Last weekend I headed down to Lydden Hill with the Car Loan 4U guys and girls for three days of good fun and good times. The event was the Mayhem show, a mash-up of motorcross, rallycross, BMX, drifting and a few other bits and bobs. The guys had been asked to take part in a number of demo runs so it was all aboard the motorhome and Southward bound, first to collect Alex’s car from Panther Detailing where it had been stored…
…all while Tuffin threw some big shapes.
We got to the track late Saturday afternoon and got the pits set up with everyone else…
…before spending the night being treated to Joe’s obsession with the Beastie Boys and some questionable pictures on Alex’s phone.
Sunday dawned and, having spent the night trying to sleep in the back of Matt’s Toureg along with Tuffin and a dodgy copy of Fast & Furious, I could have felt sharper. Nevertheless, the drivers headed out for the first session of the day.
It’s cool seeing lots of BDC drivers getting the chance to let their hair down and have some fun in a no-pressure environment. It’s a shame a lot of these cars are absent from practice days and the like.
Paul Smith was on point straight from the off.
D-Mac was also tearing up Lydden in his outrageous 13B powered AE86.
The Slide Motorsport trio of Matt Stevenson, Adam Simmons and Ben Manuel were, as usual, some of the most entertaining drivers to watch. Three dudes with the right attitude and with plenty of team seat time under their belts – we need to see this more from other people.
Baggsy was on organiser duty throughout the weekend but that didn’t stop him from getting behind the wheel of his resurrected S13.
The first session went well for pretty much everyone, although Matt wasn’t so lucky when he noticed that his water pump had failed upon his return to the pits. Hywel and Tuffin set about removing the old item while Matt sped off home to collect a spare that his dad was currently removing from one of his spare 300ZXs sat on the driveway. The guys got everything back together in record time (especially when you consider the complexity of a VG30DETT) but unfortunately they were just a couple of minutes too late to make the final session.
Matt consoled himself with Strongbow and diggers instead.
Bank Holiday Monday arrived and it was time for the drivers briefing led by Baggsy. It was cool seeing him rise to the challenge of being in an organisational role and he definitely seemed like a different guy all weekend; fair play to him.
I love James Fuller’s ’13. Aside from the Rocket Bunny kit you’d be hard pressed to figure out what lies beneath but the combination of a big spec SR20, a TDP suspension setup and a driver hell-bent on driving as mentally as possible and you’ve got a very formidable package on your hands.
Dan Firmager’s Volvo is another car you’ve probably heard quite a bit about in the last few weeks, thanks in part to his 1st place qualifying spot in the Pro class at Round 4 of the BDC the other week. OEM exterior, 13″ wheels and a Lexus 1UZ V8 under the bonnet. In a nutshell, absolutely awesome.
Fanta banter.
Sunday morning kicked off with qualifying for the drifters, with a Top 16 battle scheduled for the afternoon.
Jody Fletcher seemed to be having a great weekend on track (aside from the slight mishap with team mate Simon Perry when the two collided exiting the bottom hairpin!)
With only around twenty drivers taking part only a few would find themselves sat on the sidelines during the competition, but with such a high talent pool present there was still going to be a few upsets. In the end it was Shane Lynch and Mike Marshall that proved themselves to be the most aggressive yet restrained, wild but consistent drivers during the battles, with the pair making short work of their competitors as they fought their way through to the final. It was Marshall that eventually found himself taking the win however, after the final went into a pretty epic one more time.
With the competition over the drifters were given free reign of the circuit until the 6pm noise curfew. Adam Simmons was up to his usual tricks of leaving as much rubber and bodywork on the track as possible. Good work!
Overall, a fun weekend away with mates and some great people as always. Next stop, Trax at Silverstone.