how was your gathering?

i cant understand some people moaning this for me was the best car show i have ever been too i love this group for one reason everyone is welcome young and old, concours cars too wrecks on wheels (i count mine in the second category) welcomed and apreciated equally only here could you have a boy racer in a hoody and a bodykit wearing nova parked next to a guy in a flat cap polishing his mint austin a35 its brilliant and long may it continue so to all the i don't get it or i didnt enjoy it crowd i say maybee you need a new hobby cos as far as i am concerned it doesnt get any better than this

I was a bit nervous that the gathering 2012 would turn out a bit bland compared to 2011 but I was wrong! It ended up being even better in my eyes and I'd like to thank the staff and organizers for making THE weekend of the year better than I was hoping it could be!

The only complaint I have is about the rubbish on Sunday evening. Most of you were great and had the right attitude but I think for the second year running me and a few others ended up picking up piles of other camp's rubbish. I mean, the bin is on the way out... c'mon guys. Other than that, it, the weather and everyone was great and I'll be putting money aside for next year

Thought I'd add my 2p's worth as a Gathering virgin... I thought it was an excellent show, well worth the trip. I only came for the Sunday, would love to have camped and had a few gins but it just wasn't possible (work ) so I did basically a 400 mile round trip on the day (left at 5:00 a.m) and I didn't feel short-changed.

I've been to a lot of car shows in different environments and this one one of the most pleasant I can think of: lovely location; excellent organisation; really chilled and informal; never been in amongst such a knowledgeable crowd, everyone seemed to know exactly what each car was rather than the "normal" errrr what's that then mindset at many shows. Even our rotary engine display didn't confuse too many people lol. True enthusiasts day out, excellent ;D. Plus, it had a ****** Bentley with a ******* aeroplane engine in it, days out don't get better than that.


....my only real problem was self inflicted. Forgot when I offered a friend a lift to the show that I'd previously arranged to collect a front bumper for my Rex from another club member at the Gathering. It might have actually fitted in the car were it just me... oh well, at least it was a lovely hot day and 200 miles in an RX-7 with a loud exhaust, with the liftgate wide open and a bumper hanging a foot out the back doesn't seem so bad when you say it quickly

mine was absolutely excellent! way too many positives to list, but just 2 negs from me - 1 possibly fixable, 1 I'll have to live with!

* campsite opening times - I know I got there late this year (again!) but if it could be opened up for thursday night that would be amazing!

* campsite bumpiness I seem to have actually twisted my oil cooler by it dragging 1 of the pipe elbows on the floor - but hey, if it isn't scraping...

fantastic work as always guys! - don't change a thing!! (apart from more camping time )

- kfw

Um.... not sure, my snoring maybe!?

So there should be a judging panel to say whether your car is 'worthy' to go up the hill? FFS!

We were supposed t be going for the whole weekend but a series of events meant we had to drop to a day ticket..

the advantages for this for me meant Wendy was happier about it, there are issues there and those that know why understand..

We made the drive up early on sunday in the 92 passat, went to public parking, and the only downside was the parking field, the passat is low, I was moaned at for not driving up the tracks, but had to go wheel on the grass and wheel on the centre of the tracks so not to ground out - I was then told to drive across a very bumpy field, this wasnt going to happen, so I had to explain that I was too low and park next to the track

Ok my fault for having a low daily I guess and thinking it was too new to be on the club stand, beetle was supposed to be there.. But the A52 guys said don't be silly, so I went to fetch it and put it on the stand.. All was good

The public parking field would be my only negative from the entire day..

The rest was great, the venue is amazing, we had a great time, nice and chilled and relaxed, and again because of Wendy's current issues we didnt seek out to chat, we spent a lot of the day just us, with a few stops for chats here n there..

The only point I would suggest/ask if possible, would be the track use - I heard and read quite a few people saying, if only I could do one run up, or I'd love to drive up there etc

how about instead of 2 sessions, is it do-able for say, pay for 3 runs up? Or does that then become an organisational nightmare? (probably does)

Or a hour of, no racing, but pay a sum amount for just a steady drive up in a convoy just so you can say you did it..

I will finish off saying the same as I do every year - next year i'll camp and do the whole weekend..

Big thanks to all the organisers and much respect for sorting it so well..

Holiday request goes into work today for the same weekend off next year

That's not how I read it. It looks like decisions have been made re 2013 and due to other factors (one listed) they won't change and that comments are welcome but the duration and location for 2013 won't/can't change.

No, what he is saying is that people can give us feedback, but something like venue change won't be happening before next year as we are booked in already. Also we as organisers are very happy with the venue, both in terms of lay out and dealing with the venue owners, which if you ask anyone that organises shows is the hardest part of it all.


We collect all the feedback (what worked, what didn't) go through it and see if we can improve things, we also have our own list of things that went wrong (which already included things like public parking etc.).

The guest car feedback is interesting.

The trade stand/swap meet feedback is frustrating, we try really hard each year to get more traders and we've experimented with swap meet style things before at the show, it seems like we get no where, so if you see a trader at a show and you think they would do well at RR Gathering PLEASE tell them to contact us. We'll take trade booking from now until the show next year!

The modern car in club stand bit is a bit skewed by us having to move the low stuff from public parking into club field because of the car park. I don't accept that the Alfa155 stand didn't belong, because it was straight up awesome.

In terms of more 'suitable' cars going up the track, it is a RWYB, the idea is to get people that don't usually spend time on track out and on the track, so you'll get a range of machinery, we hope that it is 95% retro at least due to only letting stuff from club stands and retro parking on the track. If it isn't all fast, then that is what it is, same is true for Pod RWYB.

The track is a victim of its own success, it gets over subscribed very quickly. The session sizes are what they are, we're all trying to think of ways to keep everyone happy on that score. Using it on the Saturday isn't the answer for us, not just because of the limited number of days it can be used (although that is a pretty hard thing to change!), but also because of the fact we don't want to kill ourselves trying to do a two day show. We are considering (if we can find a suitable venue, or another date at Prescott) running another track session of some sort at a different point in the year.

For food stuff the Clubhouse is/was open all weekend and served food from morning until night... it is good food, well made, reasonably priced, and a nice place to be. We can put on more food vans in the show field, but last year we had too many.

For those that say camping makes the show, less than 15% of the people that attend the show camp,.. I'm hoping the other 85% of people that come don't think it is rubbish.

What we can tell you is RRG 2013 will be better than RRG 2012 thanks to the feedback we get and our extra experience this year.


Obviously we don't want this to be a thread of all negative feedback, I guess some people enjoyed themselves?