It was all about the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ at Knockhill today as the Total Jap Car Scotland event took place for the first time. The Fife circuit was awash with Japanese built cars, as Owners’ Groups from throughout Scotland converged to celebrate their favourite models.
A whole host of manufacturers were on display including Mitsubishi, Subaru, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota and the all new Infiniti. The show which was supported by the Total Car Magazines even benefited from its own rising sun, with dry and sunny weather conditions.
One the star attractions was Boyzone star Shane Lynch. He and his fellow Japspeed Drifting team-mates took to the Knockhill circuit to showcase there fabulous Japanese machinery and drifting prowess.
Quizzed by our mobile commentator Joe Tanner, the Irish star said of Knockhill;
“I’ve been coming to Knockhill for years, first in the British GT Championship and latterly with the British Drifting Championship. It’s my 5th season competing in the BDC and the sport has just developed beyond belief.
“My car, the S15 has a twin turbo V8, 600lb of torque and can be boosted to 1000bhp, it’s an awesome machine and that first corner at Knockhill is one of the most ‘on the edge’ sections of any drifting track in the UK.
Shane continued: “Drifting is very hard to get right, and when you come down the downhill section at Knockhill, the transitions you have to make are extremely difficult. That’s why we love it and that’s why we’ll have in excess of 100 competitors at the BDC Event in August.”
There were plenty of other things to keep fans amused during the day. Competitions were on offer for high speed demo rides in a 550bhp Subaru Impreza Time Attack car and Knockhill’s own Gordon Shedden took to the circuit with on lucky winner behind the wheel of our sporty SEAT Cupra.
Some of the lighter moments came courtesy of bouncy boxing, pole jousting and chicken sumo. We had a face off between the Fake Bake Score Angels and the Knockhill Calendar Girls, the competition was fierce and well done to all the girls for participating.
Knockhill staff even got in on the act, although Events Director Stuart Gray; was extremely unhappy with cheating after he endured a severe ‘tanking’ at the hands of another Knockhill commentator, Max Thomson.
“I demand a rematch, as we can clearly see from the photo, she’s using the inflatable ring for support,” said Stuart.
“Cheating, huh, that’s just typical of men when they get beat by us girls. I’ve waited 8 long years to give Stuart a ‘hiding’ and it feels marvellous that l trounced him today,” laughed Max.
Once again we’d like to thank everyone involved today, Total Car Magazines for all their hard work behind the scenes, car clubs for coming en-mass, track day drivers for bringing a whole host of machinery, Score Angles, Calendar Girls and of course all the fans for coming along to share in the fun.
Our resident photographer Archie Love, even managed to take some of the lovely ladies round the show cars to get pictures of them. You might have been one of the lucky ones to have had beautiful women draped across your car bonnet today. Check to see if you’ve struck gold by clicking here.
The next Hot Hatch action at Knockhill is on Sunday 7th August, we’d love to see you all back; or why not give it a go yourself. Book your space online via our Trackdays section.