‘Spinning’, Johannesburg, South Africa | Car subcultures

Around the world, communities have used cars in different and creative ways to express their own individual and group identities. ‘Spinning’ involves performing dangerous stunts, whilst a car – ideally a BMW 325i – is spun around in circles at high speed. The drivers lock the car into a spin and then, in clouds of smoke and squealing tyres, climbs out of the car or even hangs backwards out of the window with their head almost brushing the ground. Spinning has its roots in the early 1980s in Soweto, Johannesburg, where gangsters and criminals would steal cars to spin at the funerals of dead friends. It is now the fastest growing motor sport in South Africa with a new generation pushing to make it mainstream. Stacey-lee May, AKA ‘Queen of Smoke’, is a 23-year-old law student and one of South African’s top female motorsport sensations. Her introduction to spinning came from being bullied in High School, and at the age of 16, her father decided to teach her how to spin in order to boost her confidence. “I j