MikeR
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| posted on 13/9/03 at 02:43 PM |
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Donnington - what did you think
Well i've just come back from Donnington and I'm not impressed.
The car parking organisation was terrible
The cost (10 pounds per person, 2 pounds if you've got a kit car) is a rip off.
The number of exhibitors is rather poor
The autojumble is third empty and only consisted of 1 tent.
The westfield and caterham car section where over half empty.
Caterham didn't even have a stand inside the hall - makes you wonder.
VERY VERY unimpressed.
On a positive side,
I got to see a number of locost builders and have a good long chat with them.
Spent ages on the Stuart Taylor stand outside gossiping and drooling.....
Got to look at MK's GT1 again - it just looks better and better evey time i see it.
In fact the only thing that made the show worth while was the gossiping with friends.
Perhaps tomorrow will be better with the track day.
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MK Goldrush
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| posted on 13/9/03 at 03:48 PM |
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Mike,
Glad I never went today then...
Track day should be better... plus more people? Hopefiully
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Mark H
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 09:39 AM |
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I have to say i was dissapointed with the Saturday turnout. Lets hope the Sunday crowd have more positive things to say.
Re the parking - we ended up in the Westfield Only bit (I went in convoy with one Westy and another Stuart Taylor) - a few stalwarts were giving my
car a right looking over (and it wasn't because they thought it was a lovely example either)!
We only saw about 8 locosts too - didnt see any flags for MKOC either?
I went down with a bit of a shopping list - bought some carpet, some rubber undercoat (sold by the oldest man in the world), and two reflectors (80p),
but most of the important stuff just wasn't available, or I can get it cheaper locally.
And I thought the stalls are going a bit Max Power (all blue LEDS and stuff).
Dave & Dick - big apologies, firstly we got to Donny after 1 - left later than expected. Then I lost the bit of paper with tel no.s and who wanted
what on! I didn't see one person who I knew.
For me, Newark is now the show to meet at.
On the way home, one of the cars had a bit of an electrical issue. Took us five hours to get back to Leeds!
All the best,
Mark
[Edited on 14/9/03 by Mark H]
Mark Harrison and
Q986 KCP back from the dead...
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DaveFJ
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 09:39 AM |
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Have to agree with mike here - very disapointed... still parted with another £500 though!
And got caught out by the accident on the M1, wifey ended up helping out for a while (perils of marrying a nurse)
Hope no-one from here was involved....
[Edited on 14/9/03 by protofj]
[Edited on 14/9/03 by protofj]
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locoboy
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 10:11 AM |
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Not too impressed either, v poor spares/uto jumble section. Was forced to but stainless bolts from the "rip off merchant" as he was the
only one selling the stuff.
Bought some carpet and a few other small bits and bobs. I have never been to Donny before and wont be too keen to go rushing back.
Was looking to meet up with a couple of you guys off here to put a face to the avitar!, but couldnt find the MK area and didnt know where else to try
and meet up.
I agree it is a bit worrying that W£stfield and Caterpork didnt have stands inside.
IMHO not worth the 10 quid, only good thing was that there was no big cue to get in, hmmmmmmmmmmmm doesnt that say something too?
Also what is the deal with all the max power shite and who the F*ck said people could sell mobile phone covers, it all takes away from the whole ethos
of the show IMO.
Col
[Edited on 14/9/03 by colmaccoll]
ATB
Locoboy
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Dick Axtell
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 03:06 PM |
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1 contented visitor
At least one bloke was happy enough. See pic below.
 
Rescued attachment Donny03.JPG
Work-in-Progress: Changed to Zetec + T9. Still trying!!
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Wadders
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 04:58 PM |
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It was worth 2 quid, just to see the girl in the skimpy white outfit, near ST's stand.
Things kinda went downhill after that!
