We all want to go fast. It’s human nature. The combustion engine has allowed us to experience this to its fullest in our own cars. The speed and feeling you get when the loud pedal is fully pushed to the floor and the engine roars is exhilarating. Simply put, it makes you feel alive.

Now I’d also like to be specific here and say that driving at a car’s limits and more importantly beyond your own limits is crazy on the public roads and should not be encouraged, ever. However in the right place, at the right time it can all come together safely.

This is why Run What You Brung days such as those hosted at Santa Pod raceway are so popular. For a small fee they allow you to launch up the 1/4 mile drag strip in a safe and organized way, unleash the full straight line speed of your car with little danger to yourself and more importantly no danger to anyone else. Also the time stamp you earn for every run appeals to the competitive nature hidden in pretty much all of us!

Last month saw Santa Pod host “Fast Show” which is a weekend long affair involving cars from all manufacturers. And because it’s all centered around the 1/4 strip, it allows all drivers to put their money where their mouth is and compete against each other for 1/4 times. Obviously it’s all friendly. But it’s shows like this that make sense to me, allowing you to actually use that car that you’ve spent all that time and money on, and judging by how popular it is, I’d say I’m not the only one that this appeals to.

Santa Pod and shows like this always bring out such an awesome mixture of metal from all over the world, you’ve got American muscle, Euro exotic performance and Japanese powered monsters, not to mention all the custom built Hot Rods and specifically build drag cars. It’s a very exciting place to be!

So you grab a place on the hill running alongside the drag strip, or a seat in the grandstand and get comfy for a day of engines and tires being pushed to their limits.

I sadly couldn’t attend the whole show that weekend but I made sure to head on up there on the Saturday to capture as much of the atmosphere as possible to share with you all. And even though Saturday was a warm up day for the full event on Sunday, the atmosphere was great there, if a little cold and windy, but hey it’s England, we deal with that.

My shots from that day are mostly of strip action, however I snuck away from the 1/4 mile so I could check out some of the car club stands that were setting themselves up ready for Sunday. Happy I did as there were some real beauties on display!

These Run What You Brung events run all throughout the summer, either by themselves or alongside shows like this “Fast Show.” It is a great day out for any petrol head, whether you have something to prove or not.

:. Dan Fegent

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