The 2016 running of the event was the seventh successive year, with a slightly altered display layout for this
year, where most of the car club displays were located on the upper terrace around the vendor area. The
gathering is very “user friendly” in that everything is accessible to all, and the visitors can get close to all the
competitors and their cars in the parkland paddock surrounded by towering trees and purple rhododendron
bushes in full bloom. This laid back atmosphere is very popular with competitors and public alike, as the
former can impart details of their vehicles to anybody who is interested, and it makes the visitors really feel
part of the gathering, with no barriers between them and those participating. It is definitely a family orientated
gathering with plenty of peripheral entertainment, which this year included live music from a girl harmony
group, Elle and The Pocket Belles, giving four performances each day on the live stage. There was also the
Savage Skills bike display team performing gravity defying feats on their mounts, display runs each day from
a red, white and blue trio of Minis, re-enacting the film “The Italian Job”, one of the scenes from which was
filmed at the Crystal Palace back in the day, the classic motorcycle paddock, with the motorcycles also
doing demonstration runs, a fairground, and the previously mentioned vendor area, apart from the almost
continuous track activity.
The range of machinery on the entry list was of all shapes, sizes and ages, with some competitors running on
both days, with others running on only one of the days, thus providing even more variety for the spectators
who attended on both days. Those who attended on the Sunday had the best of the weather, as there was
plenty of broken sunshine from lunchtime onwards, whereas the Monday was overcast with a chill wind for the
whole day. Amongst the competing cars there were single seaters, which ranged from a 1953 Cooper Bristol
to a 2012 Mygale F12, an eclectic mix of pre-war machinery including Austin Sevens, Wolseley Hornets and
a Riley TT Sprite, and a rare 1925 AC/GN Cognac that was driven very swiftly and tidily in Monday’s runs. The
range of saloon cars was really diverse, ranging in size from a Minisprint to a Ford Galaxie 500, the latter
probably being a bit of handful on the tight course, whilst along the way there was a “Fraud Cortina” with turbo
V8 power, a number of acrobatic hot Ford Escorts together with waste gate popping Mitsubishis and Subarus,
to name but a few. On the sports car front there was an equally eclectic mix, from a Mini Marcos through
Caterham Sevens, a Lotus Elite and Elans, Porsches, an Alpine A110 and a Jaguar E-Type, to rarities like a
pair of Turners and a GSM Delta. Mention should also be made of the 800+bhp Audi RS6 Plus Estate-ABT,
which made the journey from Germany with owner Gerd Griepe to compete, the whispering BMW i8, together
with probably the most unlikely competitors, a 1959 Standard Vanguard saloon and a pristine 1970 Austin
1800 “Land Crab” – they say that variety is the spice of life!
The competitors had two practice runs each morning, with three competitive runs during the afternoon, so
there was plenty of activity throughout the day. The fastest times on both days were taken by Gary Thomas in
his 2005 Force PT single seater, with times of 31.59secs and 31.60secs respectively, with David Seaton in
his 1980 Pilbeam MP43-BMW 2nd quickest on the Sunday, but was just eclipsed by the 2012 Mygale M12 of
Andy Laurence on the Monday.
Keith Bluemel
05/2016
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