsport owned by Daniel's friend and fellow boy racer (for want of a better term) Warren Shepherd, and this early in the night getting some action going is a matter of like-minded people calling and texting each other till the thing assumes critical mass.

As the Clubsport's V8 rumbles up the motorway toward Paremata, Warren justifies his slightly unorthodox (for a boy racer, anyway) choice of vehicle.

The boy racer car fleet is overwhelmingly dominated by Jappers: Evos and WRXs and, going down the foodchain, assorted lesser Mitsubishis and Subarus, Hondas and Toyotas, with the odd bit of exotica thrown in. Big Holden and Ford V8s are making a bit of a comeback in these circles, but are still a minority taste.

But the Clubsport, bought new in November, is Warren's dream car.

"I just always wanted one. I like the fact that the HSV is something a bit different."

As the sticker on his car says, "HSV--I just want one."

He also comes from Stokes Valley, which could have something to do with his taste in vehicles.

Warren is also unusual among boy racers in owning a relatively unmodified vehicle. It has a different $3000 exhaust, but it is Holden-supplied and fitted.

After-market exhausts, body kits, spoilers, after-market EVERYTHING is the usual rule, and owning a standard car is social death, but Warren's new car warranty prevents much modifying.

Warren is only 20, but heads a computer company, a job that provided the wherewithal to pay nearly $80,000 for his car.

He went to the Holden dealer four times and was paid very little attention--he looked like a 20-year-old tyre kicker, not a serious buying proposition. It …