This is a good story, on his way home along the M40 our VIP guest Chris Barrie spotted a broken down MX-5 on the hard shoulder and stopped to help, Chris then rang Iain Fleming for help (who had just left the M40), as Chris C didn’t have contact details for Adrian Flux Recovery, Iain F rang us, and the assembled Eastern team, now relaxing with a beer or two, found the vital numbers and sent back to Iain F, to pass on to Chris B to pass on to Chris C who, fingers crossed rank AF and got his car sorted…
So top marks to Mr Barrie, soon to be an MX-5 Owner I reckon…
FANTASTIC weekend at MX-5 National Club Rally at Gaydon - well done to all the organisers - above and beyond. Respect to you all.
We met up with my sister in law Kathy and Simon at the hotel for a few ‘warmers into the bank’ before the dinner dance - then a great evenings entertainment. Went to bed too late then up at 0600 hrs to get ready to help out with marshaling the 200 Mk1s - well worth it though - just look at the photos - not often you well see so many MX-5 Mk1s in one place.
Not only that - but in the car parks there were over 1500 other MX-5s! OUTSTANDING and I can’t think of any other club that could muster over 1700 of a single model let alone make - well done the club.
I also thought that MX5 parts were great. I particularly liked the fact i could order heavy stuff and have it delivered to my home. Meant I could buy a bit more and not worry about where I was going to put it in the boot - after all we had our stuff from the Ball in there - and if you know my wife you’ll know she never travels light Anyway I’ll have the stuff by next weekend which is quite early enough for me!
The complete weekend was exceptionally well orgainsed - one of the highlights must be the wounded soldiers of Mission Motorsport giving us a stunning stunt show in the main arena. All these guys are a true example of tenacity and the will to live. Wonderful.
So thanks Ian and all your team - of course you can only please some of the people some of the time, and reading this thread there are some who didn’t find it perfect - but as one who organises an annual reunion for a bunch of Army Vets I can honestly say you did a WONDERFUL job …
Just a quick note to add thanks from Jane and I too all the organisers.
Putting on a rally for the MX5OC is hard work, very hard work, but this one must have needed more planning and more input than ever before, simply because so much was laid on for us.
A nice assortment of traders, but more second hand parts would have been nice. I came home with cash in my pocket, not good at all
The Mission MotorSport guys were fantastic, the sights and sounds adding to an exciting day.
Thanks again everyone that gave up so much of their own time to arrange it.
What an absolutely fantastic day Huge thanks to everyone involved in organizing and running the whole show. The two guys on the main gate directing us into the show ground were so cheerful and welcoming and the day just got better and better . Very well done to you all
On behalf of me and my son can we say a big thankyou to all the people of the club who through there sheer hard work made the rally a truly unforgettable day . Will have many happy memories for years to come. Here,s to the next one.
Ian, I’m sorry you seem to have taken my comments rather personally and perhaps I should have labelled them as an ‘observation’ rather than a ‘criticism’. I have no doubt you tried extremely hard to get traders to attend but, to quote the August edition of STHT, “We are continuing to attract a huge number of MX5 traders and specialists….” I take on board all your points about location, timing and duration of the annual event not to mention the whims of traders but it would seem you either had a staggering drop out rate or the comment in STHT was perhaps just a touch of hype? I must admit when I read that I had visions of many more stands than were actually there on the day.
As for MX5Parts, I don’t doubt their loyalty to the marque or their continued support of the owners club and, as I said in my original post, I wouldn’t expect them to show up with their entire stock, but when I saw the huge marquee I honestly expected to see a lot more on display and in stock to take away on the day. I think it’s great they offered discounts and free shipping but to be honest, they could have offered that online to members. I would reiterate my point that when you go to a show where there are trade stands, you generally expect to be able to buy and take away, not simply have to fill out an order form. I can’t say I’ve been to a great many events and equally I’m not saying this was necessarily worse; it was simply an observation.
One of the things I like about this club is that members feel able to speak freely about all sorts of issues including commenting on the events (I staunchly supported the club in the face of negative comments about the cost of extra tickets for the Spring Rally at Brooklands). The club, I hope, values such feedback which will help to refine and make future events even better. There is no need for you or any of the other organisers and volunteers, who all did such a fantastic job, to take this personally. I’m probably not the only one who was a little disappointed about the trade stands but I also suspect we are in a very small minority so you should take heart from the fact that the vast majority thought it was a top show all round and not get all defensive in the face of a few concerns raised.
I also don’t think it’s helpful to play the “if you think you can do it better” card, as implied in your last sentence, at the first negative comment received. That said, I’m more than happy to help with future events where it is practicable to do so and I can contribute in a meaningful way.
Finally, let me just reiterate that I enjoyed the event, the area stands, the displays, competitions and the heritage museum so my overall feeling at the end of the day was very positive. Let’s not blow my one relatively small disappointment out of proportion.
nothing was taken personally, far from it, I have been involved with and latterly run the events for enough experience to know that you ‘cannot please all of the people’ I just try my hardest to make the things a success and scanning the comments here, on facebook and in the inbox think we managed a great event - but with so many people at the show there was just no way to know what, if anything will blow up online following an event it can be anything and everything, but of all the things from the day I just did not see your observation (that would have been better) coming, as we had a really good paddock of traders as part of the day, coupled with a second market place inside - (responding to issues of “nothing for the ladies”) it is only with voicing of opinions that we can do more.
