to approach boy racer and ask him to please give me a night off from constant revving of his car?

[engelbart]

Moved into house 4 years ago. A week after doing so my neighbour's 18 year old put a sports exhaust on his corsa and a really crappy car alarm which normally goes off about twice a day. Neighbour doesn't have a driveway so his son spends his time 'working' on his car on the road outside my house. He seems to be dismantling every part of the car and has been working on it for 4 years. I think he must be doing a car mechanics course. Wouldn't mind so much if his work on the car didn't involve him running the car engine for hours every day and especially in the evening. I'm so tired of listening to the constant revving up. Even when he's doing something on the car unrelated to the engine he has the engine running (for example putting in a new windscreen)I dread to think of how much petrol he's wasting and the damage to the environment as he pumps out fumes.

Have bitten my tongue for 4 years despite the fact that often he's revving his car when dd is trying to sleep at night. However, am now at the end of my tether. He's been out there revving up the engine since about 1 pm this afternoon and I just can't relax in my own home listening to it . I don't like confrontation so am reluctant to approach him but am at the end of my tether. Just want a rev free night.

What is the purpose of revving engines? Can someone with car knowledge explain this too me please?

Often, very little. It's what oversized boys do when they're pretending they know what they're doing. And I speak as someone whose engine nearly got wrecked by a road rescue mechanic revving the hell out of it when it had a slipped cambelt. My regular, trusted mechanic went white when he heard what the R.R bloke had done.

OP, how about a root vegetable rammed hard up the exhaust pipe in the wee small hours of the morning?

Casually ask him how its going, is it a hobby etc etc, like you are really interested and then ask very sweetly if he wouldnt mind keeping the revving to a minimum cos its ever so loud and drives you bonkers?

just ask him nicely he'll probably respond well. Not all young ppl are bad

I guess you have to build up the courage to actually ask him to stop revving his engine all the time

Tell him how he obviously loves his car and how you think it is great that he takes so much care of it and he works so hard on it, etc (i.e. build up his ego a bit first).

Then say that, you know he is not doing it on purpose and that he couldn't know how much you can hear from your house but the constant revving is driving you nuts (said with a big grin). Is there any chance he could reduce the amount of time spent with the engine running, especially in the evenings?

See what his response is.

I wouldn't be keen on speaking/complaining to anyone either but, I guess, you can't complain about him until you have made him aware that it's a nuisance.

Good luck

Ask him politely to cease revving the engine and making so much noise after, say, 7pm when most people with children are trying to calm them down and get them into bed, and if that doesn't work start keeping a diary of times and dates he makes unreasonable noise and repoert him to environmental health.

Also, if he's working on the car on a public road maybe it's something the council should be alerted to if he doesn't respond to polite requests.

Your local police can issue a warning on the car for anti social behaviour (known in the job as a section 59). Antisocial use of a car covers a multitude of sins and certainly includes revving and revving a car endlessly to the great annoyance of others - the legistlation was brought in to deal with boy racers and their irritating habits.
Once a s59 has been issued the vehicle can be confiscated and impounded if anyone is stopped doing anything antisocial in it.

Personally I think it's a brilliant bit of legislation as I really can't bear antisocial driving and the looks on their faces when they realise (a) their pride and joy has gone for the weekend (b) they're going to have to pay £150 to get it back are always a picture.

So if you don't have any joy asking him or don't fancy the confrontation you could think about this route. It's a lot quicker than the council.

I've never understood the point of the revving either. I also don't understand why anyone would want a sports exhaust. He often comes home late at night and the noise of the engine as he spends 10 mins trying to find a parking space and park often wakes me up. What pleasure can he get from a very loud exhaust?

About a couple of years ago when he started the revving at 6.30 am I actually went over to him and mildly enquired about when he thought he would fix his car because of all the noise etc? He looked at me like I was mad.

Thanks for the advice especially from fibilou. Do I just ring the police and tell them what's been going on or do I have to provide a diary documenting all the anti-social behaviour? I always look forward to the winter because in the past he wouldn't be out working on the car so late but this year he's bought some sort of tarpaulin cover and torch stand so he can work on it into the early hours...