Yesterday

Thruxton Sunday Service | PH Review

Wet weather, winter wheels and soaking skidpans

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Last weekend, the PH ensemble returned to our end-of-year staple at Thruxton Circuit - and while the ice held off, the rain took centre stage. There’s always a gamble with winter car meets in the UK, but the PistonHeads community showed up regardless. Even in the face of persistent downpours, the variety of machinery that defines a Sunday Service was out in force.

Leading the charge was a road-going battalion of BTCC-inspired builds, turning up in formation with both retro and modern liveries. Not far behind, a rally-minded squad of GR Yarises rocked up in suitably spirited fashion.

We expected the usual wet-weather regulars - RS4s, RS6s, the dependable quattro contingent - but a Fordson tractor was an unexpected highlight (we’re assuming its journey was mercifully short). Also earning wet-weather hero status: a superb Shogun Pininfarina, plus a strong showing from the brave rear-wheel-drive crew, including an Exige 410, Vantage GT8, Z3M, GR86, and a particularly handsome DBS.

Across the circuit, Mission Motorsport kept the skidpan busy with more than 100 sessions. The surface is meant to be slippery, of course, but the near-constant rain added an extra degree of mischief. We managed to sneak in an early-afternoon slide ourselves with the Subaru, Escort, Mission Motorsport F-Type and Matt’s trusty BMW.

If you couldn’t join us and fancy trying the skidpan, take a look at the Thruxton Experiences lineup. There’s plenty to pick from - supercar drives, off-road courses, even passenger laps with Tiff Needell. There are also some handy discounts running at the time of writing. Click here to see what’s on offer. 

A huge thank you to the volunteers and organisers at Thruxton for running another brilliant event in challenging conditions. And a special thank you to everyone who supported our 2025 Sunday Services - not including the Annual Service and Le Mans Friday Service, we saw more than 2,500 cars and over 3,500 of you attended across the year. 

We’re taking a short break over Christmas, but we’ll be back in the new year with another calendar chock-full of Sunday Services. If you want to get ahead for next year, we’ve already announced the date for the 2026 PistonHeads Annual Service (Saturday 8th August at Bicester Motion). Early-bird tickets and limited-edition gift packs are available now, so be sure to take a look. 

Thank you for being part of what makes PistonHeads so special. See you in 2026!

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[Matt_T]

Were the BTCC cars planned? Part of someone's collection, or are they privately owned?

[MDMA .]

Matt_T said:

Were the BTCC cars planned? Part of someone's collection, or are they privately owned?

“Inspired”. Just normal road cars (with stickers on etc).

[nismo48]

MDMA . said:

Matt_T said:

Were the BTCC cars planned? Part of someone's collection, or are they privately owned?

Inspired . Just normal road cars (with stickers on etc).

They do add extra credence

[MyV10BarksAndBites]

That Yaris in the pic as do many other looks great...... Seen a standard GR today and it looked bland and blockky....

[Ed Moses]

A big thank you to those brave souls who came with me on the track walk for Mission Motorsport - it was more than mildly moist.

Ed

[Turbobanana]

Am I missing something and there really was a "Shogun Pininfarina"? Or do you mean a Shogun Pinin, the little 1.8 or 2.0 jobbie that sat between the real Shogun and the Pajero Mini?

[matherto]

Matt_T said:

Were the BTCC cars planned? Part of someone's collection, or are they privately owned?

You can't honestly think they're real race cars.

[zarjaz1991]

Ed Moses said:

A big thank you to those brave souls who came with me on the track walk for Mission Motorsport - it was more than mildly moist.

Ed

Yep I was on that.

Very very very wet indeed but great to do nonetheless.

Scott

[GTRene]

wow, I like this picture, great stance and wheels, nice one.

[Mr Tidy]

GTRene said:

wow, I like this picture, great stance and wheels, nice one.

It is lovely. I've seen it at a few local events as the owner doesn't live that far from me. We were booked onto the same skidpan session and there was plenty of sideways action!

Anyway a big thanks to PH for organising the event and Mission Motorsport for putting up with us.

[GreatScott2016]

MyV10BarksAndBites said:

That Yaris in the pic as do many other looks great...... Seen a standard GR today and it looked bland and blockky....

Agreed, not a fan generally of the GRY looks but it looks ok in this pic, amazing what springs and spacers can do . Love the WRC plate too

[roykinch]

Great day, especially the skid pan, have a video but too large for the forum.