Royal Deeside Speed Festival

Royal Deeside Speed Festival

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Discussion

mazdajason

Original Poster:

1,113 posts

171 months

Wednesday 17th August 2016
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Couldn't see a thread on this and it's on this Sunday...

http://www.rdsf.co.uk/

Anyone heading along? I'll be there in the afternoon, gates open at 0915 with the hill climb starting around 10am. Not sure what time it finishes though.
Anyone know what the parking arrangements will be like for lowered cars? I don't fancy losing my splitter / front bumper to dubs nor do I think the locals will like everyone parking in town :s

R8Steve

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 17th August 2016
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I wasn't aware of this but now you've posted i might take a run up.

Have you been before? Would be good to hear from anyone that's been before as it's a 6 hour round trip for me.

TartanPaint

2,981 posts

138 months

Wednesday 17th August 2016
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I'll be there. First time the event has run, so nobody has been before smile

Huge respect for the guys making this happen. Massive effort, and looks like it will be lots of fun!

R8Steve

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 17th August 2016
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TartanPaint said:
I'll be there. First time the event has run, so nobody has been before smile

Huge respect for the guys making this happen. Massive effort, and looks like it will be lots of fun!
Ahh, i'd read SpeedFest 14 and 15 and had assumed it was in the same location.

I'll probably take a drive up if the weather is reasonable.

mazdajason

Original Poster:

1,113 posts

171 months

Wednesday 17th August 2016
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Yea first time it's been run, the car stand and trade stand list looks good, can't remember where I saw it but it has been made public now. I think there might be more info on their Facebook page.

Fingers crossed the weather stays how it has been since last weekend!

K666ADM

156 posts

190 months

Thursday 18th August 2016
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Im flying over from Qatar on Saturday and will be there on Sunday. Hopefully its not going to be soaking with rain. Looking to park my ass in a Tesla Model X and pretend Im in the future and also see if the temptation from Murray Motor Group to sell me a Evora 400 can be resisted.

Advanced tickets from the website is a good idea I think, have a feeling this will be busy.

thewifescar

69 posts

135 months

Thursday 18th August 2016
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Forecast is looking wet for most of the day currently, hopefully they are wrong.
I have my advance tickets and looking forward to the Soap box derby

Steve996

1,240 posts

214 months

Friday 19th August 2016
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I'll be there. Great effort to make this happen. Setting is really nice providing it doesn't get too muddy. Event has real potential providing it gets support.

craig2003

1,206 posts

205 months

Saturday 20th August 2016
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I had entered for it with the Caterham but unfortunately away now. Looks to be great event too

GregorFuk

563 posts

199 months

Saturday 20th August 2016
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Will be running up the hill tomorrow and am looking forward to it. Hope it's dry though as the track / drive way looks narrow!

Driver101

14,376 posts

120 months

Sunday 21st August 2016
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Wasn't a bad little day out. The grounds of the castle are really nice.

It sounds as if the bad weather last night ruined the bottom field display as the cars couldn't make it up the muddy hill.

I did wonder why there was so many TVRs were in the main car park.

The Hillclimb wasn't what I thought it would be. It was just too tight, too dirty and too bumpy. I don't think anyone was taking it too seriously. Just a bit too scared of binning their cars.

Lovely day for it and it was enjoyable overall.

rossub

4,400 posts

189 months

Sunday 21st August 2016
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I was a bit disappointed with the hill climb as a spectator. Hedges lined the bottom section and then a bank of grass at the finish made it difficult to see much really. I'm quite keen on taking photos, but very quickly gave up on that.

Was a huge turn out of public though and hopefully with it just being the first one, more stands and clubs can be attracted in future.

I did wonder why the Ferrari area in the bottom field was empty, but then realised there was no way they'd have clearance or the traction to get in and out smile

mikecassie

608 posts

158 months

Sunday 21st August 2016
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Good day out and I also soon gave up trying to see the hillclimb. A few simple stands would've been better but I guess H&S would make things difficult for what could be a simple add on.

I think any constructive comments would be taken onboard for the next years event.

Easty-5

1,423 posts

189 months

Sunday 21st August 2016
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Overall - wasnt overly impressed.

Traffic - Something needs to be done for next year. We were stuck in traffic for about an hour waiting to get in.

Entry Fee - £15 per adult or £50 for a family ticket. Way too over priced in my opinion and ridiculously cheeky to ask for a further £3 for a program for the day. Nowhere near enough entertainment to warrant a £50 family price tag ticket.

Hillclimb - the only real viewing area was right at the finish line, so not much to see really.

Food & drink - queues about a mile long for every vendor and silly prices for a burger.

Granted, this was the first year it has run so a lot of my gripes are easily rectified for next time. I just couldn't help think that the venue didn't suit for the type of show.

Driver101

14,376 posts

120 months

Sunday 21st August 2016
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I didn't think £15 was too bad for a few hours entertainment. That's normal these days.

The food outlets were disappointing. Quite a few ran out of food and drink. The queues in the top field were a mile long, but queues were shorter in the bottom field.

Hidden down the bottom corner was a hog roast stall and he had no customers at all. The guy was expecting cars to be all around him, but the cars couldn't get in that field. His food was actually really good, but he was just left in such a bad position. Hopefully he didn't pay too much for his slot and had enough custom. More food stalls were needed.

