There were a few modified enthusiasts who were fitting the stereotypical “boy racer” image and reinforcing it with the pops and bangs, base blaring and engine revving. But if you have spent your hard earned money, why not show off a bit? The other show goers were enjoying the entertainment from the “boy racers” in a safe environment.

That “boy racer” tag is a bit discriminatory these days as girls like cars as well and there were quite a few ” showing their cars. There was also one stand flying rainbow flags, so all of the genders were covered in coming together just for the love of modifying cars. 

And here we are at “what is car culture” and what does it mean to someone who owns a modified car? As we were walking round the show at Cadwell Park there were all sorts of cars. Heavily modified, lightly and some that were to be honest just your average family runaround. But the difference was that those average cars were on club stands, so the owners were in a group of like minded enthusiasts.

They probably had modified cars back in the day but growing families and responsibilities meant they had to get some wheels that were more practical and sensible, but still want to hang out with their mates and be part of the scene.

Is this what car culture is about? Being with like minded people or owning a modified car? Well to me it is all of that, they go hand in hand. There are so many different types of car enthusiasts that I could write a whole report just on them.

Last week I was up in Yorkshire watching the beach racing which was mainly rat rods and full on custom cars, a totally different scene from Modified Live which is a uniquely British scene of modified performance saloons and hatchbacks. You don’t get these types of cars in Southern California or the mountain roads of Japan, and that’s the great thing about world car culture it’s so diverse.

So trying to pigeon-hole modified car owners can be quite easy - low riders, hot rods, American muscle or JDM but when you start to look closer there are sub cultures within these groups.

An untouched original muscle car is visually the same as a restomod, where the engine and running gear have been replaced with a modern equivalent. And when you can take it a stage further by installing the latest electric power plant, are these enthusiasts in the same cultural group? I don’t think so, but the cars will look the same. 

This is what I like about the world of modified cars, it’s as diverse as the owners. One person’s pride and joy is another’s nightmare car to own. One area that most car enthusiasts will agree is an area that doesn’t need much in the way of modifications - the super car.

There were a load of these at Caldwell, parked up and doing parade laps over the lunch break. The standard selection of Porches , Ferraris and Lamborghinis were in attendance, but for me they were all overshadowed by the yellow Ford GT.

This is the first time I have seen one of these super rare V6 3.5L 660bhp hypercars. If I was in the market for a supercar I would want a loud, shouty ‘look at me in my supercar’ car. The Ford GT ticks all of those boxes and quite a few more! 

The modified cars on the club stands and the supercar paddock were an extension of the extreme cars on the track which were headlined by the Time Attack cars. Three classes were out on track trying to set the fastest time around the sweeping bends of Cadwell Park, Clubman/Pocket Rocket, Club and Pro Classes.

The three Time Attack classes were further subdivided to give everyone a fair chance at posting a winning class time, with road and lightly modified track day cars all the way up to cars with unlimited modifications doing battle. When I say doing battle, the only people they were competing against were themselves. Time attack is not about racing, it’s about putting that one perfect lap together in your class.

There was a new race for this year - The Racing Hondas Championship, which is also part of the Time Attack organisation. All of the cars must have been manufactured by Honda and be powered by the VTEC engine, so it’s a Civic races series with EK, EP3 and FN2 out on track. There will be 14 rounds at six meetings this year supporting the Time Attack series.

The racing I had come to see was the MSUK Drift Pro Championship. Out burning rubber four times on the bank holiday Monday with a practice, qualifying , semi then final run, these were the modified cars everyone had come to see.

I go to Cadwell a lot so know what to expect for the different meetings. For this one, as a spectator photographer, I was in place at my favourite location over an hour before the Drift cars were due on track!

Why was that? Well Modified Live is one of the biggest events on the Cadwell calendar besides the British Super Bikes meeting. Is that a true statement? I don’t know I’ve never seen any visitor numbers published.

What I do know from past experience is that if you are not in place early you are not going to see much as the crowd is five to six deep all the way down Hall Bends where the Drifting is judged.

Quite a few times the Drift Judges that were commentating had to halt proceedings as younger spectators climbed trees to get a better view. All of this just added to the party atmosphere. Drifting is a great spectator sport and the fans were loving it. As the course is quite short the cars were coming round thick and very fast .

Point are awarded for speed, angle of drift, line and style. Points are deducted for timid approaches, wheels off the track and not hitting the designated points. I didn’t see much in the way of timid approaches. Some of these cars were pushing 1000bhp with most in the 600-700bhp range, so were being thrown into the Hall Bends with a lot of aggression much to the delight of the crowd.

The final track action was an F1 demonstration of Nelson Piquet’s 1990 Benetton B190 by the owner John Reaks. The sound from the V8, even on the demonstration laps, is a joy to hear and something we will not see again in the modern F1 era.

There was meant to be another F1 car out on track but unfortunately it decided it wasn’t going to play on the day we went.

Maybe we will see it next year when we are sure to return to Modified Live, as this is one event that has something for everyone and as a spectator photographer it ticks all of the boxes!

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