The race is on. Jeff hits a straight section of the A127 and guns his Toyota's engine. He's up to 115 mph in seconds, tyres squealing as he skilfully weaves in and out of slower traffic all around him. Rival Craig's souped-up Peugeot is gaining fast. It flashes past Jeff as though he's standing still before screeching to a halt half a mile ahead when a battered Transit van fails to get out of the way in time.
It's 8 pm on a Saturday and scores of extreme car enthusiasts, known as modders or cruisers, are heading for Southend in Essex in a series of convoys. Their highly tuned vehicles represent the sharp end of the £3-billion-a-year car modification industry.
They are also a growing headache for police who say the cruise scene is closely linked to the fast-growing, potentially deadly street racing subculture.
Six people died and 113 were seriously injured in crashes linked to cruising and street racing in Essex in 2002, the last year for which figures are available. Police say most cruisers' cars travel at more than 100 mph on Saturday nights on the A127, which links London and the resort. One of them was clocked at 134 mph earlier this year.
Measures taken by the police include high-profile patrols and threats to seize vehicles involved in racing or dangerous driving. But they've done little to stop the rapid growth of the cruising and racing scene.
The numbers involved have been boosted particularly by more women getting involved in the scene. "I'm just a normal girl," says Nicki, 22, a bank clerk and self-confessed car nut who heads for Southend most Saturday nights. "I like my shopping and I love getting my nails done, but I like fast cars as well.
"Some of the cars here are modified for show, some are modified for go. I'm not really into the body styling side of things. I'm more into horsepower."
Nicki is not alone. While such magazines as Max Power and Fast Car tend to portray women as sex objects, more of them are turning up behind the wheel of modified cars. The website, girlracer.co.uk, is devoted to women interested in motorsport and cruising. It gets 8,500 hits a day and will launch its own magazine on the newsstands later this year.
Nicki drives a Ford RS Cosworth, a popular "go car" with a cult following in Britain. It's easy to see why - a basic Cosworth generates 220 bhp, taking it from 0-60 in about six seconds on its way to a top speed of 145 mph. Nicki's car, however, has been tweaked to produce 400 bhp and, theoretically, it is capable of at least 180 mph.
As night falls on Southend the Saturday night cruise is in full swing. At least 600 cars are parked in the middle of the street along the promenade. Dozens more drive endlessly up and down the promenade, bringing traffic to a virtual standstill.
Variations are endless. There are models with huge spoilers and enormous alloy wheels, cars that produce jets of flame from their exhaust pipes and others so stuffed full of amplifiers and giant speakers that there is no room for seats. Dozens of cars have television screens built into their sun visors, which is illegal, or the backs of headrests. Invariably they are used to show hardcore porn or scenes from the cult films, The Fast and the Furious, and its sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious, both about illegal street racing in Miami and said to be responsible for increasing interest in cruising and racing in Britain.
While plenty of cars are mainly for show, most of the drivers are keen on the the boy racer - and girl racer - end of the scene. Every so often there is a deafening squeal as a driver attempts a "burn out", a skilled manoeuvre involving holding the car still with the handbrake, while allowing the wheels to spin so fast that smoke pours from the tyres.
David Hall, a founder member of the Essex Boyz club and a Southend regular, says: "Most of the cruise scene is about the social side. People come to meet up with friends, show off what they've done with their cars and have a bit of a laugh. You get a few people who have no respect for their tyres but a lot of it is about how flash you can be.
"A friend of mine just had his BMW retrimmed in Gucci leather. He was going to have it done in Louis Vuitton leather but the Gucci was more expensive so he went for that instead."
Hall, 23, has two cars, a Ford Focus "show car" with £5,000 (about €7,500) worth of interior modifications. Three weeks ago he bought a Cosworth. He now plans to sell the Focus and spend the money on tuning the Cosworth's engine to develop 600 horsepower, making the car capable of more than 200 mph.
Though Hall admits having been a spectator at illegal street races, he insists neither he nor anyone from Essex Boyz was directly involved. "Why would I want such a powerful car? It's just a hobby. It's about having something that you do to the best of your ability. It's about being able to say, 'Look what I've done to my car, look how much power I've got out of the engine' - nothing more than that."
For those who insist on going a stage further there are two options. First there are the impromptu races on main roads. A favourite is the year-old A130 which runs between Canvey Island and Dunmow. It has become an unofficial test and race track for modified cars, thanks to its smooth surface and relative straightness.
Further along the seafront a man using a wheelchair shakes a packet of Tic Tacs at girls driving past. Known as Legs, he wears a bomber jacket with the words SEC printed on the back.
In the street racing world, SEC - South East Cruises - has attained near-legendary status. This club is said to organise almost all of the illegal street racing in south-east England and beyond, and to have developed a sophisticated system for staying one step ahead of the authorities.
When Legs learns that a journalist is nearby he becomes highly suspicious. "What are you writing about? That we're a bunch of lunatics who the police think are worse than rapists? It's not like that."
Legs points along the promenade. "Look around - very few people drinking, no one doing drugs. There's no trouble. The only thing the police are trying to do people for is parking violations."
Asked about SEC's alleged role in illegal street racing, Legs become evasive. "Street racing? What's that? Doesn't happen. Never heard of it. Sounds like something that happens in films and all that."
Simultaneously, a tall man emerges from a nearby BMW convertible with TV screens lit up in the back of the headrests. "Hey, Legs, come have a look at this video of me street racing," he says.
The man showing the video reluctantly admits to being involved with illegal street racing and the SEC: "We're a club for people who love cars. We organise cruises and get-togethers, that's about it really. Most of the other clubs have websites but we don't.
"If we did and I put a note up there saying there would be a meet on Saturday night, the police would get there before we did and shut the whole thing down. We organise by text message and word of mouth, and we use flyers. That allows us to be flexible."
Just after midnight hundreds of cars from Southend begin to make their way back down the A127 to the Mayflower retail park in Basildon. The Mayflower is so well known as a venue for illegal racing that a police car is normally stationed nearby to prevent Saturday night contests. This weekend, however, police resources are stretched by the need to keep order in the town centres during Euro 2004, and there are no officers around.
As we arrive, dozens of cars are lined up along each side of Paycocke Road. Streams of other vehicles race each other, flying at full pelt down the narrow, two-lane road. At each end they make sharp U-turns, and then race back again in the opposite direction.
Two blonde women in a white Ford Escort convertible are among the spectators. "We started off in Southend and then we came up here. Why? It's just fun seeing people rag the bollocks out of their cars," explains one of them.