Al
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Viper
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 05:27 PM |
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Wadders
that must have been about the time you drove past us at the bar
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 06:58 PM |
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some of you must have been to a different show,the mkoc stand had cars a plenty,we had a whale of a time ill agree about the size of the show
though,id like to say thanx to all who turned up and entertained me,provided 5* facilities and entertainment jasper for not frightening me
toooooooooooo much on the track and last but definatley not least to hicost,sorry about your misshap and we all hope you are better very soon.
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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Wadders
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 07:07 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by theconrodkid
the mkoc stand had cars a plenty.
Bloody hell conrod, wer'e they under a cammo net or summat? without a word of a lie we walked round the field 3 times and never found them. gave
up in the end and went for a coffee and another look at the girlie in white, fnurk!
p.s for all we take the p#iss out of Robin hoods, what a turn out they had, quite impressive ( the turn out you understand, not the cars).
Al.
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MikeR
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 07:23 PM |
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MK had his stand in the hall and the MKOC had their cars right next to the 'normal' car enterance road. If you came in a kit car you
wouldn't have gone any where near them!
So it seems Today was a better show - oh well, always the way. At least today i got on with some car building (slowly!)
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chrisg
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 07:29 PM |
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I've been thinking for some time that the kit car shows are going down hill, I havent been to Donington this time but I've been to all the
others and there's definately a trend towards less manufacturers and more dross.
we've had fudge stalls, model car racing etc.
The catering is terrible and expensive and the cost rises every year.
I think I'll be going to Newark next year, unless it clashes with Le Mans.
Cheers
Chris
Note to all: I really don't know when to leave well alone. I tried to get clever with the mods, then when they gave me a lifeline to see the
error of my ways, I tried to incite more trouble via u2u. So now I'm banned, never to return again. They should have done it years ago!
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blueshift
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 07:37 PM |
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Hurrah, we found the MK owners. mostly by recognising the tent thing from photo albums and spotting a familiar looking face or two..
not before we'd wandered up to the loCUST owners club and asked them if they were locosts.. "NO!"
I think they have aluminium envy. I mean, a plywood bodyshell.. fnar
I've never been to an event like that before but I had a great time. bought some useful cheap tools, got a copy of building and modifying kit
car suspension and brakes, which I don't think amazon have, talked to Mr. M of MK Engineering about him doing a dedion axle for locosts (answer:
no), had a ride in Jasper's car (thanks -weeeeeeee!), talked crap, ate crap, drank beer, watched films, got sunburned, argued with conrodkid
about jap cars..
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 07:37 PM |
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wadders,we were next to the porsche wannabees,spotted the girlie in white thou
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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MK Goldrush
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 08:40 PM |
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Sunday Donnington
We went on Sunday and I'm sure Westfled had a stand inside. Or do my eyes deceive me? Yep, deffo Westfled!
MKOC was pretty easy to find - as was the MK Track Trials, got some pretty good pic's of em too! The MK Test was easily the most frequented and
busy...
 
Rescued attachment mk4up.jpg
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bob
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 09:25 PM |
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MK owners club area
A big sorry to those who couldnt find the area,my fault i'm afraid.
I got there early friday afternoon and thought since the the field was empty a corner plot would be a good idea,better than being buried in the middle
i thought.
Pinned the banner in facing the road of entry,i also thought this was a good idea.
Trouble is limelight exhibitions do not penn any areas for us unlike Newark who couldnt have helped us more and are much better organised,we also only
have the one 10ft x 2ft banner at the moment so maybe we could do with another and also a flag or two.
The end result of not having penned or roped off areas = club next door pushes you off the edge,we did have some room and a nice little turn out of
cars too incuding some room for locost builders which was nice.
Covin car club who were next to us did have far more cars turn up than us and did need room,i havnt got a problem with that but limelight exhibitions
should really take a look at newark promotions efforts IMO.
THE SHOW
Yep most of you who have been the show over the years will probably agree the best things were the weather and the track on sunday.
[Edited on 14/9/03 by bob]
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mr loo
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| posted on 14/9/03 at 11:14 PM |
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the show was brillant,parked at mkoc. suppose i better join now only bad thing is i broke down on the way home, bloody fuel pump's
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Rob Lane
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| posted on 15/9/03 at 09:07 AM |
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I arrived at 12 noon Sunday and couldn't find anyone around, eventually found 5 Locosts parked near Robin Hood guys, so I parked behind the
'Newark Show Best Locost Winner' car.
