Modified Live - Cadwell Park - 20 Aug 2020

Probably the one and only car show that I will go to this year has come and gone. Modified Live at Cadwell has always been a great show with a good selection of modified cars to look at and some interesting track action.

For the last few years the Time Attack beasts and Drift Car hooligans have entertained us on track. It’s a crowd-pleasing combo so why change it? They didn’t. 

Time Attack is now in its 15th year and this meeting held around the rolling hills of Cadwell Park was the second and third rounds of seven in total. Round two was on the Saturday, Modified Live including Time Attack round three was held on Sunday.

The Time Attack strap line is "From the street to the track" and they had put on a full race programme to keep everyone entertained. Well it’s not really racing as Time Attack is all about how fast you can get your car round a measured piece of tarmac. 

That didn’t detract from the entertainment as the drivers were going for it in the damp conditions. This resulted in quite a few departing from the grey stuff and visiting the green stuff. 

There are loads of classes in Time Attack, from Pro to the Run What You Brung, which includes onetime entry. Basically, if your car can meet the regulations you can turn up and have a go. A few did and looked to be having a great time.

The Drifters were the highlight of the show for me on track, lots of flames, some smoke from the tyres. It was damp in their defence, but still loads of noisy action.



Having seen the drifting before at Modified Live and knowing the track well I had set myself up at the bottom of the mountain as for the last two years they have put on a good show here.

Most of the crowd had the same idea so the hills opposite were packed, well as packed as you can get within the CV19 social distancing rules. However, we were to be disappointed  - they weren't using the Mountain. They screamed off in the opposite direction up to Charlies as did the crowd. 

I took a slow walk up and managed to capture a few shots as I knew they would be out later in the day and I knew as soon as they set off where they would be putting on the show so I could get to the right spot later.

We did consider Park Corner but as it was misty and we are a bit far from the action there, we decided the best place would be the Gooseneck and Mansfield.

We were not disappointed they were fair chucking the cars into the Gooseneck and sometimes getting it wrong. This area was great for the spectator photographer -  there are loads of different angles for you to shoot from.

Looking down into the Gooseneck then looking up into that corner complex gives you some great shots. And don’t forget about looking down on the cars as they were sliding out of Mansfield, great stuff.

Last but not least, the British Scooter Sport Organisation were joining in the fun out on track. Due to CV19 the BSSO have cancelled their championship for this year like a lot of other racing organisations.

However, they had managed to pull together three rounds of racing including Modified Live. The next two rounds will be at Croft on the 5th and 6th of September and Lydden Hill 24th - 25th October.

So, to finish off let's look at the show itself. Modified Live has always been a well-attended show, but for this year the cars displaying on the club stand were well down on previous years.

This is not surprising as the CV19 regulations restricted the number of tickets that could go on sale and therefore the number of cars that could be accommodated.

But from the parking plan advertised there was a lot of space not used up and it was sad to see one lonely Toyota Celica all on its own on a stand that could have taken 20 cars. I'm sure there were more there earlier in the day. We didn’t get round to the display area that was up at the Park Corner until the afternoon.

Also, the uncertainty of whether the show would go ahead probably had an influence on people’s decisions on getting a ticket for the day. They needn't have worried. I have been to quite a few meetings at MSV tracks and they have refunded me quickly when an event I have booked in to watch has eventually had spectators banned by the government from attending.

Also, it wasn’t the best of weather and even in pre-CV19 days that can put people off parking on a wet field. 

The stands themselves were ok - a few stand out cars but there was no wow factor this year. I think a lot of show goers have given up on this year. I like to take my Datsun to this meet up but it stayed in the garage this year.



None of the car clubs I'm a member of wanted to commit to the show and I couldn’t get any of my mates to tag along with me. 

Rob, my shooting partner for the day, summed it up by giving the best in show award to the R35 GTR that was parked near us in the public parking, my vote went to the mad RS and this Vee Dub.



Roll on next year when I can take the Datsun to Modified Live with my car buddies and we can get back to normal, I hope.