Following recent discussions within the admin team, we have reached the very sad and heartbreaking conclusion that the current 2019 season of Live For Speed (LFS) Bangers will be the final season of the league.
This decision has not been taken lightly and is by far the hardest decision we have had to take during our spell in charge. This is not a sudden decision either; the end of the league has been considered for a few years, but it was not decided to stop running it until this year.
The main reason for this decision has been the overall fall in driver numbers. It has become clear that meetings are no longer as well attended as they once were, only just bordering around the double figures mark for the season. A concerning cycle of attendance has become notable over the past few seasons, where driver numbers are good from January to March but drop off once the real life racing season starts and never fully recover to the levels seen at the start of the season. This has been especially poor in the summer; this season a number of meetings were in fact outright cancelled due to low numbers. As much as we do not want to end the league, we cannot keep shying away from the fact that numbers are falling to a level which is sadly no longer worth it, and it genuinely hurts to write that.
There are a number of smaller reasons which have also played their part, but for shortness only the following three will be mentioned. Firstly is the release of Wreckfest, which has had a colossal impact (if you pardon the pun) on the league as a number of LFS Bangers regulars have left for that game. It's completely understandable why this has happened due to Wreckfest being far more adaptable for bangers than LFS ever was. Secondly, the long wait for the new version of LFS has turned off people overall, meaning any new drivers are few and far between. On this note, unfortunately a number from outside the banger community who have competed frustratingly left after a few meetings because they didn't like being the victims. Thirdly, this league has been going on for 12 seasons and we are all growing up and going into our own careers, whether they're racing related or not, meaning we don't have any real time to play games like we used to when we were younger.
Everyone at LFS Bangers would like to thank every single driver who raced, wrecked, won, became title winners or contributed in some shape or form to the league over these twelve seasons. It would have all been over far sooner without you.
The following is a list of special thanks to certain members of the LFS Bangers community - we would have never made it to this point without them:
• Cap #27 (Chris Streets) for setting up the league in the first place and running it from 2008 to 2014; his easy going attitude and fairness set the benchmark for all LFS Bangers leagues to follow, and his reign will never be bettered
• Daz #815 (Darrel Ainscough) for FNBangers, Russ #773 (Russ Saunders) for LFSBangers.co.uk (back in the day!) and everyone else who set up their own leagues back in LFS Bangers' peak days
• Foster #307 (Mason Foster), Pepino #960 (Pepino Starmanns), Timmy #76 (Jim Holloway) and Gizmo #68 (Eden Young) for their track replicas / own creations which are still used to this day
• Luke #779 (Luke Dix) for setting up the LFS Bangers Facebook page out of which the still-used LFS Banger Chat was formed
• Miniman #474 (Jouke Heddema) for his livestreams on the LFS Bangers Facebook page as well as track designs of his own
• Brett #786 (Brett Gedney) for his work in promoting the LFS Bangers Big Reunion as well as his admin duties and track designs of his own
• Jam #616 (Jamie Tresidder) for the autograding server plugin that has been invaluable this season
• Looney #870 (Niall Drew) for the "new" server that saved the league and the "new" forum
• Jon #606 (Jonathan Siddle) for taking over the league in 2014 and keeping it going until the end
The final LFS Bangers meeting will be the Christmas Fun Meet on 20th December; if you cannot make any other meeting this season then please try and make that one!
It has been agreed that the server will remain active following the league's conclusion. We will try and ensure there is a car / track combination on at all times; please let one of the admin team know if there is not a combination on and we will sort one as soon as possible.
It's been a tremendous 12 seasons: let's make the final two months of this season ones to truly remember.
Yours with the heaviest of hearts,
The LFS Bangers Admin Team.
R.I.P. LFS Bangers 2008 - 2019.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/OLbQn0L.jpg)