Can I ask a question???..could you tell the git who employees me that I need more holidays so I can make the event, TC aint happy
I am with you guys on that one, I’m sick of reading the knockers giving the OC so much grief
Well put gentleman…wonder how many who moan about £9 then go and buy a packet of fags…It’s £9 for gawd sake if you don’t want to pay then don’t go simple as that…If you feel you can do a better job of organizing it all then put your name forward to sort out the next one…
Just over 25% of your annual membership fee would be well spent on a great day out, what a bargain. Over a year in the planning. Well done to the organising team.
Couldn’t agree more…all you nay-sayers out there…put up or shut up !
Yet another example of why lots of owners don’t frequent this forum so much these days…
Seriously folks, a £9 payment for your better half to come to Brooklands represents extremely good value, for once the rally is not being held at the end of the world (sorry Pendenis ans Pitlochry) or indeed at Waterworld in Billingshurst. Brooklands has a hell of a lot to offer for a day out apart from any MX-5 Spring Rally, believe me!
The place is steeped in both automotive and aeronautical history, in fact the Barnes Wallace exhibition is worth the money on it`s own.
Last time we visited (next time will be our 4th visit) we were there with Mazda Chick and the SE bunch for the run they organised on a very cold day in 2011, we are very much looking forward to coming along in warmer weather in the Supercharged R2-Ltd Roadster now it has it`s competition paddle clutch fitted, would like to try it up the hill…
Anyway, it is good value, makes perfect sense to me so this Dragon is in
Speaking as a newbie to this forum I’m amazed at some of the responses to paying just a few quid to go to an event. Having been a member of the MG owners club for a number of years, I’ve never seen anyone complain about the cost of events. They do events at Brooklands and everyone pays £10 without quibbling. I would suggest if people just want to park up their cars away from everyone else, go find a field somewhere. For £9 (or less than £20 for two people) you get to park your car in the paddock of one of the most famous motorsport venues in the world and access to a fantastic motor and aviation museum. Too much to pay? Seriously? I really hope this isn’t the level of discussion on this forum otherwise I’ll be on my way very quickly.
Thanks for the agreement guys, It needed to be said though. See you at Brooklands
Member ticket ordered, Guest ticket ordered 
not bad for a tenner! much cheaper than the cost of the fuel to get there, and do the scenic drives etc! oh and the beer to be consumed in the evenings!
TOTALLY AGREE!!
Looking forward to this event MASSIVELY! I’m travelling down in convoy with Norfolk Fives, and we have a few other things planned over the weekend…
Have any traders been confirmed yet for the rally please? Just wondering who might be attending so I can start a shopping list
Because the day at Brooklands is, in effect, being run by Brooklands the OC don’t have too much control over the day. Normally, traders in the area look at the events page see who’s going to be there and make a decision as to whether they will attend, they then contact Brooklands direct to book/pay for their pitch. So there will be traders there that we haven’t contacted but are just regulars at Brooklands.
I know MX5Parts are going to be there, and we need to start contacting other local traders, but whether they get a place is going to be unknown to us unless Iain gets feedback from the Brooklands organiser.
This year the whole spring rally is different to how they have been organised in the past.
Helen before any worry, this is our event and we are running it. Yes things here are slightly different from previous events in this venue caters for a lot of motoring based events and having a site so well provided for is great for the event and for this years’s calendar! Alongside club members and volunteers we are also getting to utilise the Brooklands team who are also volunteers, to help with elements such as gates and parking which always present us with challenges, getting these covered releases us to be able to utilise what resources we have better on the day. Onsite services such as catering and safety are being provided as part of the day with the venue, again this is a big component of our events and having a venue that can can deliver these areas is also a great load lifted, plus they are geared for catering delivery at events and high numbers of attendees.
Brooklands stage lots of events every week and they know where to put cars, how to flow the parking as well as preserve the grounds and exhibits, no matter how well we can do it we will not be able to do it as efficiently as they do, we are parking cars in the roads, lanes and buildings around the museum and not in the car park adjacent, so it made sense to ask and use them to do this, we will know soon where some numbers will be needed to assist in various places and roles on the day and then look at where members can help on the day.
Their event team are handling the paperwork from traders for spaces and the various elements relating to public safety and product liabilities, again this is a bonus as we have to assure this element at our events and last year steps were taken to make changes to the way the club handles traders input and applications, because we have legal obligations to all our event attendees having this admin space around this event allows our processes to be amended and agreed for the next event. However, it our event and we still need to invite and direct people for the next step in administration, but on that there will only be traders and people on the site that we invite or approve, they do have regular event attendees and if these offers and stallholders are good for the day and for members then absolutely have them along.