The other burger van in the bottom field was rotten.

From the bottom field we couldn't really see the cars during the hillclimb. We could see them coming around the bottom corner,but then the straw bales and bushes blocked any view.

I didn't like the fact people had to cross the track from the top field to the bottom. We got trapped in the bottom field for quite a while before being allowed to come back.

Surprised to see people standing between the straw bales between the trees. That was a bit close.

Not really sure what they could do with the hillclimb track? It was too tight,too bumpy, too slippy and not good for viewing. Is the event big enough to consider doing the amount of work needed to make it a serious hillclimb?

People also managed to get dogs in.

Traffic was busy. Again it's never good with so many people. I think the conditions with cars getting stuck wouldn't help. I did think that the grounds are only a heavy rain storm away from the whole event being a write off.

I thought the atmosphere was good. Everyone appeared to be having a good time.



Edited by Driver101 on Monday 22 August 10:00

s2t

424 posts

160 months

Monday 22nd August 2016
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I was there helping a 'competitor'..the runs werent timed so was more of a demonstration and yea the track was very bumpy and the first run muddy.
It is easy to be critical of a first time event so hopefully this will be constructive.
1 From a competitors viewpoint they clearly hadnt planned cars arriving on trailers as in reality the only place to offload was on the gravel beside the castle, consequence being it held everyone up behind, so although we arrived at the appointed time we were delayed by 40 mins actually getting in
2 Lack of marshalls guiding people in to the grounds and paticularly at each junction
3 They will need to sort out cars going to public car parks, competitors car parks and display areas, in fairness problems may have occurred because of overnight rain and making some fields inaccessible
4 Because of the overnight rain I believe some car clubs were displaying in the public car parks. Would have been useful to have had some information on this either by marshalls at entrance to fields where they were supposed to be or the woefully incompetant commentator
5 Commentator, there were delays to get the event going, this is where the commentator should stepped up to the plate, rather than have silence. A commentator is not there to state the obvious, but to add value, whoever the main guy was was appalling, no character, ill informed and probably the worst I have ever heard
6 More food outlets, queues were ridiculous

Now some thoughts
Previous comments on here and elsewhere complained about lack of viewing of the cars in action.
It struck me the organisers have attracted a big crowd, far bigger than any sprint or hillclimb event in the north east of scotland, so why do people come to this type of thing as opposed to a full blown event at Fintry or Boyndie, Fintry in particular. So why not use Fintry and the organisers of the Deeside event get together with Aberdeen MC and make it a proper motorsport event with the razzanataz added?

JohnS

935 posts

283 months

Monday 22nd August 2016
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I've uploaded a few (hundred!) photos of the event ot FB here: https://www.facebook.com/FlatOutPhoto/photos/?tab=...













As mentioned above, in general it was a great day out with a superb friendly crowd. There are a few things to be ironed out for next year, but for the first time running an event this size at a new site, I thought most things worked well. I stayed until the end, and managed to leave in about 15 minutes, which wasn't too bad.

It was a shame there was 6 hours of heavy rain the night before, which made the car club display field largely inaccessible, and some of the site a bit slippery, particularly first thing.

Still managed to get sunburnt!

s2t

424 posts

160 months

Monday 22nd August 2016
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Nice shot of Liam Wood in the Escort John

nigelonich

1,017 posts

219 months

Monday 22nd August 2016
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I am sure it takes £1000's to set something like this up so respect to the people who have made it happen. The weather did make a huge difference as its hard to be unhappy when the sun is bright in the sky. If they are taking feedback then:

1) The comments around H&S are valid as I thought there was potential for spectator and/or driver injury which could have been reduced. It wasn't bad but just needs some tweaks.
2) The crossing was frustrating. I think a bridge or a set opening schedule would have been better.
3) The entry fee was high when you consider what you get for your £15. I felt less ripped off than the Alford event.
4) The parking que up the road was massive and that needs fixed. Usually its just the que at the end of the day thats the problem.
5) Burgers etc: I must be getting old but I took a pack lunch :-)

GregorFuk

563 posts

199 months

Monday 22nd August 2016
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As a 'competitor' I think had a better experience than the many spectators as I had to be there at 06:30 and had no traffic issues. My father however simply gave up trying to get in after sitting for an hour in traffic.

From the inside however I have the following observations.

The display field was a disaster. I walked the length of the track in the AM and witnessed the MG club being pulled through the quagmire of an entrance by various 4x4s and tractors. If I'd spent the week polishing my pride and joy for display only for it to be literally dragged through the mud I'd have been very unhappy. Yes the weather had been bad but simple logic would suggest that you can't feed 110's of cars into the bottom of a steep grassy slope and expect to get away with it.

The food situation was bad. A very long wait for very low quality grub. Also on arriving at 06:30, as instructed, it would have been nice to have at least something open where drivers could have grabbed a bacon roll and warm cup of coffee.

Spectating areas. I think somebody needs to get the hedge trimmer out as viewing the cars in the bottom paddock was nothing more than a game of spot the roof.

Finishing line. As a driver it was kind of confusing to have two. What was the purpose of the one up in the trees? It was never clear to me as to where I was supposed to stop giving it beans.

All in all though I thought it was a good first effort and I'd happily turn up and do it all again next year. Lets hope they can fix the niggles for next time. I guess a lot depends on how open the land owners are to making alterations.