Well, in total honesty, we weren’t going to bring you coverage from the Modified Live event at Knockhill, we assumed we would be far too busy rationing supplies and fighting off Zombies… but it seems someone had predicted the end of the world wrong (again) so we are pleased to be able to bring you Scotland’s finest and the last part of our weekend away at Knockhill!
As I’m sure you’re aware already, the Modified Live show accompanies every round of the Time Attack, and vise versa, giving a chance for those not thrashing about around the circuit or shredding tyres to show off their polished perfection, modified masterpieces and tuned terrors to all the visitors of the show; a perfect combination for any event, and one the Modified Live brand has really captured over the past few years.
With it being our first trip to Scotland for a modified car event, we were expecting and hoping to see a wide range of cars that we hadn’t seen before, and boy were we not disappointed! Now, we weren’t overwhelmed by sheer numbers, but what the Scotland leg of this event did was make up for the slight lack of quantity by showing us unbelievable amounts of quality!
The first thing to hit you smack in the face is how much the Scots love their Jap metal, nearly every other car wore a Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Subaru or Mitsubishi badge and the whole of the Scottish tuning scene seems to be geared up towards this, with fantastic results! The local branch of the Subaru Impreza Drivers Club put on an excellent display, showing all models and shapes of Impreza, with nearly every conceivable mod being represented and not to be out done, the Mitsubishi Lancer Register had the same idea… at one point watching these cars pour into the circuit, we thought you weren’t allowed in unless you drove one of the rally bred favourites!
None model specific clubs were also well represented, we came away highly impressed with Monster Unit, who worked their limited stand space really well, with some neat spec list stands and a fleet of Jap performance cars that we would have been quite happy to take any of the keys to! Clan Japan were another, perched on top of the hill, who had a great array of cars, including a funky flip painted Evo, which now it’s not on every other car coming out of a bodyshop, looks pretty damn fresh, and a glorious Mitsubishi Shogun Evolution which is a real weapon and possibly scoops the converted and imaginary “Garage Awesome Most Time Spent Looking Around” award!
Out of those not sticking to the Jap only brands, Edinburgh Cruise had a large presence, and although Jap cars were present in their lineup, a wide mixture could be found amongst their ranks. The West of Scotland RS Owners kept things kicking for the blue oval brigade, with a load of neatly turned out Focus RS and ST’s in pretty much all the colours available from Ford and not to be outdone either, the Vauxhall Drivers Club were a well turned out bunch, displaying cars from the new Monaro and VXR8 models through to the hot hatch Corsas and classic (and holder of a place in my dream garage) the Cavalier GSI2000.
Individual cars that caught our eye on one of our various walks around were the amazing time warp yellow Mk1 Cavalier which could have easily just rolled off the production line, a limelight grabbing Moonstone blue Sierra Cosworth we found lurking in the paddock, the matte orange 350Z and bright yellow Audi S3 grabbed our attention for all the right reasons and despite VW’s not being my forte, we couldn’t argue with the Vento fronted Mk3 Golf which really did look stunning!
Traders were a little thin on the ground, with Total Evolution/Nissan/Honda/Impreza being one of the main stands and a few smaller stalls selling stickers and merchandise, but one of the big scoops was Subaru, who had a full display showing off their impressive range of latest generation Impreza models. When Time Attack was quiet, we had the usual stunt show and EDC competitions out on the circuit and for those wanting to escape Scotland’s temperamental weather, the bar and cafe always seemed like a nice warm place to hide out and gaze over the busy paddock with a pint in your hand!
So, it goes to show that Scotland has far more to offer than glorious scenery, haggis and slightly damp weather, it is one of the top places to find top quality modified cars and THE place to go if you want the majority of them to be Japanese! The long trip was definitely worth it and will be firmly placed in our calendar for next year… providing the world hasn’t ended… again!
Words – Ollie // Pictures – Ollie
