Trax 2015 - Silverstone
Our first show as a club, the location, Silverstone, the show, Trax. This was the first show we've attended, we rocked up with 20 awesome cars, set out our stand and enjoyed the blazing sun and delights that Silverstone had to offer. This was far more than just displaying cars, it was a chance to get to know and meet new people. Lets start by showing you a few of the cars we had to offer. Most of you know what we drive but anyway...
This is Rowan Harrison's awesome Peugeot 306 Rallye. Just a well sorted and quick car.
Dale Groves brought a long his big Octavia, the affectionately named "Blue Waffle" very nearly didnt make it due a subframe issue but we're glad he managed to get the car to Silverstone and show it off with us. It takes a brave guy to think out of the box and he's certainly building an impressive car.
This is Ben Tomlinson's R32, a car that bridges the gap of stripped out racer and usable daily perfectly, its built with an attention to detail and it shows but while it can do the business on the stand it backs that up with a serious turn of speed on the track.... Boost coming soon? We hope so!!
This is a car that needs no introduction, it seems the whole world knows about Christian and his GTI. Often criticised for being to into the "scene" and not actually driving his car.... That couldn't be more wrong, Christian killed it on the track all day. Any doubts that this car doesn't get used hard are surely erased.
Chris Page Is the owner of this mental little Fiesta. A true home built car that can run with the big boys all day long. Unfortunately in his first track session off the day the Fiesta developed some engine issues and the car was sidelined for the rest of the day and its currently undergoing a rebuild.
A very late addition to the stand was Rob Mills and his Puma turbo powered Fiesta aka - Pumesta! Boosted, Caged... What's not to Love?
Trax is know as "The ultimate performance car event" This might have been true a few years ago but as with everything the "scene" kids turn up and for the most part this became another "stance" show. There was still a good amount of properly built cars... You just had to look for them!
One thing that did surprise us we wandered around the show is just how many cars are now fitted with air ride, a few years ago it would of guaranteed you a space on the cover of any magazine, now thought... Its nothing special, I suppose finance is a wonderful thing though. Still, you can beat coilovers and proper alignment!
Like it or love it seems the home built aero thing is here to stay, from a purely functional point of view who knows if its adding any aerodynamic benefit but if it encourages people to track their cars then we support it. Personally I like it, especially Ben Albone's MX5.
There were some great cars all around the show, this Impreza 22B stirring up some nostalgia with its Colin McRae livery.
The Fiesta ST was a car that was in abundance this year and its not hard to see why. Its only been out for a couple of years but there is already good support from after market tuners as well as the Ford approved Mountune packages. I suspect these cars are just going to grow in popularity. In Molten Orange they look stunning.
We spent a little staring at this Evo, I think it was the Red Bull livery that did it for us
On track that action was fast and frantic and sometimes a little bit crazy. Christian managed to avoid most of the chaos and put some seriously quick laps in behind the wheel of his Golf, it didnt seem like much was coming past him.
The same goes for Ben and his R32, pushing hard and the noise that big V6 makes is something else!
We spotted a few familiar cars representing the #TrackAddict brand on track. Nick Lockyer's Corsa VXR was pretty untouchable, destroying everything it came up behind.
Chris was giving this Evo and good run for its money until the Fiesta's Duratec engine decided it no longer wanted to play.
Another exciting part ofthe day was watching the BDC boys do their stuff, sideways and serious it definitely was. it might of only been demonstration runs but they certainly were not holding back!
Its awesome to see the car control these guys have... Right up to the point where you think "he's lost it" and they still exit the corner in a cloud of smoke and throw it into the next one!
The Driftworks DW86 is a very special car and its engine.... OMG
Team Falken UK was also well represented.
For some reason I cant quite understand this car seemed to stand out a fair bit... Sorry for ruining the picture!
As did this E30.. Its only got a twin turbo V8 under the bonnet... Nothing special!
I couldn't resist... Thats it from Trax 2015. It was a bit of late call for us to go but we'll be back next year and hopefully we'll do it a bit better!
Words - Jay
Pictures - Dale, Wayne.
Words - Jay
Pictures - Dale, Wayne.