After being away from the cruise scene for nearly two years after selling CruiseSouthend to Gazzwold, I felt that i could stay away no longer, so when he said that i could come along to Donny South with the CruiseSouthend team, i jumped at the opportunity.

After 3 hours of sleep, I woke up and met with everyone at Tesco's in Southend. Even though it was the un-Godly hour of 5am, everyone seemed to be in high spirits and looking forward to the day ahead.

After everyone had arrived, we convoyed up to Thurrock services to pick up a few others, and then made our way to North Weald airfield where the show was being held.

The convoy itself was a great mixture of cars, including a collection of Skylines, that left any onlookers in no doubt as to where we were going.

In the months leading up to Donny, the team had been very busy organising every aspect of their display stand -including which cars were going, who would be modelling and even how much food and drink to bring along for the BBQ. Their hard work and efforts didn't stop there though.

As soon as we arrived at Donny, they arranged the cars how they wanted them and were straight to work putting the gazebo up. (Something that would turn out to be so necessary as the day went on, and the rain came down.)

Even though the weather was wetter than a sheep dog in a swimming pool, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. In the brief moments where the weather dried up, we were able to take a wander around the show ground to see the other stands, the cars and the laydees.

There were some amazing cars on display at the show, proving that us British really have got talent when it comes to modifying our rides. Just take a look at some of the photos on the right and you will see how a lot of time, effort and a handful of cash can really pay off when designing the perfect ride.

After getting all the shots we needed, we took a trip over to the air strip to check out the Time Trials and Drifting competition.

First out were the 0-60 sprint runners with a pair of Ford RS2000's ripping up the runway with a time of just over 3 seconds in the wet!!

Not only were the cars on top form, but some of the models were too. The CruiseSouthend girls really deserve some praise for getting out there and handing out our leaflets even while it was pouring with rain.

When the rain did start to come down, we all huddled under the gazeebo or around the BBQ while the DJ span some vinyl on his decks.

Overall, the show was washed out by the rain, but we enjoyed ourselves, and I'm pleased to say it feels great to be back in the scene.