The Fast Show

So another show season has finally begun and what better way to kick start a summer full of automotive voyeurism than spending a weekend basking in glorious spring sunshine at The Fast Show? That was the theory anyway. In practice Saturday brought torrential downpours and reduced the camp site to a muddy quagmire the likes of which haven't been seen since the bad old days of Silverstone and the British GP. Not to worry though, camping with members of rat-look.com ensured a great bunch of people who never once let the shocking weather get them down. In any case the bloke on the Santa Pod PA had promised us better for Sunday and we had a noisy generator to power some fairy lights (just). Instead of watching V8's laying rubber we had to be content with Saxo's with failing head gaskets slowly digging themselves deeper into the mud as their teenage owners tried to solve the dilemma with the only way they knew how, more throttle.Needless to say Santa Pod recovery team had a busy morning.

Sunday did indeed turn out to be a much better day weather wise. So much so that I actually manged to get sunburned, an odd sensation when coupled with the constant 'squelch' of muddy shoes and socks! Thankfully rat-look being full of clever, forward thinking individuals* had decided to camp next to the movable fence separating the mud from the road, so when morning came we simply reversed out to safety.

Setting up of our stand was carried out with the constant throbbing of a drink-induced headache but eventually all the cars were lined up, chequered bins were stolen and sex toys were placed on cars. Then the important business of the morning could be tackled. Breakfast. Brockmeister makes a mean sausage and bacon sarnie it must be said.

The rest of the day was spent ogling some of the fantastic cars that had made the journey to 'the Pod.' My personal favourites included an e21 3 series on banded steels with an insane amount of dish, a monster Chevy flatbed truck that ran sub 11 second quarter miles and a Volvo 340 trampdrifter. This latter car I've utterly fallen in love with and am in the process of trying to buy right now!

As with any good show there were plenty of cars that divided opinion. Corsas and Neons with acres of plastic were present in large numbers but it takes all types I suppose. However the vast majority of cars present made me feel a bit light headed and I lost count of how many times I yelled 'I need that in my life!' much to the bemusement of the vehicle's owner.

So in conclusion a brilliant weekend despite the mother nature trying to rain on our parade in the most literal sense possible. Guess I'd best dig out the Waxoyl though, I'd hate my car to get rusty.

Jamie

*This might have owed more to fluke than good judgement on our behalf