Cholmondeley Power and Speed event

Cholmondeley Power and Speed event

Author
Discussion

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Tuesday 14th June 2016
quotequote all
So, 40,000 visitors over the weekend, I can't find the numbers but that seems quite a bit lower than previous years. Email says looking forward to next year, so that sounds promising.

storm grey

271 posts

181 months

Tuesday 14th June 2016
quotequote all
we haven't been for 2 years and sadly disappointed this year as no were near as much there as previous years .

foxsasha

1,416 posts

134 months

Tuesday 14th June 2016
quotequote all
We went three years in a row but missed this year as its gone downhill. Fewer attractions (wall of death and stunt show gone), fireworks gone, decent evening entertainment gone....

Doubt we will be back unless they up their game.

Hoping to try Carfest North this year, waiting to see if our club is going as a display.

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Tuesday 14th June 2016
quotequote all
I've been trying to get a display spot at Carfest North for years. Bloke that organises the classic car displays only replied once (out of about twenty requests in total), and although I asked for an individual display spot at Carfest North, he offered me a club spot at Carfest South. Not sure if that's all that was available or that he just didn't read the email - I queried it, and never heard back. I'd still like to do it if I could get a place somewhere.

chrisgtx

1,195 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th June 2016
quotequote all
Does anyone know the name of the comedians? especially the last fella?, theres nothing on the website now.

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Wednesday 15th June 2016
quotequote all
chrisgtx said:
Does anyone know the name of the comedians? especially the last fella?, theres nothing on the website now.
Really? This page still comes up for me: http://www.cpop.co.uk/what-is-on/craftbeerfestival... - although their web people want shooting for not having an "It's all over now, thanks for coming and see you next year" site ready to upload at 7pm on Sunday night, and still showing the countdown clock and link to buy tickets.

Comedy Timetable

7.30pm Adam Rushton

7.35pm Duncan Oakley

8.10pm Jojo Sutherland

8.35pm Rahul Kohli

9.00pm Ray Peacock

Looks like Adam Rushton didn't have much material.

chrisgtx

1,195 posts

209 months

Wednesday 15th June 2016
quotequote all
Must of been my antique work computer system, there was a change to the line up as the last fella wasn't ray peacock.

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Wednesday 15th June 2016
quotequote all
Ah, OK. I'd never heard of any of them, even though the first guy listed on the site has been in several things I watch.

Slammedorion

372 posts

117 months

Wednesday 15th June 2016
quotequote all
Not been for 3/4 years
It was the year it chucked it down, we left early, organisation for local clubs was awful
Everyone was getting stuck going in and out
Half our club stand ended up being put elsewhere
Would never go again!!!

Ticket prices are unbelievable!!!
Hell of a price for a show on a boggy field

Fordfair @ Silverstone is enough but at least the venue and organisation is good

I work within Bentley, and even with free tickets I'd not go again
If you can't keep local car clubs happy, simple they won't show, and without them they have no show
Simply getting to big for their boots...

I'm glad to hear it's getting no better...
There's far better shows held locally at Tatton Park and Oulton Park


Edited by Slammedorion on Wednesday 15th June 21:58

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
Slammedorion said:
Not been for 3/4 years
It was the year it chucked it down, we left early, organisation for local clubs was awful
Everyone was getting stuck going in and out
Half our club stand ended up being put elsewhere
Would never go again!!!
I remember that year - they'd brought the event forward from July to June to get better weather (!), we all got sent to a holding field on the Saturday morning while they tried to figure out where we could go, then ended up just making the best of it in the normal car parks. They did a special morning "do" in October as an apology, where we got to run up the track a couple of time behind a course car, which I thought was nice of them because the weather wasn't their fault. And they've done something to the ground - I don't think we've had the same amount of rain since, but you could see the next year how they'd lifted the turf in strips to do something to help it drain.

Slammedorion said:
If you can't keep local car clubs happy, simple they won't show, and without them they have no show
I hear this from a few people I know around here that are in car clubs, but I don't agree. It's not like the Tatton show or Andrew Greenwoods show at Cholmondeley, where the show is the car displays - I suspect a good half of the general public never even see the car club displays, just look around the paddock, the trade stalls and watch the stuff running on the track. I've never thought of this as a classic car show - it's more like a sprint meeting with some club displays, cake stands and so on.

