Royal Deeside Speed Festival
Discussion
I had a great day out as a spectator. Drove straight in, no queue just before 10am, and the carpark was deserted when I left around 5pm. Wish I'd got a lift and enjoyed a few beers on the lawn in the sunshine! Some lovely motors on display and up the hill. Some sheds and boring stuff too, but anything that gets enthusiasts together, whatever their budget or choice of car is, is fine by me! 
I agree with many of the comments above about the problems; they need sorted for next year, but it's all admin stuff and can easily be overcome. I felt that the basics, e.g. the format, venue etc worked quite well, and some organisational tweaks here and there will make it great. Looking forward to next year already, and might even volunteer to help out somehow...?
I'm sure Tony has a big list of lessons-learned for next year, and will appreciate all the feedback here. Overall, a brilliant achievement to bring an event like this to the region and such a lovely venue, and for a first time out, a great day from my perspective! Assuming the issues mentioned are all handled next year it really should be great.
Also, great photos John, as always!
I agree with many of the comments above about the problems; they need sorted for next year, but it's all admin stuff and can easily be overcome. I felt that the basics, e.g. the format, venue etc worked quite well, and some organisational tweaks here and there will make it great. Looking forward to next year already, and might even volunteer to help out somehow...?
I'm sure Tony has a big list of lessons-learned for next year, and will appreciate all the feedback here. Overall, a brilliant achievement to bring an event like this to the region and such a lovely venue, and for a first time out, a great day from my perspective! Assuming the issues mentioned are all handled next year it really should be great.
Also, great photos John, as always!
went yesterday with family so £50 ticket and still had to pay for programme,some intersting cars but carpark and queue were pretty bad. i had to wait 45mins to get in but saw a good 20 cars turn round and head off. i was parked next to a skyline whose rear wheels were spinning on wet grass so can imagine many cars being towed out later...
view of hillclimb were pretty limited but carmix was good,probably 50/50 if i go again due to cost and parking hassle
martin
view of hillclimb were pretty limited but carmix was good,probably 50/50 if i go again due to cost and parking hassle
martin
I had a less than good day (on my birthday no less) and never even made it into the event in the end. I was displaying with my VXR group and when we arrived at our alloted time there was utter chaos everywhere. We had to bail into a side street and await instructions as we were told the field was effectivly a bog. I've spoken to Tony prior to the event and I don't hold him responsible for the weather, that's just not realistic.
A lot of people were then turned around and let out again, over an hour later they seemed to be letting us into the show ground, we all went up the main path and queued to be told what to do next, after 30 minutes sitting in this queue I got to the entry gate where I was told that unless I was prepared to have my car dragged up the hill by a tractor I wasn't getting in, to which I was then forced to turn around and go back down the hill I just came up avoiding everyone.
My car doesn't have a towing eye and so can't be moved like that and to be honest even if it did I'm not having my car dragged up a hill by a tractor, especially when there was a perfectly good gate further up the path that they could have used.
In the end they did open the upper gate however many in my group had all had enough as they had been waiting around for almost 3 hours, just sitting outside. With frustration levels riding high, we all just went home.
A lot of people were then turned around and let out again, over an hour later they seemed to be letting us into the show ground, we all went up the main path and queued to be told what to do next, after 30 minutes sitting in this queue I got to the entry gate where I was told that unless I was prepared to have my car dragged up the hill by a tractor I wasn't getting in, to which I was then forced to turn around and go back down the hill I just came up avoiding everyone.
My car doesn't have a towing eye and so can't be moved like that and to be honest even if it did I'm not having my car dragged up a hill by a tractor, especially when there was a perfectly good gate further up the path that they could have used.
In the end they did open the upper gate however many in my group had all had enough as they had been waiting around for almost 3 hours, just sitting outside. With frustration levels riding high, we all just went home.
Edited by Yanayaya on Monday 22 August 20:09
What a fantastic day out. Great weather, good people, amazing range of cars and bikes - what more do you want?!
Very well run for a first attempt, I am really looking forward to watching the event grow and improve over the coming years.
No large event is without its troubles, I have been to motorsport events (as a competitor and spectator) throughout the country and further afield, I've seen days where you have to queue for 3 hours to get into an event, it's the same for music festivals and the likes too. When 8000+ people come along to enjoy their day you have to expect to wait in line.
Hopefully (and I'm confident they will be) the car parking issues along with the car club areas can be rectified for the next event, but as always people attending have to understand that if you get up early and get to these type of events in plenty of time then the chances of getting in, parked and settled happily are greater.
It's probably worth noting that several of the British championship hillclimb venues have to send cars in 'batches' both up and down the hill - it's generally the case that that things that go up must come down..
I think that sometimes people expect that a lorry turns up and a ready made event just hops off the back of it and into place !
Come on people - I've seen a lot of negativity here and while some of it is justified there really isn't anything else like this in the north east possibly even Scotland! With positive feedback, constructive comments and an open mind this event could be huge.
Well done to all those involved that have spent countless hours behind the scenes for the last year making this event possible.
With regards to the finish line GregorF, there was only 1 finish line for the hillclimb (unless you passed the front of the castle backwards up the hill), if you were present at the drivers briefing it was discussed that the white banner (that had 'finish line' visible only when you were heading DOWN the hill) was for the soap box derby at the end of the day.
The two yellow and black overhead banners marked with 'start' and 'finish' were marked in the program, site map and covered in the drivers brief as the start and finish lines.
Now with full disclosure here id like to say that I have been quite heavily involved in the event from its conception, I was driving the D-type on the day and did try to get round as much hill climb entrants as I could throughout the day, unfortunately time did not allow me to speak to everyone. However the general feedback from the other entrants was very positive.
