Trax is one of, if not, the last big car meeting of the year. I tagged along with LincsDriver which is your standard Facebook orientated car club. They have a typical mix of interesting cars that mirror what I would expect to see at TRAX.

Meeting up at early o’clock at the local Shell garage to fuel bodies and cars, Skylines, GTRs, Subaru, 350Zs and Seat Leons set off down the A46 joining up with loads of other car clubs on the run down the M1 to the home of British Motorsport, Silverstone.

The drive to these events is always fun, you never know what you are going to see on the Queen's highway. Single runners to hoards of Civics, all checking each other's rides out and keeping an eye out for the inevatable Police presence. 

While driving into Silverstone giving and getting a little banter from a few of the guys I know, made me realise I won’t be seeing any of these people for six months or more. This time of year is depressing for me and I presume all the other petrol heads in the UK. The weather is changing for the worst, shows are ending and the track race season in the UK is all but done.

All you've got to look forward to is getting on with those modifications to your car in a cold garage over the winter months. Also after buying all those improvements there is a good chance your wallet is also going to be empty by Christmas as well, bah humbug! 

You will never admit to your mates that those enhancements you have made on those dark nights in the garage have ruined your ride, even if you are upside down in a ditch with your hair on fire.

This club based event had some nice show cars and some how can I say this “winter wasn’t long enough / my wallet ran dry” cars on display within the Silverstone complex.

Two things will stick in my mind after my visit to TRAX 2018. First, like everyone who has ever driven a car I don’t like traffic jams and I need to curb my enthusiasm. When I see a weather report that the day is going to be bright and sunny I'm happy as a photographer can be. However, I need to consider other factors.

I had a plan for my visit to Trax and that was to get some great drift pictures. The British Drift Championships drivers were putting on three 45-minute demo runs as part of the season finely at TRAX.

The Drift car demos have used the corners at Brooklands and Luffield in the past so it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Look at our Silverstone photographic guide for the best places to stand at those two locations.

With the weather forecast to be bright but cold I was expecting some great action with lots of smoke from the tyres. What I didn’t look at was the wind. This is not usually a factor in photography but boy did it, or the lack of it play its part.  

The first cars came past and looked great sliding into the first corner at incredible speed making more smoke from the rear tyres than a vaper at a cruise meet.

Here was a problem I hadn't anticipated, there was so much smoke and so little wind the smoke just stayed where it had been generated. So for the second pass I was shooting drift cars in what looked like fog, by the third pass it was game over. 

The auto focus was struggling to lock onto the cars and you could only just make them out in the tyre smoke. I gave up and went for a walk round the site coming back for the final runs, which were better as the wind had picked up a little. 

Immediately I was cheered up by the sight of some promo girls. I have no idea what they were promoting but as soon as I approached with some Pro ish looking camera gear they went into full on modelling mode while I snapped away, which was nice.

I'm not sure what these guys are doing but gents have a word, that car is interesting but not that interesting.

As an event TRAX is one of the biggest mixed bag shows going as it’s not a one make or model event. Shows like Jap Fest and Fast Ford do what they say on the tin so it’s nice to be about to see other types of cars and what people are doing to modify them.

One of the other reasons people got to TRAX is the track time. After shelling out a few pounds you can show your Hamilton - like driving skills, or lack of them, to the captive audience.

I really enjoy watching these mini track day type events. There is obviously no racing allowed but that doesn’t stop the participants giving it their all.

Just the variety of cars on the track and the lines people were taking through the corners kept me entertained for a while.

A classic Ford van on track at the same time a Lamborghini is not something you see every day.   

Stanced, modded, race prepped or polished within an nano mm of rubbing through to the primer, there were some great cars on show at this years TRAX. If I was asked to go to tomorrow I wouldn’t, as the horrible traffic queues have put me off this event. Give it a year and I will probably say yes as the horror of the traffic fades into a distant bad memory. 

I hope you have enjoyed this write up and photographs of TRAX 2018 from Silverstone. As always I don’t claim to be an expert photographer, it's just my random observations of a day out with some friends carrying a camera and hopefully I will inspire some of you to get out there and take some great images.