Slammedorion said:
I'm glad to hear it's getting no better...
You're not the first I've heard to say that or something similar, and I don't get it. I really can't understand why so many people have it in for the event, quite a lot of them local people, when you'd think they might want to support something so close.

I know I come across as a bit of apologist for the event, and I'm really not, but I just don't see why it generates such dislike.

ras62

1,086 posts

155 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
I agree about not getting it right with car clubs, they should be enticed (free entry) to attend as they are a key attraction. Sadly this is not the case and as with admission prices elsewhere there is no value for money.
I don't think its the case that people attend simply to watch what happens on the course but even here it was badly lacking. Getting a few classic car dealers to plod there stock down the road is not my idea of power and speed.
The show has gone backward. It's an opportunity missed.

roperrich

80 posts

180 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
I thoroughly enjoyed this year's event at Cholmondeley and it greatly exceeded my expectations, much to my surprise. From a participants point of view it was a well organised and friendly event. The track was challenging and fun which was a bonus and the catering really very good. All I can say is I wish I had done the event years ago so well done Cholmondeley and the BARC. I hope they made money as it looked like all the tenting, loos, marshals, generators, etc. etc. would have cost a considerable amount to put in place. Even got the chance to meet racing hero David Piper, what a nice man and willing to have an extended talk about his life & cars.

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
ras62 said:
I agree about not getting it right with car clubs, they should be enticed (free entry) to attend as they are a key attraction. Sadly this is not the case and as with admission prices elsewhere there is no value for money.
Car clubs used to get free entry, for the first few years. What happened, though, was that there were some "car club" stands that were jam-packed with modern nondescript cars, no attempt to put on a decent display, just (apparently) people who'd formed a car club just to get free entry.

ras62 said:
Getting a few classic car dealers to plod there stock down the road is not my idea of power and speed.
Yes, I'd agree with that. You can understand that dealers won't want to hammer the cars down the track and potentially damage them (especially if they're selling on behalf of the owners) so if there are dealer cars to show, they need to form a smaller part of the running order - maybe the lunchtime cavalcade would be more appropriate. I was trying to get some photos of the dealer stock with some motion blur, but it was hard to do given how slowly they ran.

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
chrisgtx said:
would of liked a few more updates on top speed and final times though.
On the site now: http://www.cpop.co.uk/social-buzz/news/2016-winner...

highflyer

Original Poster:

1,897 posts

225 months

Friday 17th June 2016
quotequote all
Well finally recovered from a mad weekend can't believe it was a week ago, got to say a very disappointing turn out regards car clubs we had 45 clubs listed with large numbers of attendance but not half of those clubs showed up with there cars, I think like others that the discount codes are used for entry only such a shame, I have tried to explain for the last 4 years until I am blue in the face that you guys are bringing your cars to display and that forms part of the draw for the show and that you should be able to attend the car club area for free and half price in advance or on the day to get over the bridge into the main event but it falls on deaf ears and obviously this year you have voted with your feet any suggestions for the future ? Unfortunately we had a bloom in the lake which put a stop to the lake activity and the CAA turned up on Friday lunch time and ceased the air display for sat sun then to top it all off ,sat the car clubs got a couple of laps of the track but Sunday they had a different guy from the BRAC ? Who was a complete a55h0le stopped the second lap and said no passengers, an official complaint is being lodged against him.
Next year will be our 10th anniversary as far as I know it's all going ahead, I am going to push for car clubs free as mentioned above
got to add Julie in the office and myself work very hard to make this car club section the best we can but are up against people who don't understand the car club concept we even suggested auto jumble kit cars etc etc but have been told they would look tatty ??? Not much hope I'm afraid
Regards Russell

Slammedorion

372 posts

117 months

Friday 17th June 2016
quotequote all
I have no problem in paying for a decent show
But your prices are nearly double the most expensive show I go to over the show season ( Fordfair )

That other year my car was damaged getting it on and off site!
Half the club was relocated and us that were in the bog were told to stay lol
We attended for year after year, since then we've not bothered
Every year since there has been the same old posts and unfortunately out of your control the weathers been poo

For a days pass it shouldn't be anymore than £15 if your showing there
The venue ain't that special!!!

