travelled up from derry for rally was looking forward to it , £10 to get in for just me and mx5 a bit steep even though i was only there for rally.i didnt come to visit museum done that before .(it would have cost £6 in other car park for that) nice to see plenty of cars in main car park outside but as you went into the grounds only too find 3 stalls and a few chosen cars.bit of a disapointment ,had more fun staying outside the event .i do expect to pay something between£3 - £5 like other clubs.i felt the rally to be a let down like the weather today .
I thought the rally was very well organised. I couldn’t make the barbecue on Friday (although 160 others did and it seemed to go down well). The rally was well-marshalled, the venue was great for anyone who hasn’t seen the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum before - or hasn’t seen it for a while, like me. Weather was crap - typical - and that took some of the gloss off it, but that’s life - there was plenty indoors to see other than the cars, and I lost count at about 220 MX5s outside. By all accounts the gala dinner at Stormont was excellent, and the drives on Sunday were well organised, interesting and incuded buckets of sunshine - at least the north coast drive did. So my verdict is - hats off to the organising committee! Well done - lots of hard work to get this to come together and it showed.
Ivan
Ivan, sounds like you enjoyed the museum more than the rally?
Which kind of backs up the OPs point.
I enjoyed my all be it short weekend in Ireland. The whole event appeared to be very well organised. I’m sure if the rally had been blessed with glorious sunshine the atmostphere would have been very different. Big thanks to the team from me.
I thought it was well organised because there was stuff to see in the event of bad weather. I enjoyed seeing so many MX5s in one spot, I enjoyed the show cars - although, understandably, they looked better next day in the bright sunshine - and it was good to talk to other owners. Choosing a venue where those from outside NI would see something of interest was a good move - I’m sure the transport museum was good in that respect.
I think there are always ways to improve - and no doubt, in the event they were organising the event again, the organisers would be able to do so, but I’d no complaints. As I said, the drive I did on the Sunday was excellent.
Ivan
We thought the rally was extremely well organised and really enjoyed our day
Couldn’t agree more, having never been to Northern Ireland before we found the museum very interesting and informative, There was even a Hillman Imp in there (Mandy’s car prior to her first MX-5)
Thats kind of what it is all about, we spoke to a large number of NI owners, from a lady with a very wide grin who has only owned her MX-5 for a couple of weeks to quite a few owners asking about our lowered suspension and trying to find somebody in NI that could calibrate the chassis.
Any day out is what you make it. The organisers provided all that was needed for great day out - not to mention an absolutely spectacular evening at Stormont - WELL DONE!!!
Hi,
We travelled over to the show to see what was going on and to intoduce ourselves (MX5 Heaven) , yes the weather did let it down but we enjoyed ourselves meeting all the people that attended and i must say what a warm welcome we received
Thanks to all
p.s. that bloomin hill between the car park and stands was a killer 
after a dozen trips up and down
Overall I had a good weekend - there were a few disappointments - the biggest was having forked out £6 to park to see a few rocks at the Giant’s Causeway!
I didn’t really know what to expect, but if nothing else it was a good chance to put a few names to a few faces - hopefully next time I’ll be able to introduce myself to some more people.
And I got criticised for saying the Giants Causeway wasn’t worth it 
I loved the giants Causeway…
I read that, and kept it in mind, but felt I should really be disappointed first hand - didn’t expect to have to pay though! (much like parking at the main event, to be honest - that was another £10 I didn’t expect to pay!)
An OC thing that disappointed me a little though was the amount of ■■■■ in the ‘welcome pack’ handed out - if I wanted brochures and things, I’d have got it from the hotel, and we’d still have a rain forest! [;]
It’s a few [square] rocks… 
You need to get out more!!!
but, and here’s the clincher, its a few square rocks totally unique on this planet. Nothing like it anywhere else. And my second most favorite part of the Ireland I visited last week was the limestone pavements at the Burren.
(mind you I don’t really see the need to spend £18.5 million to build a new visitor centre at the Causeway, ! )
You didn’t expect to pay?, I could have sworn I read all of this on the Spring rally website and I have never been to a spring rally where I didn’t have to pay, The discounted £10.00 entry fee was per car & to both parts of the Museum, not for parking. it also included shuttles between the sites.
Here’s your challenge.
- Organise a spring rally
- Endeavour to make everyone happy
- Feed & entertain approx 200 people in the same manner that this one did
- read the crap, especially where it states that it is from recycled materials from sustained forests.most people are interested in the areas they are visiting, if you didn't want it you didn't have to take it.
Welcome to the forum, first question - who are you? - I know your name, but you presumably played a part in the rally???
I didn’t mean to cause any offence, and I’m not ungreatful to those who organised the event - I don’t know what made you think I was - in fact, if one of the main disappointments was being given brochures, I’d say they did a damn good job - it’s almost like you feel there is something to defend, which is why you’ve gone so defensive?
The person who asked me for £10 said it was for parking, and included entry to the museum - if I’m told I’m paying for parking, I think it is fair for be to believe I’m paying for parking.
The mx5ni site says;
the BBQ part clearly states £10 (which whilst on the topic seemed a lot for what it was, especially when compared to the food at the rally)
and I don’t think there’s anything on the forum about paying - I’m not complaining, just that I was a bit surprised, as I’m sure many were.
I was given it in a bag, clueless to what it was, whilst in a large queue of cars - I didn’t feel it appropriate to sit in the queue holding everybody up, trying to establish what I’d been given.
Nor did I want to sit in the carpark for 10 minutes trying to establish what was there (I would have wanted the mx5parts voucher, for example, so handing the whole thing back would have been stupid)
It’s no-less acceptable to waste things because they have been/can be recycled.
I’m starting to regret giving feedback now
As one of the organisers of the event, it is interesting to hear these comments. However it is clear reading them that one or two have completely missed the point of what a Spring Rally is all about. If you came expecting a “Car Show” on the Saturday, I can understand that you might have been disappointed. Anyone who has attended a Spring Rally before will know that it is never intended to be that. It is a social gathering for MX-5 owners, not the general public (although they were very welcome to this event), who come together to enjoy a day out at a venue where there are many other things to do as well as look at MX-5’s and this particular venue certainly provided for that. The “Cars on Show” are - for most people - very much an interesting sideshow and not the main attraction. That is exactly the point why someone said they “enjoyed the museum more than the Rally”
I only thing I would concede is, that we were slightly disappointed in the number of traders that we could persuade to come along, but many of the usual specialists from the mainland felt that in the current economic climate they could not justify the expense…
The ticket price was a discount rate that the club negotiated, to enable 2 people to spend the day at both the Transport museum and the Folk museum and in fact enabled you to come back a second day if you wished, to see all that the museum had to offer. Please do not go away with the mistaken idea that the ticket price for just for parking your car.
Thank you to everyone who did attend and support this event. I know that many of you travelled a long way to get here and we really appreciate that. The feedback that we have received from Club members has been excellent and it has made all the hard work that went into this worthwhile.
Steven
As one of the owners from the Republic I would like to thank the organisers for there efforts over the weekend…
The Rally on Saturday was good and it was nice to meet other owners depite the poor weather.
The Southern Run on the Sunday was most enjoyable and gave us an opportunity to see so many scenic parts of Northern Ireland,
It really was most impressive to see so many owners making the long trip over from the UK.
In conclusion thank you for helping us spend a most enjoyable weekend at the Rally.
Except all the places like it:
Fingals Cave, Scotland
Devils Tower, USA (well known from Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Black Fall, Iceland
There’s also similar in Australia, Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Namibia, and a few other places.
Black Fall, Iceland
Absolutly fantastic! The best rally I’ve been to.