With TRAX 2024 just months away, we’ve dived into the archive and driven down memory lane to look at the show’s best moments from across the years.
TRAX Silverstone has been around since the late 1990s. It was the original multi-marque modified car show to be held at Silverstone and has played host to some amazing moments in UK car culture history. We’re going to look back at some of the highlights that have made TRAX the must-attend modified car event of the year.
Ken Block Jumps into TRAX
In 2009 the late great Ken Block was the star attraction at TRAX. In 2008 Ken Block released his first Gymkhana video to highlight his Subaru Impreza STi WRX rally car. KB was invited to show off his Gymkhana stunts to a UK audience at TRAX Silverstone.
A dedicated Gymkhana arena was created with obstacles, including a helter-skelter for Ken Block to donut around, not to mention a 70ft jump made up by moving tons of dirt into Silverstone’s infield.
Ken put on ten shows at TRAX 2009 and showed off his incredible skills that inspired a new genre and generation of petrol heads. The rest they say is history…
Chris Forsberg Doesn’t ‘Bottle’ It
Following on from the success of having Ken Block attend the show, the very next year in 2010 the Organisers of TRAX were at it again, inviting the 2009 Formula Drift Champion and renowned stunt driver Chris Forsberg to the show. Back then drifting was really starting to take off and Chris was the biggest name in the business, made famous by his drifting accolades and viral ‘bottle trick’.
The Live Action Arena was his playground, piloting Team Japspeed’s 450bhp Nissan S15 and demonstrating a plethora of high speed stunts including the ‘bottle trick’ to thousands of adoring fans.
Driving THE FULL GP Circuit
Today, TRAX is still the cheapest way to experience driving Silverstone in your own car, with track sessions available for £40. For this you’ll get 20-minutes of track action around Silverstone’s National Circuit that includes the same Brooklands, Luffield, Woodcote and Copse corners that Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton will navigate in the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Turn the clock back 10-years and the whole Formula 1 Grand Prix layout was available for TRAX show goers to drive, including the infamous Maggotts-Becketts section and Hanger Straight. Is this something TRAX should bring back in 2025?
The STIG at Silverstone
There have been a few professional drivers to anonymously wear the famous white overalls and helmet of Top Gear’s STIG but perhaps the most famous was Ben Collins. And in September 2011 the former STIG attended TRAX and put on some great shows in the Live Action Arena, where he melted a few sets of tyres and donuted around a Ferrari in a bright yellow Westfield. He also did a hot lap of the GP circuit that can be watched here:
LIVE Action Arena
The Live Action Arena has always been a massive attraction at TRAX, in this article we’ve already mentioned that it has played host to Ken Block, Chris Forsberg and Ben Collins but they’re not the only big names to wow the crowds at TRAX.
Professional stunt driver Terry Grant and Paul Swift have both put on numerous high-octane displays at TRAX’s Live Action Arena. These displays are some of best moments from Trax across the years, wowing crowds with hihgly impressive displays of car control.
Gymkhana GRID: The European Gauntlet
Two years after Ken Block broke the internet with the first Gymkhana video, it became a motorsport discipline called Gymkhana GRID. GRID had never been seen outside of the USA until Monster Energy brought GRID to TRAX 2012. Monster Energy descended on Silverstone with their entourage of energy drinks, athletes, and obstacles for an action-packed UK qualifying round. The winning participants of the rear-wheel-drive class would get the chance to compete against Vaughn Gittin Jnr and the all-wheel-drive winner would get to compete against Mr Ken Block himself at the final held later that year.
FC’s Car Culture Collection
We might be biased but one of the biggest attractions of TRAX 2014 was our very own display of 50 top level modified cars, which would grow to 100 in 2015. If you wanted to see the best selection of all-inclusive car culture, this is where you went. The range of cars on displayed varied from classic resto-modded Imps and Hot Rods to wide-arched Honda S2000s. The Car Culture Collection would be the focus of the show for many years to follow, and in 2024 it’ll be back. If you want to be part of the display, and become one of new best moments of Trax, drop us a DM on socials.
Record Club Cars
While the Live Action Arena is one of the big draws of TRAX, Club Cars have always been the heartbeat of the event, filing almost every inch of Silverstone’s infield. Club Car bookings for 2024’s event are almost sold out but back in 2018 Club Car attendance peaked at nearly 5000 Club Cars; the biggest collection of modified cars ever to be seen in the UK. Every type of Car Club was catered for, from one make to regional.
Each year the organiser’s always have a nightmare when picking the winners of The Club Awards as so many are worthy of recognition. TRAX just wouldn’t be TRAX without all the amazing clubs that have supported the show for over 25-years.
#TRAX
Drift Kings Competition
Last but by no means least on our list of the best moments at Trax is the fiercely fought Drift Kings competition. Drifting has been a spectacle of the show for many years with demos from the British Drift Championship taking place since the early noughties but in 2019 TRAX launched its very own Drift Kings comp. With a cash prize and huge trophy up for grabs it has grown into one of the motorsport’s elite prizes for pro drifters up and down the country.
Drift Kings will be back this year with four smoke-inducing rounds, and you can witness the action from Silverstone’s grandstands. So, if you want to see 1000bhp drift cars being driven to the limit through the Brooklands, Luffied and Woodcote complex, get yourself to Silverstone on the 1st of September. Buy your tickets here.
The post The Best Moments From Trax Over The Years appeared first on Fast Car.
