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TRAX 2001 Report by Mark Forbes Photos by Martyn Thomas contributions by Alex French Mike Smith Christian Middlemiss "What do John and Dave Clark have in common in the above picture? They're both turning sausages!" At the beginning of September the SEAT Drivers Club members attended our first proper car show event. But not wanting to do things small we decided to attend one of Europes biggest shows for car clubs which attracts a wide selection of cars, that being TRAX 2001 at Silverstone Racecircuit in Northampton. This is the first time a real SEAT gathering has taken place at Trax, and we generated a lot of interest as a result. Even Dave Clark friend of the club and top GT Racer popped along to say hello. It was a superb day and all who attended had a great day out, i’d like to thank on behalf of the club, everybody who made the effort to attend i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did. We plan to attend many more next year Over the next few pages are a couple of personal accounts of the day and a selection of the photos taken by myself and Martyn Thomas, thanks to him for his excellent snapshots. "Paul looked concerned as the silver ibiza slowly crept up on him"
By Mike Smith ‘Ten more minutes’ I thought as I pressed the snooze button on my alarm. Half past three is early by any standards, and with a three hour drive ahead, the thought of actually getting up was getting less appealing. After hauling myself out of bed, getting showered and dressed, I went to see if my freshly polished paintwork had been vandalised during the night by the local Albatross. Luckily, my early start was too early for that early bird and my car had escaped its ritual dirtying for a change. Meeting at Towcester services, we turned into the car park, full of neatly parked SEATs with time to spare, enough to enjoy a welcome “Maccy D” breakfast. Dave and John gathered everyone up to hand out tickets and parking passes. We had twenty passes and twenty one (or twenty two depending on who counted) cars. Somehow everyone managed to get a pass, causing a puzzle which no doubt no-one has solved yet. With the formalities dealt with, we started the short journey onwards, in procession to hallowed Silverstone circuit. The trek from the entrance to where our stand was situated was a slow crawl. Passing through the tunnel leading into the inner grounds of the circuit caused some excitement to many a Nova driver, deciding to show their joy to all by sounding their horn, and echoing the sound of their Peco Big Bore’s off the tunnel walls. Reaching the stand was met by probably the same reaction as all of us – “how the hell are we going to fit twenty cars in here”? With careful parking and much debating on colour coordination, the stand was ready and people could begin the chore of cleaning their car. TRAX 2001TRAX 2001 REPORT 1 With my car gleaming, a couple of us decided to take a tour of what lay beyond our little stand. The club stand area seemed awash with Vauxhalls and Fords, with little deviation. Reaching the main trade area, magazine stands dominated the section with many a familiar car parked in front of them. Some of the cars that I had previously idolised were disappointing yet other looking even more appealing in the flesh. Its amazing what photography can do for you motor, I guess cars can be photogenic too! After paying a small fortune for a burger and a coke we headed back to the stand. Luckily, I mean unfortunately, we had already eaten as the barbeque was in full swing, bellowing smoke over the shiny paintwork of nearby cars. My dad started begging me to take his newly AmD chipped 20VT Ibiza up the 0-60 sprint, who was I to disappoint? With the tickets sorted and the shuffling of cars, I was in the queue and the nerves setting in. My dad had set a target of getting a sub seven time, I was planning on using the old “I’m not used to this car” as my back up if I failed. Not long after, it was me up next, and the Corvette in front of me had just done a blistering 5.4, struggling to put traction down. I rolled up to the starting point, traction control off. Waiting for the green light I held the revs at 5500rpm. Lights turning to green, I dumped the clutch to nothing. Using the same technique for a good start in my 16v clearly didn’t work, as me and the car sat there taking months off the tyre tread. Seven and half seconds was the best I managed this time. I had three tickets left. After another half-hour queue, I was up again. I thought I’d try it with traction control this time. Revs held at 4500rpm, lights go green and I’m off, I see the traction control light flicker and could feel the power being cut. I remember seeing six seconds as I passed the display last time, and sure enough it was six seconds again. I phoned my dad to see what I had this time: another failure, 7.3. The third run pulled a similar time. On my last run, I’d started to get a feel for the car and was confident enough to try it with out traction control again. I pulled up at the lights with considerably less revs this time. Again I dumped the clutch as the lights changed from red to green and the wheels immediately started to spin. I lifted off the throttle slightly and was off. The power band on the car is amazing and completely different to my car. There’s no waiting for the revs to build to 4000 for that 16v magic. This time the car feels much faster and I fly past the display with five seconds showing. Grinning, I phoned my dad only to be told I’d managed a 7.1. Disappointed, I parked the car up and waited for him. The bugger had lied and I’d done a 6.78. The day was getting late and we decided to have a last wander round before we left for a dreaded journey back up North. Seeing nothing new, we returned to the club stand to see most of the others had buggered off without saying bye. Leaving Glyn’s car all alone we made our way out. The journey home saw the rain downpour, thankful for holding off for so long we made our way up the M6 with wipers on full speed. Bring on Trax 2002!
Page 1 and 2: •FOR THE MEMBERS BY THE MEMBERS
Page 3 and 4: I G N I T I O N CLUB CONTACTS & INF
Page 5 and 6: MORPHEOUS GEODESY Even before I bou
Page 7 and 8: BIG STU’s IBIZA DIARY PART ONE Tw
Page 9 and 10: PISCHETSRIEDER TAKES CONTROL Bernd
Page 11: COVER FEATURE - SEAT TANGO “You
Page 16 and 17: TRAX 2001 TRAX 2001 REPORT 2 By Chr
Page 18 and 19: CLUB EVENTS Mark leaves it late and
Page 20: PITLANE This is the section of the

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