Thursday 12 November 2015

Ultimate Stance 2015

The year is pretty much done in terms of major shows with the winter months rolling in or so I thought. After Players 9.0 which was in September there wasn't much after that but a show that has been talked about a lot is Ultimate Stance.

Organised by the same people behind Ultimate Dubs this event caters for all makes and models bringing together a whole host of cars from across the country. November is a pretty odd time to have a show of this sort of magnitude as many owners either put their cars away or swap their show wheels to winters. Unsurprisingly there are many owners out there who are dedicated to the car scene be it rain or shine and as the event is held primarily indoors it doesn't matter what is going on outside.

I've attended many shows over the years and its amazing how the approach to modifying a car has changed over the years. Gone are the Max Power days where it was about fitting a completely different bodykit to change the look, lairy paintwork, fitting the biggest wheels etc etc. We are now in the "Stance Era" which has become one of the fastest growing scenes out there right now. The basics apply in terms of modifying to stand out from the crowd but done in a way to enhance the look of the car. To achieve the stance look, a good set of wide wheels and a decent amount of lowering gets you basics of it, the lower the better. But its much more than that now as various exterior/interior touches and custom work go along with the car. Its the attention to detail that gives it the overall package

Waking up at the crack of dawn we set off for the 3 hour drive to Telford International Centre on quite a foggy morning. Many of the cars that were on show indoors had already arrived the day before which just left the club stands and various cars to display outside. There were many cars that arrived from up and down the country and from initial impressions it was looking promising.

With four big halls hosting all the cars I certainly wasn't disappointed. The quality of cars on show was nothing short of amazing and quite honestly I couldn't remember anything there that didn't deserve to be on show. There was a really good mix with a great vibe and atmosphere to boot. There was plenty of trade stands on display ranging from wheel companies, detailing/cleaning accessories, air ride suspension from the likes of Accuair, Airlift etc. clothes and so much more.

Some of the cars on display, Dips from Custom Cars on the Unity Media stand.
Honda S2000 on gloss bronze Work wheels.
Something you rarely see let alone with air ride a Lamborghini LP640 drew in large crowds.
 
Sumils stunning BMW E39 was on display and was a very popular car on the day.
Ricky's E36 vert stunning as always.


Classic Lotus Esprit, these are very sleek and low as standard but taken to a new level on air ride.
Wide body Liberty Walk Audi RS7 was one of my favourites.
Nissan 350z on a set of Cosmis Racing XT206R wheels combining concave and dish, one of my favourite wheels that I've seen this year.
Got to love the classic Mk2 VW golf simple, clean and well executed.
Another one that caught my attention was this E30 which many who read Performance BMW magazine will recognise as it was featured in Novembers issue and is an awesome car up close.
Edwards E36 M3 tourer rocking custom made 3 piece split wheels based on the TRX wheels made by CR Custom Wheels and also won best wheels.
Even outside there were some really good cars on display which easily could have made it inside the hall which just shows what the standard was like and certainly not easy for the organisers to try and choose the very best for the halls.

When I first heard through the circles how good this show really is, it has certainly lived up to the hype. I think by far this is probably the best show I've attended this year and in my view surpassing Players. The biggest draw for me is the fact that its indoors and even when you've seen everything you have a huge collection of cars to see outside. The organisers have done a brilliant job hosting this show and I can't wait to come again next year.

Picture coverage from the show can be found on our forum, www.pbmwforum.com and our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/pbmwforum

Also check out our Instagram and follow us @pbmwforum



Words and photos by Richard Ansari.

Tuesday 3 November 2015

BMW Festival at Gaydon 2015

August brings us to the BMW Festival at the Gaydon Heritage Museum. Those who don't know this is by far the biggest BMW gathering in the calendar bringing in various models from up and down the country.

Setting off in the morning and entering the grounds there is a few small changes with the addition of a drift area and a new building which is currently in the process of getting work done to house a selection of cars once its finished.

The layout was slightly different this year with some club stands being moved to different areas and the trade stands being situated elsewhere. Whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen but as the Museum is going through its changes each year it can't be easy for the organisers to plan where to put the amount of cars that attend.

There were a number of club stands in attendance which included Custom Cars, E36 Coupe Forum, Total M Cars, E30 Zone amongst others and of course the Club regions/registers.

Kicking off with the Custom Cars stand, some examples on display.


Nick Singh's E30 V8 chromie featured earlier this year in April's Performance BMW mag.

Neil's Z4 coupe on Rial Daytonas.

Nadeems M3 recently featured in Septembers Performance BMW Mag.
Sumil who used to own a grey E92 on hartges has a new project in this stunning E39 slammed on air. With Dips taking care of adding the custom touches that Sumil wanted, this car had a lot of attention on the day and rightly so. Some of the mods include a custom M3 bonnet bulge, CSL full length splitter blended into the front bumper a CSL style boot. Rolling on Hartge Design E's which are normally face mounted these have been custom machined to make them reverse mount to look like the Design C and is the only set of 19's like this in existence.




This E36 M3 tourer owned by Edward got quite a reaction also with its Cream exterior, air ride and that mega camber.


Bhups M52B28 E30 on polished Style 5 wheels.

Rare techno violet E46 M3.

E36 Coupe forum who had their stand opposite the Custom Cars had a good mix of cars.

This CSL "batmobile" was truly stunning. Peering through an open window and taking a look inside which was kept well it had that distinct classic car smell which I love.
E30 Zone had a fine display. My personal favourite was this particular twin turbo V8 on 17" hartge design C splits. The work gone into this car is incredible.
A few cars that caught my attention on the day.

Total M Cars stand occupying the spine road had a good selection of M cars on show.

Phil Robinson's E60 M5 who has started adding his own touch to this car looked great on its Forged R10 X-treme concave wheels.

"Bigfoot" E46 M3 on timeless AC Schnitzer type 3 racing wheels.
Paul's M3 rocking a set of Black ARC-8's looking every bit a stealth car.
Turnout wise although seemed slightly down from last year, I had pretty much spent the whole day admiring some great machines on display. The biggest let down being the lack of food stalls which hopefully next year the organisers can address. See you next year.

Picture coverage from the show can be found on our forum, www.pbmwforum.com and our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/pbmwforum

Also check out our Instagram and follow us @pbmwforum



Words and photos by Richard Ansari.