And we’re back, finally, from a pretty amazing opener to the UK show season, with a lot of people very excited to give our modified scene a well deserved kick up the bum despite the recession and a huge hike in fuel prices, a record number of visitors attended this year’s Marangoni Fast Show and we have two parts to bring you the best of the action from Santa Pod.
With The Fast Show fast becoming the traditional show opener for many and a good weather forecast it is pretty clear to see why our convoy of Awesome didn’t manage to leave ‘The Pod’ until gone 7.30pm… despite the show officially closing at 5pm and has lead to a very long, but a very enjoyable weekend and we wanted to bring you the first part of the action as quickly as possible!
With the show becoming so large, it’s almost impossible for us to compile a report that includes all our highlights so we have decided to bring it to you in two stages, as well as a bonus report for those interested in the European Sports Compact drag racing championship.
The Fast Show has earmarked itself as the first major universal modified car show of the UK season, with clubs pouring in on both days either for that great social atmosphere and a chance to air out the tents or roll up on the Sunday in force and put the clubs on show.
For us, it was a weekend affair, with plenty of very impressive action on the track courtesy of the Run What Ya Brung event and a chance to have a few beers, talk cars and most importantly have a good laugh with some great groups of people which for us, is the reason we do this.
We often complain about the weather in this country, and sure it was a little on the blowy side on Saturday which made it feel cold, but on returning home it’s clear that the sunshine on Sunday caught us all out with slightly lobster-like features on our face and necks!
Of course the sun brings out some of the UK’s nicest cars, all polished up and keen to fight for attention to show off the hard work, blood, sweat and no doubt tears that’ve gone into the projects over the winter months. Show and Shine was extremely popular, filling its area within an hour of opening with cars from all marques and styles, we did feel, however that some form of pre screening might be needed for the bigger events, with some top metal being turned away and some cars that, in all honesty, just didn’t deserve to be there.
In the arena, a few cars caught our eye and a full list of winners will be published in our next instalment, but we can’t go any further without mentioning both Chris’ Metro and Luke’s civic; both ex Garage Awesome feature cars and looking just as good as we remember them… one may have also walked away with a trophy for his efforts too!
As it’s getting late and we still have an abundance of pictures to edit and loads of action to write about, we will leave you with a good handful of pictures to feast your eyes on, and over the next couple of days, all the winners, action and more cars will appear.
The show season has officially started, and The Marangoni Fast Show has done nothing except hype us up ready for the rest of the year and with some projects still not finished (including my own!) and the best of the UK summer weather to come… it’s hard not to get excited really!
Words – Ollie // Pictures – Ollie, Rich & Chris
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