5.30pm, last Friday. A quick escape from Japspeed HQ, straight into the S13 loaded with crisps, camping gear and (most importantly) beer. A quick stop off in Gatley to pick up Harley and then there we were, heading onto the M56 and cringing at the journey time remaining on my little TomTom sat nav. As you can probably guess by this point, the journey from Manchester to Pembrey (just outside of Swansea) isn’t a short one, nor is it easy. The drone of a straight-through shotgun exhaust at motorway speeds is hardly a soothing one, and you can never let your eyes wander off the road when it’s hanging precariously under your car just an inch off the floor (along with the chassis rails, fuel lines, fuel tank, etc.). Exhausted, deaf and weary eyed we arrived at Pembrey shortly after 11pm, cracked open a few beers with the Car Loan 4U guys and then realised we probably should have pitched the tent before cracking on with the beverages. Nevermind…

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Forgive the clichéd title but you could be forgiven for thinking that that was the mantra that Car Media Racing & Steel Mate driver Mike Gaynor applied to his runs at Round 2 of the 2013 BDC, held at Pembrey circuit over the weekend. With the Wisefab equipped S14 being perfectly setup for such ridiculous entries and, with a driver so determined to tear up the laws of physics, it was only inevitable that a picture like the one below would emerge from the weekend. This was taken during Mike’s lead run during his Top 32 battle against Hugo Fernandes, a battle he ended up losing to much uproar from the crowd. While I didn’t manage to find a concrete answer as to why he was knocked out, it certainly made for some fantastic spectating and picture taking opportunities.

Aside from the club stands and pitting areas at Japfest, the on-track action was a major attraction for the thousands of spectators.

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