First of all, I admit it – I wussed out on camping. In mitigation, Mrs Panda Matt is not a fan of campsites without well established services like proper toilets and showers... and I managed to convince a couple of friends to come along for the ride, so instead, after the mad dash from work, 2nd to last car on the ferry and a couple of hours fantastic A/B road driving, we ended up in a very pleasant hotel/restaurant in Yeovil on Saturday night...
www.thegreenroominyeovil.co.uk
11 Wine street
Yeovil, BA20 1PW
01935 470 150
(Check internet sites for decent room price deals - don't pay the advertised rates!)
The car looks very low with 4 + luggage + full petrol tank!
Mrs Panda Matt + friends were desperate for me to let them out and into the hotel – but I needed inspirational lowering photos 1st...
View out of the window the next morning
– local BK appears to be the canvas and workplace for Yeovil’s budding Banksy would-be’s (they were out at 6:30am - I was rudely awoken by the sound of rattle cans)
A quick 10min drive up to Sparkford found us being terrified by the turn-off from the dual carriage way to get to the museum – 70mph to 90° bend with no run-off was slightly nerve-wracking.
Upon entering the showground, we had a comedy moment going the wrong way (Haynes marshalls having a chat whilst we were followed by a very tasty low merc and low golf the wrong way into the carpark. Re-marshalled into the correct way, and now with traffic queuing down the road, I realised I’d left my pre-order ticket back at home, on the table by the door, and so just accepted that I’d have to pay the friendly and polite gentleman in the vivid hi-vis orange jacket again. The view ahead looked very exciting, and I must admit to being distracted when being welcomed by the next hi-vis marshall who, after directing me to the RRn/RRm stand "up there on the right, with the acid green Lupo and Caddy"... I realised too late was no other than our benevolent dictator himself – Mr Hotwire, my sincere apologies for a)not recognising you and b) not stopping to chat properly – it was all too exciting!
The track was the first port of call – great set up, fantastic view from the banking, great door scraping action from Mr Dollywobbler, and an impressively rapid mk1 fiesta from Kee (who I didn't see all weekend - but thanks for organising the stand!) amongst others
These ^ don't do the size of the show area justice.
We eventually toured the showground, with friends asking “what on earth/WTF is that - it's cool!”
...and “why are those cars at odd angles”
..."thats twice the length of my car - I want one"
...and pointing and laughing at Bruce Forsyth stickers.
Some lovely details on a lot of the cars this year,
...and I reckon more makes and models per capita than any other show.
Was made up to see this hearse – my dad worked for Coleman Milne around the time this was registered so is highly likely to have worked on this when it was originally built
I'm sure he'll be made-up to see it in current guise.
After some more wandering and more sprint action, including the “group of death”, we settled down for some lunch at the awesome mobile 50’s diner – hope they get invited to the next RRG. Not necessarily the best grub ever, but entirely forgivable for the friendly service and the fact once we’d finished our burgers (mine veggie), we overheard the conversation “yeah, I’m gonna take it round the track”, and were amazed at the noise, the amount the guy was working the enormous steering wheel, and how on earth the tyres stayed on the rims when they flipped under on the corners.
We left conscious we had a booked ferry to catch and the A303 was legendarily poor. Minor convoying with the legendary sprint 2CV, we stopped for air and oil, then took the next turning right to get out of the traffic jam, right into the set of Midsomer Murders. Some cross-country navigation by gut feel got us back to somewhere we recognised and onto the M271 into Southampton well ahead of schedule.
Queuing for the ferry I was moaning about having to go up to the top deck, so asked the geezer in the hi-vis if I could sneak on the bottom with the trucks, coaches and over-sized loads as “my old car struggles with the ramp” . Result: 1st car off the ferry, right at the bow doors!
mwahahahahahaha!
Home in time for takeaway curry, shattered but happy. Car went in for MOT this am... needs a tiny patch of welding
, but then good for another 12 months.
In summary: RRG=FTW. Well done organisers, well done RR'ers that came along!
www.thegreenroominyeovil.co.uk
11 Wine street
Yeovil, BA20 1PW
01935 470 150
(Check internet sites for decent room price deals - don't pay the advertised rates!)
The car looks very low with 4 + luggage + full petrol tank!
Mrs Panda Matt + friends were desperate for me to let them out and into the hotel – but I needed inspirational lowering photos 1st...
View out of the window the next morning
– local BK appears to be the canvas and workplace for Yeovil’s budding Banksy would-be’s (they were out at 6:30am - I was rudely awoken by the sound of rattle cans)
A quick 10min drive up to Sparkford found us being terrified by the turn-off from the dual carriage way to get to the museum – 70mph to 90° bend with no run-off was slightly nerve-wracking.
Upon entering the showground, we had a comedy moment going the wrong way (Haynes marshalls having a chat whilst we were followed by a very tasty low merc and low golf the wrong way into the carpark. Re-marshalled into the correct way, and now with traffic queuing down the road, I realised I’d left my pre-order ticket back at home, on the table by the door, and so just accepted that I’d have to pay the friendly and polite gentleman in the vivid hi-vis orange jacket again. The view ahead looked very exciting, and I must admit to being distracted when being welcomed by the next hi-vis marshall who, after directing me to the RRn/RRm stand "up there on the right, with the acid green Lupo and Caddy"... I realised too late was no other than our benevolent dictator himself – Mr Hotwire, my sincere apologies for a)not recognising you and b) not stopping to chat properly – it was all too exciting!
The track was the first port of call – great set up, fantastic view from the banking, great door scraping action from Mr Dollywobbler, and an impressively rapid mk1 fiesta from Kee (who I didn't see all weekend - but thanks for organising the stand!) amongst others
These ^ don't do the size of the show area justice.
We eventually toured the showground, with friends asking “what on earth/WTF is that - it's cool!”
...and “why are those cars at odd angles”
..."thats twice the length of my car - I want one"
...and pointing and laughing at Bruce Forsyth stickers.
Some lovely details on a lot of the cars this year,
...and I reckon more makes and models per capita than any other show.
Was made up to see this hearse – my dad worked for Coleman Milne around the time this was registered so is highly likely to have worked on this when it was originally built
I'm sure he'll be made-up to see it in current guise.
After some more wandering and more sprint action, including the “group of death”, we settled down for some lunch at the awesome mobile 50’s diner – hope they get invited to the next RRG. Not necessarily the best grub ever, but entirely forgivable for the friendly service and the fact once we’d finished our burgers (mine veggie), we overheard the conversation “yeah, I’m gonna take it round the track”, and were amazed at the noise, the amount the guy was working the enormous steering wheel, and how on earth the tyres stayed on the rims when they flipped under on the corners.
We left conscious we had a booked ferry to catch and the A303 was legendarily poor. Minor convoying with the legendary sprint 2CV, we stopped for air and oil, then took the next turning right to get out of the traffic jam, right into the set of Midsomer Murders. Some cross-country navigation by gut feel got us back to somewhere we recognised and onto the M271 into Southampton well ahead of schedule.
Queuing for the ferry I was moaning about having to go up to the top deck, so asked the geezer in the hi-vis if I could sneak on the bottom with the trucks, coaches and over-sized loads as “my old car struggles with the ramp” . Result: 1st car off the ferry, right at the bow doors!
mwahahahahahaha!
Home in time for takeaway curry, shattered but happy. Car went in for MOT this am... needs a tiny patch of welding
, but then good for another 12 months.In summary: RRG=FTW. Well done organisers, well done RR'ers that came along!
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