All the modded Jap car goodness at the iconic racetrack :)
Famous JDM track, drift and street cars, stacks of modified car clubs, and Time Attack action on the track - Go Japan! & Tunerfest South at Brands Hatch was always going to be a hot ticket for us MAXERS.
Arriving at 8am - an hour before the show even opened (Millsy gets up super early these days - his bladder isn't what it was!) - and we were greeted by a long, sexy line of modded motors queuing to get in. We snapped away as the big-bore-back-box-burbles shook away the sleepy cobwebs.
Once inside and we were like fat kids in a cake shop not knowing where to look first - cool car club cars everywhere, laid out across the green lawns, with cleaning products being liberally applied to pulsing paint and glittering carbon. Lovely stuff.
We bumped into this chap - Ed Sarling - and a his evil black Supra. Ed is a friendly fellow, he recognised me from my Max Power days - he had no clue who Millsy was (which happens a lot!) - and claimed that he'd never managed to get one of his modded motors in Max Power back in the day. So, we promised to get his turbo AND supercharged Supra into the pages of MAXERS right away. He you go, Ed! Top work, mate :)
Strolling on we came across the All-Star JDM Cars Paddock. The stars of the show included the Blitz Supra, Driftworks' Promodet 964 Turbo and Garage-D's Blitz R34. Some absolute icons of Jap tuning in here, and as hard as a teenage boy at Max Power Live to pick a favourite!
If I had to pick a fave, it would be show organiser, Andy Barnes' HKS Hiper Genki Silvia RS2 S15 Drift Performer D1GP (to give it it's full name!). Andy and brother Rob had just finished rebuilding the legendary S15 D1 pro drift machine to its original spec - just look at those 3-spoke Advans! (heart-eyes-emoji!) - and a smoky drift demo around the track was the freshly-built SR20's first proper run. Now that's how to run in a new engine! More pics of Andy and his red rocket (the car, that is!), below. Congrats to Andy and his team on a top show :)
We only chatted to Andy - and Julian from Garage-D (who gets coolest helmet award with his carbon Simpson!) - for a few moments in the pits before the drift cars fired up and headed to the track. After that, conversation was not possible due to high levels of brap-brap-brap! Awesome!
Next up it was time to sort my hangover out - some things never change! - so I woofed a massive sausage (not for the first time!), and, renewed, we hit the car club stands. These pics are a powerful reminder of just how cool the UK modded car scene is. Wicked cars and friendly people. Big up yourselves!
What a top show! Thank goodness for Go Japan! and the perfect weather that blessed it. What with all this Covid BS, this could be our last proper big show of 2020. I was so happy to be there I even bought Millsy a 99 Flake to lick! Only a small one, mind - they don't do them in 12-inches!
All our pics are in the sliders below. Enjoy! :)