I really felt sorry for the car club guys among you, there are already plans in place to negate the issues posed this year for future events because it really is you guys that help this type of event happen! maybe we should get more involvement from you in the run up to next years event? We also had a lot of confusion caused by people not reading their letters, or going to the wrong place and to make it worse some of our volunteers didn't have a good enough understanding of how the layout was supposed to work. we should have briefed them better (easier said than done on the day)
If any of you have constructive feedback I know that Tony was openly looking to get that - you can send him a PM through the facebook page or email him directly (through the contact details on your entry letters)
Very well run for a first attempt, I am really looking forward to watching the event grow and improve over the coming years.
No large event is without its troubles, I have been to motorsport events (as a competitor and spectator) throughout the country and further afield, I've seen days where you have to queue for 3 hours to get into an event, it's the same for music festivals and the likes too. When 8000+ people come along to enjoy their day you have to expect to wait in line.
Hopefully (and I'm confident they will be) the car parking issues along with the car club areas can be rectified for the next event, but as always people attending have to understand that if you get up early and get to these type of events in plenty of time then the chances of getting in, parked and settled happily are greater.
It's probably worth noting that several of the British championship hillclimb venues have to send cars in 'batches' both up and down the hill - it's generally the case that that things that go up must come down..
I think that sometimes people expect that a lorry turns up and a ready made event just hops off the back of it and into place !
Come on people - I've seen a lot of negativity here and while some of it is justified there really isn't anything else like this in the north east possibly even Scotland! With positive feedback, constructive comments and an open mind this event could be huge.
Well done to all those involved that have spent countless hours behind the scenes for the last year making this event possible.
With regards to the finish line GregorF, there was only 1 finish line for the hillclimb (unless you passed the front of the castle backwards up the hill), if you were present at the drivers briefing it was discussed that the white banner (that had 'finish line' visible only when you were heading DOWN the hill) was for the soap box derby at the end of the day.
The two yellow and black overhead banners marked with 'start' and 'finish' were marked in the program, site map and covered in the drivers brief as the start and finish lines.
Now with full disclosure here id like to say that I have been quite heavily involved in the event from its conception, I was driving the D-type on the day and did try to get round as much hill climb entrants as I could throughout the day, unfortunately time did not allow me to speak to everyone. However the general feedback from the other entrants was very positive.
I really felt sorry for the car club guys among you, there are already plans in place to negate the issues posed this year for future events because it really is you guys that help this type of event happen! maybe we should get more involvement from you in the run up to next years event? We also had a lot of confusion caused by people not reading their letters, or going to the wrong place and to make it worse some of our volunteers didn't have a good enough understanding of how the layout was supposed to work. we should have briefed them better (easier said than done on the day)
If any of you have constructive feedback I know that Tony was openly looking to get that - you can send him a PM through the facebook page or email him directly (through the contact details on your entry letters)
Edited by ClarkyboyS on Monday 22 August 17:19
ideally if commentator had told everyone re ca clubs being moved to different fields i would have stayed longer but the thought of same queue out as in made me leave early,ideally they could have posted someone/sign on main road explaining parking delays as i said earlier quite a few cars were turning round and heading off
weather could not be predicted but parking in a field on an incline is not ideal for most lowered rear wheel drive cars
martin
weather could not be predicted but parking in a field on an incline is not ideal for most lowered rear wheel drive cars
martin
I enjoyed the day, and for a first time event I was impressed. We arrived just before ten and didn't queue at all just straight into the car park left just before three and leaving was not a problem.
Yes some of the food vendors ran out of products and had people nipping away to get more but if i was running the stall i probably would have too, i certainly didn't expect the amount of people that was there to be there, i expected fintray/boyndie sized crowd.
View in the bottom field wasn't great granted, also the bumpy nature of the track made it look like cars were holding back, runs got quicker through the day as peoples runs up the hill increased which is to be expected.
I am sure the party who organised it will improve things for next year, very few events can judge scale etc right first time round and get everything bang on.
I also don't grudge £15 as realistically what can you get for that elsewhere, i got 5 hours and could have had more should i choose too. Also massive respect the the lambo parked in the visitor car park field up near the exit a few rows back, must have been a nervous drive in.
Yes some of the food vendors ran out of products and had people nipping away to get more but if i was running the stall i probably would have too, i certainly didn't expect the amount of people that was there to be there, i expected fintray/boyndie sized crowd.
View in the bottom field wasn't great granted, also the bumpy nature of the track made it look like cars were holding back, runs got quicker through the day as peoples runs up the hill increased which is to be expected.
I am sure the party who organised it will improve things for next year, very few events can judge scale etc right first time round and get everything bang on.
I also don't grudge £15 as realistically what can you get for that elsewhere, i got 5 hours and could have had more should i choose too. Also massive respect the the lambo parked in the visitor car park field up near the exit a few rows back, must have been a nervous drive in.
Great feature in today's Daily Record about the Royal Deeside Speed Festival. This includes a great video of still shots from event, featuring many of the hillclimb cars, static displays (just the ones outside the castle) and the soap box derby. Several of the photos also appear in print in a double page spread in the Road Record motoring supplement. Those with photos featured in print might want to nip out and buy a copy
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/motoring/ro...
If you want to read the whole Road Record supplement, there is an online version here:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/special-features/prom...
Simply click on the top edition (North East), and then use the arrows to scroll through to pages 32 and 33
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/motoring/ro...
If you want to read the whole Road Record supplement, there is an online version here:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/special-features/prom...
Simply click on the top edition (North East), and then use the arrows to scroll through to pages 32 and 33
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