BMW Show at Santa Pod 2014

A week has flown by since Players 8.0 and brings us to the BMW show at Santa Pod. It has been 4 years since members of the PBMW Forum and Custom Cars have attended this show. This show has clashed with Players and the last attendance back in 2010 leaving a little to be desired, Players has been heavily favoured for variety, volume, trade stands and general vibe and atmosphere.

This year things are little different with the show date being moved and not having presence for the last few years it was a good time to attend and finish off the year.

For those that don't know Santa Pod hosts a drag strip for those wanting to test their 1/4 mile times or earn drift points with their dedicated drift area.

First started 9 years ago, the show was quite big, well received and had many forum clubs attending the show. The last few years haven't seen big numbers and has gone down a bit of a downward trend, partly due to show clash, lower numbers and has had disappointing comments and reviews as a whole within the BM community. With an unusually warm late September day this year did appear to have a better turnout even with the increased ticket entry price.

In attendance were Custom Cars, E30 Zone, M3Cutters, BMWForums.info amongst others displaying various BMW's models.

Mike known as Mykez on E46 Zone owns this E46 and recently installed his air suspension setup, with classic BBS wheels it was sitting pretty at the show.

Tates E92 M3 was looking good as ever in the show and shine area.

This Imola Red E46 M3 was simple but effective with a perfect drop on Rota wheels.

It was good to see some classic BM's on show and this E21 was nicely done.

Dips from Custom Cars M3 was very well received at the show and with a new addition to the car sitting on a set of rare fully polished 18" BBS RC wheels. Going an inch down in wheel size has given it even more lows and with a nice bit of camber it attracted many admirers throughout the day. Look out soon for a PBMWForum feature blog.

The E60 M5 is an impressive machine and although some may not like the Chris Bangle styling of the car it still looks good and doesn't really need much. With the right choice of mods however and it can change to something a bit more eye catching like this Interlagos Blue example. Featuring custom Iforged 3 piece wheels, a CSL-esque custom bootlid amongst other trick styling it looked visually impressive.

Throughout the day various BMW's were testing out the strip from stock cars modified to full on dedicated drag racing cars including the infamous Santa Pod jet engined race car.

There was also a show and shine area with trophies up for grabs with PBMW Forum regular Kos who also runs C-Unit http://www.c-unit.uk.com/ winning best retro car with his stunning E24 635i. A congratulations to Kos for a thoroughly deserved win.

The show had some decent cars on display with reasonably priced food that was available on the day. However I do have some reservations about the longevity of the show. Trade stands were lacking and £18 entry is quite steep when you compare similar ones throughout the year like the BMW festival at Gaydon or the Uxbridge Auto Show which provide better value for money then what this particular show has to offer.

Although moving the date is a welcome change and perhaps has helped with getting some numbers back for the show, the organisers behind this should consider dropping the price down. Cars make shows and having spaces filled will likely bring back people to the show. At £18 I can't see many returning next year and a bit more variety with the trade stands wouldn't go amiss either. With a few tweaks this show could once again be the show to attend in the BM calender.

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

Picture credits goes to Aaron Smith and Cameron Dpraser.