Spoke with MX5parts yesterday following their management meeting - and they have confirmed they are bringing a huge stand! - they have agreed with Brooklands to take nearly all of the of covered race bays to set up because there is not the capability or need to set up a Marquee at the event - we have had to hang on a little bit to confirm how big their stand is going to be - as this impacts on the remainder of the covered bays available, which then also has a knock on with what configuration we have on the parking areas around the traders areas, as now more stands will have to located on the tarmac in tents and gazebos now. We can begin to plan this from today and we will catch up on this later.
Things are different for this year, 20th Anniversary and all, we do have a monster event in September - you know the Spring event this year almost did not go ahead in this kind of capacity, similar to what happened in 2009. The event coming to West London and into this venue for a Spring in this way was to also be a consideration to not over burden an area on what was sure to be a popular event. Brooklands had been considered potentially for the 2015 or 2016 National venue as that is the usual timeframe required to get a date there - but quite possibly by then would not be big enough given the scale of our national events - with a focus on heritage around it made sense to speak to them for 2014 because of what was possible to do there and when a an opportunity to get a date came up last year it was booked.
Phil,
Great to hear and also to see so many of the Norfolk troop coming also.
As in the post above can absolutely confirm MX5Parts are coming in a big way! as they are celebrating their 15th Anniversary in 2014 too - so you might want to keep some eyes out for some pretty special deals!
Will do more on the traders around the next STHT now that we can crack on with the site planning around this.
In the week since Soft Top Hardtop came out over 400 member tickets have been processed
Test hill
We sold out the initial online allocation and the remaining on and offline allocation have been balanced and put online and at the moment there are just
4x AM slots
and
2x PM slots
remaining on the Hill, expected these remaining places to sell out very soon.
This has gotten a little too serious guys
As a little bit of light relief check out this link for the test track
Ferrari 360 Auto Italia Show Brooklands Test Hill
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XiiB3u6yJY[/youtube]
Andrew
[size=2]Edit by mod to include embedded You Tube clip.[/size]
Better pull my finger out and get booked, looks like its going to be fab…
Brilliant - apparently there are still bits there to be scavenged!
there is a link to the still of the thing in the air http://www.photoparazzi.com/img/s8/v83/p1581334532-5.jpg
Just ordered tickets online - Paypal seems to be working fine now.
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I wasn’t asked for my name or address for the delivery of tickets - is this just taken from my membership number? (If using the postal form, your address is already on the reverse).
I think the main reason that some members are a bit nonplussed regarding the entry fee (a first for a Club Rally) is that it was not mentioned until a few weeks ago and many people (like ouselves) had already booked accommodation which could not be cancelled, and so feel that they have been forced into paying a fee that they had not expected, nor budgeted for.
That said, I have attended many Spring and National Rallies over the past 8 years and I would’ve happily paid a tenner for some of the better ones…sadly, there were others that I might have paid for, given the choice, if it would’ve helped make the experience actually worth turning up for!
As we live between Dawlish and the Somerset levels, we are just hoping the water levels drop enough for us to get there!
Hi Momac,
If you put more than the free ticket through it seems paypal works fine, it just is not able to process the single ticket, but there are alternatives put a little here for anyone having trouble http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/yaf_postst71545_Paypal.aspx
Yes membership number is a cross check, but Paypal also pulls through your postal details as they have them listed. In the automatic confirmation process an email should arrive with your order no. and receipt information which should also have a message asking to check that your Paypal address is up to date and any changes or questions to drop a line to the store.
Because of the need for tickets at the venue, this was highlighted and prices outlined as early as was possible, this appeared in the October 2013 Soft Top Hardtop pg5, and while the fine detail moved very slightly with amendments on 2014 pricing, it was the best that could be done to highlight that tickets would be needed before arrival as early as we possibly could.
There have also been many events in the past with entrance fees, notably the 2009 National Rally carried a £8 per person charge for everyone, but might have been one you missed but this is not a first with a fee.
Here a ticket is being made available to you and a potential 25% discount offered for partner or guest in advance, it is the very best that we can arrange to utilise and visit the Brooklands site and Museum - most if not all Car clubs who visit there do nothing like this, I can almost go as far to say that we are unique, going by the comments from the events team there.
I should ask the committee to consider the tin in the carpark for donations for when the day was enjoyed, an overlooked opportunity!, but seriously we hope that you will really enjoy your trip to the event and encourage everyone to get the very most out of the visit, the opportunity to do something like this won’t role round again for a very long time.
do hope you are not underwater or being badly affected, our thoughts are definitely with everyone in the South West counties and areas who might be, the stream of storms heading this way seem incessant. Hoping things dry up soon or will we be putting in some orders for the Gibbs Aquada for the event…