I think you are missing a bit of the point with MX5parts presence, yes they are there to sell their wares, but they are also there to meet the members, speak to them, listen to them, respond to requests, ideas, complaints most of all to engage with their customers existing and potential - they are a company of real people who care deeply about your love for your car, but they have also done this long enough to know you came to the event in an MX-5 you are not taking home a stainless exhaust or a set of alloys, maybe a new set of mats or some new light or a chrome whatnot - which they will have brought and it is also why they do what they do. This applies to all of the traders who come, we are only discussing these guys in reference to your initial comment. If they did not have what you wanted - tell them!. I can only encourage and get them to the show.
Your point about doing it online though is exactly the reason that many traders now don’t feel the need to come, overheads - why go to all that trouble for a few sales which will probably only just cover the day, but in doing so completely missing the above point that they are making an impression on members, without a doubt people will go back to traders that they met and spoke to at this event. you and 4000 other people are very unlikely to buy from other parts suppliers now as they were not about.
Finally there was no throwing of gauntlet, this was a genuine request - it is an area that we have always struggled with and it is getting harder, over the course of a year 60+ potential contacted traders quickly became 30 which became 25 with various reasons and excuses along the way - your expectations of oodles of traders with tables to pick over may be shared by members, but too easily overlooked is that it takes members to bring these things together, your offer to meaningfully contribute is tremendous. We need more members like you prepared to help. Thank you.
I can only agree with everyone, it was the best! Came in a small convoy of 2 from North Essex with my son (#29) and his partner Tina in the NB, and my old buddy Kieth in the NC. His first time at anything Mazda, he’s VW. To say he was impressed is an understatement, both with the comfort of the NC and the Rally itself. Well done!
Great venue, somewhere I’ve wanted to go to for several years, and brilliant company. I didn’t see anybody without a smile on their faces!
I’m in awe of those people who have put the hard work in for that one day, you did a great job. My only regret is I could’ve done with another day to look around it all!!
And to top it off I won a prize with my car. I’d like to thank Adrian Flux, MX5 Parts and the Owners Club for my prizes, still hasn’t really sunk in.
Just want to add my two pence worth … what an awesome Rally !!
Great venue as always, amazing attendance of MX5’s and good to see some familiar faces and meet a couple of new ones !! We did manage to miss the extras upstairs in the main museum building which was a shame. That’ll teach us for not reading the leaflet.
Our little 19month old enjoyed her first Rally too. She (quite worringly) loved watching the cars in the arena drifting and doing doughnuts. i’ll have to keep an eye on her later in life I think. haha. She also liked walking past all the colour coded cars saying “car, car, car ,car …”
That was the most amazing National Rally yet. Kudos to everyone who played a part, small or large, in its organisation.
I disagree with the Duxford call. The rally has, I believe, reached its ‘tipping point’. It is now such a huge annual event tha organising it from a blank sheet of paper every year will now stifle its growth.
Having to start all over again, from scratch, means that only ‘so much’ can be arranged. When the national rally was quite small, this wasn’t an issue.
Now that the national rally is so large it needs a foundation. I firmly believe, it needs a ‘home’. A single venue that we return to each year. By doing this we can build from where we are now to bigger and bigger events at our chosen home. The natural progression is a two day event that features camping and evening entertainment. There can still be a gala meal. But there can also be a main stage’ with live performers and a tent village of mx-5 enthusiasts for the weekend.
There is simply no way that the club can build to that scale of event if you tear up the plans and start from scratch every year. We need a permanent home for the national rally. We need to build on success not roll the dice every year on a different venue.
As homes go, I don’t think we can go far wrong with Gaydon! Look at the facilities, rain or shine it’s a great place to spend a day even when there are no mx5s there!
In my rarely humble opinion, We should put down roots and next years national rally should be back at Gaydon and it should span the whole weekend.
But, this years event…? Flawless, don’t let anyone tell you different.
Its a thought Lee but would we last the two days, plus the setting up days. Poor Iain was looking well and truly knackered by the end of Sunday. But as you said it is an event that needs a home.
A lot of the effort is set up and break down, with two days you have a gap between, so some benefit to that. Two days though wouldn’t see the same number of visitors on a single day maybe, so possibly less impact overall. What we did at Sandringham last year was have the meet and greet point set up on the Saturday as a focus for the drives and it got a lot of people there, so perhaps something along the lines of that, maybe with some other bits as well. Some with Billing, (and probably other, memory fails me!) we focused the event on the track day at Silverstone on the Saturday for those on the track as well as those just arriving or doing drives. May be then Rally-light on Saturday in some format for those who are in the area or those who want the full deal, but the big do still on the Sunday for maximum WOW. Anyway there’s certainly a lot to take from this event for the future which was worth every bit of effort by everyone involved, but as a concept was the brainchild of Mr Fleming, who made it happen…