The show had the best turnout of kit cars it's ever had. The caterhams outnumbered the westfields and there was a very large turnout of Robin
Hoods.
That said, the catering was expensive, the autojumble or parts sellers were very poor.
Midland Wheels Supplies had about 6 stands, it was they who made the parts sellers look anything like usable. They sell the flashy shiny bits etc.
Usually junk!
I too wanted some stainless fastenings but would not buy from the one stall who was a rip off with prices. There have been better than that at other
shows.
I'm not surprised at the lack of stalls selling though. We enquired after a stall and the cost put us off at £125 per metre.
It must be difficult to put on this show and get the price balance right, although I believe they would be better served by slashing the parts stall
pitch prices, to attract more entries and more buyers.
To put it in perspective. I once tried to hire Donington to put on a Locost Club day. Three years ago, the cost of the track alone was £12,000 for 6
hours with 1 hour break (Planning Regs). The hire of the main hall was £15,000 with heating and lighting extra. Staff and facilities were charged
extra per unit cost. i.e. per man!
I assume that's why the £2 cover charge for kit cars. If they publish attendance figures then it would be possible to get a breakdown of the
event. Even so I reckon they are making £k's.
[Edited on 15/9/03 by Rob Lane]
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Wadders
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| posted on 15/9/03 at 10:10 AM |
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You should have shouted up mate, i'd have stopped and let you buy me a pint]
]Originally posted by Viper
Wadders
that must have been about the time you drove past us at the bar [/quote
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Jasper
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| posted on 15/9/03 at 11:21 AM |
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As usual it was badly organised (including the track day), but there was still plenty to see and a great time was had.
My first time out on a big grown up track and the car behaved impecably and went like a b*stard all day long - fantastic fun even with a few w*nker
drivers and lots of red flags.
Great weather - lots of builders camping over - and a noticable absense of northeners??????????
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Peteff
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| posted on 15/9/03 at 01:51 PM |
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I was there!!
Sunday about 11.30 till 4.30. Didn't see anybody obviously locost related, said it before, sort out some hats Chris. Had a good look round, went
to the pits where the MK crew were doing their stuff and had a couple of hours lounging round on the infield. Went in my locost so I missed the MOCK
() but I did see the locusts and the 3 wheeler things. Get rid of the section dedicated to them 'cos you have to be 110 to drive one and have
a beard..
yours, Pete.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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locoboy
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| posted on 15/9/03 at 02:45 PM |
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and they bring the missus to every event and all those old dears seem to have a seat welded to their arse and a picknic basket glued to the side of
it. I have never seen one of them get in the chair, they just seem to be in it all the time, i think they arrive at the show already mounted in the
chair!
ATB
Locoboy
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Chazzy
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| posted on 15/9/03 at 03:39 PM |
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LOL! its the main reason my girlfrind won't do shows with me, she won'tsit in a chair reading or knitting all day. "Havn't
they got a life" she used to ask.
I went both days (I live close) sat very empty, sunday chocca!
Forgot to bring driving licence so had to be content with being thrown around the track in Raw Engineering's striker. after that i was glad i
wasn't on track. there were some BIG speed differentials out there.
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mackie
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| posted on 16/9/03 at 02:52 PM |
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I was only on track for a few laps with Jasper but I was track-side most of the day and it did seem a bit hairy! That Cossie was certainly giving it
some and spewing god knows what out the back on lift off. There was a particularly fast turbo Nova too, quite impressive to be honest!
I had a pretty good time, met some good chaps and talked locost.
Wishes go out to Hicost for a speedy recovery too.
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GO
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| posted on 16/9/03 at 04:09 PM |
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Couldn't make it at all this year unfortunately, so I missed whats sounds like the main attraction...
someone must have a picture of the bird in white...
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