SANTA POD UNVEILS EXCITING NEW EVENTS FOR 2019

SANTA POD UNVEILS EXCITING NEW EVENTS FOR 2019

There is exciting new action on offer at Santa Pod Raceway in 2019. No fewer than six brand new events will be added to its already busy calendar.

The Springspeed Nationals is the first of the new line-up, to be held on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th May. If the name and date seem familiar, they offer a fond tip of the hat to Warwickshire’s recently closed Shakespeare County Raceway, where this national Sportsman event ran on that weekend for many years.

Another Sportsman event, the Green Light Nationals, joins the roster on 17th and 18thAugust, providing the nation’s finest Sportsman racers with a chance to compete at the height of summer.

Fans of April’s The Fast Show can rejoice at the addition of The Fast Show Reloaded on Sunday 30th June. The show offers another opportunity to get vehicles of all shapes and sizes on to Santa Pod’s famed quarter-mile or on display in the Autoglym Show & Shine competition. It’s a fine excuse to get together with one’s automotive chums for another day of putting the pedal to the metal or simply for chewing the fat surrounded by glittering machinery. To that end, club bookings are very much welcomed so expect to find displays catering for all vehicular tastes. In addition, there will be a line-up of high-calibre entertainment in the Live Action Arena and around the venue.

There’s also something fresh on the list for many marque-specific enthusiasts.

The famous Griffin comes to Santa Pod in the form of The Vauxhall Show (Sunday 28thApril), welcoming everything from Corsas to Vivas to the dragstrip and the showground alike. While renowned for their reliability, affordability and even modify-ability(!?), Vauxhalls are a popular choice for everyone from new drivers to the current crop of everyday petrolheads. The dragstrip will be ready and waiting, so VXR owners should need no further encouragement to make the most of this opportunity to drop the clutch and test their vehicles’ performance in a safe and legal environment.

Five weeks later, German engineering takes the stage at Das Auto Show (Sunday 2ndJune). German car manufacturers are extremely popular on the roads in the UK; whether you’re looking for an efficient hatchback, high-performance monster or simply a touch of class, the chances are you’ve at least thought about buying German. The modern line of performance vehicles makes them popular on the dragstrip too, with the likes of the BMW M series, Audi RS series, VW R and GTI series, and even Mercedes AMG series, all capable of recording some mightily impressive quarter-mile times. Then we have Porsche, a name which speaks for itself in the automotive world. We can’t wait to see which one of these Deutschmarque heavyweights winds up on top of the pile at the end of the weekend.

The third new marque-specific event spotlights the ever-popular blue oval when The Ford Show arrives on Sunday 7th July. Founded in 1903, FoMoCo has sent more than its fair share of products down the dragstrip during Santa Pod’s 53 operational years and they remain no less popular today in the National Championship ranks. Fords of all shapes and sizes can be found from entry level right up to Pro Modified, the pinnacle class of ‘doorslammer’ racing. The Ford Show, however, is not just for the drag racing and muscle car hardcore. There’s the heavy emphasis on modern ‘hot hatches’ and performance models as well as on popular classics such as early Escorts, Capris and Cortinas, and everything in between. Use of the track is not only permitted but encouraged, as is entry into the Autoglym Show & Shine competition and club stand bookings.

See Santa Pod’s 2019 calendar and full details of these great new events at www.santapod.com, or pick up a print-edition copy from Santa Pod’s Stand 2680 at Autosport International at the NEC Birmingham, 10th-13th January.