The Carbon Black rally: the lovechild of a torrid affair of sleek super-cars, a passion for fast driving and the mistress of street rallying experience. Paul Naden and Dean Philp (aka Nods and Dean), have wrestled the auto love-triangle into an altogether new entity; a discreet and selective journey with their own exclusive take on essential road-faring.
The inaugural Carbon Black smoked its tyres and arrived with a legacy before the flag has even dropped: two pivotal rally enthusiasts with multiple experience derived from Gumball 3000. With an attitude and aptitude for hard-driving and exquisite partying, the kerb-clipping, Lambo-perforating and always grinning duo set out to raise the standard for the neo-rally and pull out all the stops along the way. Maintaining accessibility from a monetary viewpoint, whilst ensuring quality throughout the week were key factors when N&D threw down the gauntlet and opened their doors to participants with high expectations.
The opening grid makes some other competitors’ line-ups look like baking fairy-cakes: Ferraris galore: 575, 612 and 430; one of only 2 ultra-sexy Lamborghini LP640s in the UK; a phat Rolls-Royce Phantom; and some serious German luxury-muscle metal to boot.
On board, some of the most fabulous nutters ever spawned. GTspirit legends Team Tangospeed continued to vex us in our ponderings over what a man keeps under his kilt, but split the duties in a Porsche 996 Turbo and an Audi S4; Polish Adam, for whom the term ‘mentalist’ was designed, voyages across the continent in the exclusive LP640; and figure-heading the macadam, the Prince Regents Naden and Philp take horse-racing to another level.
They’ve been arriving at Leeds Castle this afternoon (check out GT member Zippy’s great videos here) and tonight the Carbonites are starting the event exactly as it should be started – with the launch party. A lashing of the local nectar and some top scran should prepare the Super Set for the thrill of the week ahead….
And so, on the Second Day of the Tenth Month, Carbon Black enters the world; with a solid heartbeat and a welcoming bawl from it’s lungs……
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