Forge Motorsport Performance Car Action Day

What do you get when you combine Castle Combe circuit, drift demos, a smattering of crazy rat rods, a large dose of modern Japanese classic imports and some mint rebuilds of all description? The answer is the Forge Motorsport action day of course…

I arrived at Castle Combe this weekend past (Saturday 12th September) with some expectation, the sun was shining and the scene was set for a great day at this over half century old circuit, and boy did the day not disappoint.

Starting off from the get go there was something for everyone, whether you were a young adult looking for your fellow Ford Fiesta crowd, or a Dad wanting to reminisce with the classic Escort, Capri and Cortina boys, either way and whatever your fancy, there was something for you!

For this particular guy (me), I have an interest in all things Japanese. After living in Japan for so long and being spoiled for absolute quality builds on display all day everyday, I was very interested as to what the UK had to offer.

Any misgivings I ever had about the scene in the UK went right out the window when I managed to find quite a few cars that really impressed me. Within the first few minutes of wandering I managed to find a beautiful 260Z Datsun, a bank of quality Nissan 200Sx builds, each finished with great aplomb all the way down to appropriate camber, also around were some clean-looking Supras. This guy was a happy camper.

All this fine workmanship was almost distracting me away from one of the main reasons I came here to Castle Combe here in Chippenham, and the one of the main reasons was to catch the sideways boys, the drifters, doing their thing. I have covered both D1 GP in Japan and Formula D in the U.S so I was looking forward to this. Drifting is exciting and crowd pleasing and one of the reasons why it’s continually becoming a more and more accepted and popular branch of motorsports, and rightly so. Drift racers and their whips pull amazingly fast entry speeds into corners well in excess of a 100mph to take them through the courses they slide through, all the while also looking pretty badass in the process. Anyone who has seen Daigo Saitos jump drift or seen Mad Mike Whiddett’s rotary beasts can attest to how badass.

A multitude of S-Chassis builds came out to play in the drift demo, pulling plumes of white smoke from the rear rubber in typical fashion, always a great sight for the fans. One of the other builds however did grab my attention and that was a fantastic ‘Rat Rod’, built by the prolific Urchfab out of Somerset, chugging along with a Saab powerplant and sporting huge tractor stacks from the exhaust, it was quite the sight as it slid past me. But alas as soon as the tyre shredding started it was over, luckily they ran again during the afternoon, much fun for all the family. My only suggestion Castle Combe if you are listening….maybe the demo would be better by sectioning of a section of the course and running paired demos as the sport is actually played out, perhaps a better impact and demo for the fans.

The rest of the show I spent pulling a walk of the entire circuit dodging the rain and watching the public track day which was a sight to behold, every car in existence ‘hooning’ round the 3km track including Cateram’s, a Ford KA (I know, right!), plenty of Scoobies a few EVO’s and even, shock horror, some European sports cars with a Porsche Carrera GT giving it the beans. Also plenty of MX-5 and S2000’s being thrown around and some people really gave it their all and everyone looked like they were having some proper fun.

One of the stars of the public track time for me was a complete curveball, a Ford P100 truck absolutely flying round….I managed to track it down in the grounds and take a few shots. Its list of upgrades and parts is eyebrow raising, brilliant. Be sure to check it out in the photo gallery along with all the action from the day.

All in all a great day had at Castle Combe, well organised with a great atmosphere. I left here with a question though…….when is the event next year? Let me know – I’m in!