Welcome to part one of our coverage from TRAX 2015 at Silverstone…
TRAX has always been the end of show season event. It’s tradition. But because of some cock-up to do with men who wear leather, race bikes and polish their helmets, TRAXs had to be moved to July. This obviously caused a fair bit of upheaval at the time, but as the tyre dust settled over Silverstone and the aftersun was applied (you don’t get that in September), it became apparent that the date change hadn’t affected the show at all. It was a corker!
TRAX started as a club meeting over 20 years ago and has grown into one of the largest performance car events in the UK. But the core of the show is still very much based around the thousands of dedicated club cars that fill every inch of Silverstone’s infield. The quality and variety on display is unrivalled and the incredible turnout featured everything from stripped-out track weapons to the very latest performance and tuned motors. So headline sponsor Adrian Flux, had a task on their hands to pick the Best Club Stand winner. In the end they chose a stand you just couldn’t miss – The Electric Orange ST Owners’ Club. Watching these cars convoy in and park up together was quite a sight.
New for 2015 was the Drift Trike Paddock, where show goers had the opportunity to get behind the handlebars of purpose-built 50cc drift tricycles. It was as entertaining watching the sideways action as it was for the dare devils taking part. But for those who take their drifting a little more seriously, the British Drift Championship put on three full-throttle, smoke-inducing demo sessions on the famous Silverstone circuit. The Brooklands, Luffield and Woodcote complex has never seen so much smoke as the cream of the BDC and their Super-Pro drivers battled it out for the packed grandstands to enjoy.
When the cars and drivers weren’t in action, they could be found preparing for their next demo in the dedicated drift paddock, where the public could get up close and personal with these incredible machines and maybe grab a picture or an autograph of the most talented drift drivers in the UK right now.
Silverstone’s famous circuit wasn’t given any rest though. In between the full-throttle drift demos came the Toyo Tyres public track time, where a real mixture of driver abilities and machinery followed in many a racing driver’s tyre marks as they took on the challenging corners of the National Circuit.
At the heart of the show, and returning for a second year, was our very own Car Culture Collection. The huge display brought together builds from every corner of car culture in a diverse 100-car strong line-up. Highlights included Ben Daniels’ SR20-powered Firenza, Luke Gilbert’s air-suspension equipped Lotus Elite, Mike Fisher’s concours-spec Saxo, Guy Davis’ stunning Fiesta and Adam Rikards’ Mk7 Golf R. But all of the cars in the CCC were more than worthy of their space.
The vibe of the area was enhanced by live DJ sets, and performances from beatboxing band Duke. Our aim with the Car Culture Collection was to put on a display that summarises the huge variety and quality of car cultures that make the UK’s modified scene amongst the best in the world. We might be a bit biased, but we believe we achieved this, and then some…
