Great Day Not So Great Cars

For a change I attended a car show on a Saturday and not a Sunday, which was quite a novel change. The show was called ‘Fast & Loud’ to be held in the West Suffolk College car parks, located within the town of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

I had been to this show once before a few years ago and it was damp and drizzling with rain on and off throughout the day. This time at the same venue, the sun was out and all was good to go, except that my alarm didn’t go off. The only reason I woke up was because my little dog decided that he wanted to go out, so he pawed my face to wake up. I checked the time and although I was late, it was only half hour or so behind my normal leaving time schedule. I skipped breakfast to save some time and got the car out the garage as quick as possible, jumped in the car for the short nine mile drive.

The show officially started at ten and I had thirty minutes to get there. Fearing the worst, I got a bit of pace on, opened the four barrel carb to chew my way through more fuel than I normally do. I needn’t have worried as everybody was pretty much in the show and parked up for the public to view. I just drove up to the barriers and drove in, not having to wait in the usual queue carnage for this show. (It was a bad queue again so I was told a couple of hours earlier.)

The Bury Retro Car Club was near the entrance as I drove in. But for the second show in a row they didn’t get all the spaces they were allocated, so a few of us were scattered around the car park a bit. I got lucky and managed to park opposite the club line up where there was a single space next to a GT40. Unfortunately the GT40 wasn’t a real one, this one was constructed in 1973 and the owner has raced it quite a few times. He even crashed it quite heavily a couple of years on a track and needed the front and rear rebuilding.

I worked my way round the car park taking pictures of the cars that interested me in amongst the two or three year old daily run around cars.

There was a rare new gen Mustang Mach1 in the UK on show owned by a good friend of mine.

Then almost next to it was a car that I had on my bedroom wall as kid, It’s still one of my favourite super cars, the Lambo Diablo.

As I was wandering around at the far end of the car park a car arrived a bit late which was very similar to mine. The father and son spent some time with me a little later asking some great questions. The colour was a very similar colour to mine, but a little darker than mine I think. It would have been good to have seen them side by side for a comparison.

There was a motorsport department within the college and they had their projects out on show for us.

One of my favourite modern cars was also on show which was not so subtle, but it’s quick and more than able to back up the looks.

There was a distinct split in this show, there was the usual classic cars and interesting cars which I naturally gravitate towards. Then there’s my idea of hell, it was the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Corsa and BMW brigade who had big exhausts and even louder sound systems. The sort of cars that you can see in any Tesco’s or Walmart car parks. to be honest. There was nothing particularly special about them in my mind, but I could see some had money spent on them. However, they are somebody’s pride and joy and not for me to judge their taste in cars. The event was called ‘Fast & Loud’ so pretty much all types of vehicles was welcome. Some were loud, some are indeed fast, but most this side were neither. The show had a few people starting up their cars and trying to see if they could push pistons out of the hood from a cold start, or pumping out some bass lines. Not my bag to be honest and I doubt I will attend this show again. I think I must be getting old and should be a little more tolerant I guess.

To finish up a couple more of my entry to the show, the first one was taken by somebody else who tagged me on the dreaded F**ebook.

What will the next show have in store for me? All I can hope for is that the sun holds out for the next show too. But, it’s been a great start to the show season so far with two sunny days.

What do you think of the very standard modern cars at these shows? Controversial comment: in my opinion, if I wanted to see those sort of cars I could hang out superstore car park.

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And We’re Off…

My first car show of the year was greeted with bright sunshine, virtually no clouds and a very relaxing drive to get there. The show was at Kersey Mill about thirty miles away from me. This show tends to be pretty much anything goes but is mostly classic cars.

I was running a bit late as I had to stop and get some fuel, I’m currently using Shell V-Power as it’s a premium fuel and not much ethanol in it. If I use supermarket fuel I get knocking and the car really doesn’t like it, runs lumpy and doesn’t like to idle very well. I arrived at the venue about thirty minutes before the show actually started and all the cars were pretty much in place. The public was already wandering around so me and number of other stragglers turning up late had to drive carefully. I had booked in to the show so that I could be with the club I’m in which is called the Bury Retro Car Club. I asked where they were by the stewards and asked to be with them. Due to some ‘Health & Safety issues’ allocated area was full so I had to park up in the middle section which turned out to be a great spot. I wasn’t complaining as the sun was shinning and it wasn’t overcast or raining. To top it all the atmosphere was really nice and the visitors were all in a good mood.

The grounds of Kersey Mill are very photogenic making wondering around the cars and grounds a very enjoyable laid back stroll, I even got to pet a few dogs too, more on those little guys later.

Where my car was parked was near the burger van and the smell was driving me crazy, burgers and bacon rolls wafting their delicious smells my way. My shop bought cheese and onion sandwich just didn’t cut it for me this time when I eventually sat back down with the car.

The down side of where I had been told to park was that the cars which were passing created little dust plumes; by the end of the day my car was covered in a fine layer of grey dust.

I started to wander around in no particular order, there was the front entrance to something or other, but I wasn’t sure what.

Then walked over the little bridge into the fields either side of the long driveway.

I spotted a club with a few Mustangs lurking in their midst.

The original horse power; I really like this picture, but I’m not sure why I do though.

The last field for a few more cars where I should have been parked with the car club.

Last, but not least was the dogs out for the day. They were all very well behaved and I didn’t see any bad tempered dogs all day. The little guy on the bottom right I asked the owner if I could stroke him, he was such a nice natured dog he just wanted me to play and looked sad when I eventually walked away.

That’s the first show done and dusted, literally I think I took most of the car park back home with me. It took me a good hour or so to gently remove the dust before I put the car away in the garage. With such a good start to the show season lets hope the nice weather continues. 🙂

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Hedingham Castle

This car show took place in 2^nd August 2021 on the outskirts of Colchester which is the oldest town in the UK. This was a new show for me and I was looking forward to it especially as I hadn’t been there before.

The weather apps said there was a round thirty percent chance of rain later in the day. When I got up the sky looked grey but felt dry, so I decided to go for it. I got the car out and set up the Sat Nav for a scenic route and set off for an unknown journey.

When I got to the castle there was a board outside that said “closed to visitors no entry”, I was not impressed. I couldn’t see any cars inside and and also couldn’t see any cars arriving.

I backed out onto the road to drive around and look to see what was going on. I saw a guy walking his dog and asked him if he knew anything about it. Lucky for me he did. He said that they put the sign up to stop castle visitors but the car show was on. So I drove back again and past the sign. A very slight curve and I saw the marshals and a few cars parked up. I was directed to the field that was on a bit of a slope and wet. I was having trouble trying to get traction where they parked me and said I could move over a little on the flatter part of the field. I was grateful for her consideration and said thanks, but I mentioned if it rains I would have trouble getting out.

The plus side is that I had a great view of the castle from below.

I got out to speak to the guys next to me a couple of nice guys I knew who were walking over to me who are also in the Bury Retro Car Club that I’m a member of. About ten minutes later the head marshal came over to tell me that a car club had cancelled (around 125 cars) and would not be coming due to the potential weather, would I like to move?

I said yes and pointed to the main walkway which was on a path where my two friends had just come from. She agreed I was allowed to move and parked up near them with a fantastic backdrop.

Then it happened, a few spots of drizzle! Rain wasn’t due for another three hours or so. As I stood looking up to the sky another friend who owns a newer Mustang pulled next to me.