2009 National Rally Debrief

 

It was a great day, now stop the whining! Wink

could not agree more, if food was not to your liking bring butties and a flask---- I thought it was supposed to be about the cars not a 3 course lunch.[pi][C]

Track was great to see [Y]

George

 

You enjoyed your day out doing the things you like to do.  We enjoyed our day out doing what we wanted to do.  The suggestions were made so that the Committee would have fair and unbiased feedback as to how an ordinary member and his wife found their first National Rally.   

I made the observations to promote constructive comment and discussion.  It was not a ‘whine’ as you so forcibly put it.  I had hoped my comments/observations would be treated with courtesy and politeness; I was sadly mistaken. <o:p></o:p>

 

   <o:p></o:p> 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thankyou to the organisers / volunteers. I can only imagine the effort required arranging an event of this size. My joy in all things MX5 was well and truly satisfied.

Come on guy, lets not fall out over such a great day.

If there was a real downer on the day it was leaving with the knowledge that one MX-5 owner was not going to be able to drive his pride and joy home.

Knowing that, any other minor niggles seem totally insignificant.

Top day!!! Really enjoyed myself, however missed out on a rally plaque…  [::(] Is there any way I can get one of these now??? If not, guess I’ll have to console myself with the stainless cat back system I bought from MX5 Parts on the day! Can’t wait to get it fitted, should sound nice with the Pipercross induction kit already on the car!

Post
moved to a different thread

 

From the perspective of complete track day novices we would like to give a big thank you to everyone involved in putting on a very enjoyable day.

Particular thanks must go to

1)      Nick and all his team for the great organisation and a well run day,

2)      Steve who gave  both of us excellent tuition and encouragement at the start of the morning,

3)      All the morning drivers for putting up with us slow novices on the track.

I certainly tried to keep out of the way of the faster drivers, maybe I spent too much time looking in the mirror rather than concentrating on the track ahead!

Would we do it again? Probably yes, but would certainly prefer an event more aimed at the novice.

For anyone who did not attend the event here is a short video clip from the Driftworks Display

http://s920.photobucket.com/albums/ad42/Timjanes/?action=view&current=MVI_6443-1.flv

 

Just to follow up the above, here’s my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2tDHh2hAm4

David

Tim and Jen…was it you I took pic of in “hairnets”… If so and you want it send me pm with em address and I send it on…its good one!!

Wolfie

 

 

 These actually arrived onsite late and we attempted to get round to as many cars as we could to place them either in the cars or on them for people we knew had missed out due to the late arrival. As already stated we did leave a large quantity at the OC stand for people to help themselves too. The response to the day was overwhelming and at times so many cars were trying to enter that another gate was opened by mallory which was not given plaques (as we were unaware it had been opened). Sorry if you missed out on one, but even I forgot to pick one up for myself and I was handing them out!

We left just after 4.00pm and as we approached the gate we were asked if we had received a plaque and were offered another one.

 

 Same here - can’t fault that. Was explained to me by the nice man that they weren’t on-site early in the morning.

 

I was at the other end of the paddock for this - watching loooong sideways entries in to the 4th gear corner. There is so little run-off at those speeds. You could hear them playing with the throttle getting the cars settled at an angle then the revs rise and the wall of smoke went up all the way round that huge corner. Fantastic.

The comments about my car were frequently hilarious - people didn’t seem to make the connection between the black car with “Camouflaged Learning” written on it in orange and the shifty looking guy with the black and orange Camouflaged Learning top on. Reactions to it were mostly positive, or shock at the state of the thing. If the rally hadn’t been the week before the BDC final I’d have taken it on track.

The highlight for me was the people. Getting to chat with the DW team (and having a laugh at some of the comments made while the demo was running), spending time with the ER guys (even though I’d seen you all the week before) and in particular finally meeting Goof and SAZ. The forum will be more fun for me as a result of putting real personalities behind the online ones.

 Well what a day !

I still can’t get the grin off my better halfs face after goingout in the drift car.

We came mob handed , me the mrs , two boys , brother and sister in law and their youngest ( 10 year old) and we spent so much time in the pits  & going out on track , that other than stopping for a picnic for an hour we did’nt even  cross the bridge.

3 hour morning session in our bog std roadster , ( which nearly came3 to grief) and all afternoon getting hot lap rides and three of us taken out in Darrens car ( what a car). Thanks very much to everyone involved , and especially Darren for the passenger rides it was great fun, (turbo now on the Xmas list)

Oh and all our lot had a full breakfast and raved about it and the service all day .

Thanks again for a great day.

 

 

Captain Muppet

Before the National rally I’d only seen pictures of your car in action which were brilliant, so for me to see it for real at the MX5OC National Rally was a real treat[:D], I think ya car is awesome and hope to see you out Drifting one day.

Good luck with the BDC finals.

Once again thank you to the organisers for making my first Owners Club National one to remember, it was a brilliant event[Y]

Marcus.

 

 

 The “Camouflaged Learning” car should have been entered into at least one of the competitions - “Hot 5”, or whatever… I’d have voted for it!

There should be a new category - most effective use of cable ties! [;)]

Enjoyed meeting Mr Larkman finally putting a face to a forum name & car - , did look for SAZ but he wasn’t near his car… [:(]

 

Can I say that I had a smashing time at an excellent venue. Well done to everyone one who helped with the organising prior and on the day itself.

I feel there was loads of things to do and watch. Agreed that the catering facilities were not up to scratch and people patiently in the queue for the burger van (usually in good humor), but hey these things happen in life and it centaintly did not spoil my day.

The gentleman serving in the burger van deserves a medal as he was on his own and managed to keep smiling throughout the day.

It was also good that people came over to talk especially when I was installing my new roll bar, offering excellent advice  - Thanks loads and loads [H][Y]

 Can’t wait for next year !! - where is it again???

 

in defence of the lakeside diner, it’s usually the best around the regions race circuits.

they probably didnt expect the number of people on saturday & they still do the best breakfast around.          [:D]

 It was a fab breakfast and reasonable priced.

 

More track action Next year???

Im gutted Im gonna miss the Spring one In NI

 

ALan

Vals “Mallory Breakfast” is legendary!

… mind you the roast loin of venison with tapenade and pancetta is not up to the mark though… [;)]

More track action - I don’t think there was a spare minute for any more! ~ Mallory has strict limits on track time available, I’ve known races that have had to be cancelled due to lack of time…

N.I. Spring Rally - are there any details yet? [:P]