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Friday 17th June 2016
quotequote all
Slammedorion said:
For a days pass it shouldn't be anymore than £15 if your showing there
To be fair, with the car club discount, it's not much more than that now - £15 for Friday, £20 each for the other days.

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Friday 17th June 2016
quotequote all
highflyer said:
.. car club stuff..
It's hard to know what to suggest - unfortunately once people take against an event, it's really difficult to get them back whatever you try to do. I must admit to doing something similar with a local venue - mainly because there's nothing to do all day, so being on-site from 9am to 4pm gets quite boring at that one. The show there has been dropped as it seems I wasn't alone.

There's no connection between booking a car club stand, and having people buy tickets. So a car club can book a stand, tell their members, give them the discount code, but if the members don't then buy tickets, the club might not know anything about it. Some national clubs might have an event organiser who is based in the south and never comes to the event, but books a spot in good faith without realising no-one wants to go. Maybe club members looked at the weather and decided to turn up in their normal daily drivers and just go in as foot passengers. Maybe you've kept a list of the clubs who didn't field any cars, and might bring it to their attention next year if they book a spot? If my club booked a stand at Tatton Park and then brought none or one car for the weekend, we'd have a job getting a spot next year. But you ought to also be able to tell how many people have used each club discount code from the ticket booking system, cross-ref that against how many cars were on the club stand, see how many of those tickets were presented on the door, and you can draw some conclusions from that.

highflyer said:
we even suggested auto jumble kit cars etc etc but have been told they would look tatty ??? Not much hope I'm afraid
Regards Russell
Autojumble could be an issue - depends on what kind of jumble it is, really - the best kind of autojumble stands are those that just have piles of what looks like old, dusty stuff but might be treasures, and that could look a bit tatty if the event is trying to draw in people who might want to buy the new Jaguar SUV. Kit cars were present on the club stands - our club has quite a presence of one make of kit, I noticed another stand further up on our side was just for another make of kit that I've forgotten now.

ras62

1,086 posts

155 months

Friday 17th June 2016
quotequote all
It sounds like the various car clubs are treated very much as second class citizens. The idea they be separated from the main event is telling in this regard. In reality the clubs should be the backdrop to the tented section for the cars participating in the time trial. Sadly I think with the prevailing attitude shown by the organisers to the clubs will be difficult if not impossible to repair. Location and facilities offered, pricing etc are crucial if you want people to show their pride and joy be it a Morris or a Maserati.

Edited by ras62 on Friday 17th June 11:57

mikewood

179 posts

129 months

Friday 17th June 2016
quotequote all
I'd love the Cholmondley event to be the Goodwood of the North, but sadly it's a long way short.

I camped from Thursday night (with electric hook-up), and although the field was well planned, it was pretty thick with fresh cow manure (yeah, I know that's what cows do in fields, but keep the cows out for a while beforehand!!), and several toilet-block trailers were replaced with blue portaloo cubicles.

Friday was poor, still lots of stalls setting up, and some displays had not arrived. No evening entertainment (other than the European cup match on the TV in the beer tent). Parade laps with passenger rides by the sponsoring dealers. Other than that, not much else for the £40 gate ticket price.

Saturday was busier, more track action, motocross racing, a better military vehicle display, more concessions, a single ten minute bi-plane stunt display, but still not much "free" entertainment for the cost of the admission ticket. The castle gardens were closed, no powerboat / jet ski racing, the advertised segway rides were missing, no funfair, a seemingly-smaller market area, and even the Sporting Bears looked to be down to around ten cars. The comedy "festival" was a very poor replacement to the previous years' concerts and fireworks displays!

Sunday was a complete re-run of Saturday. The car club displays were conspicuously down on previous years, and therefore very disappointing. I stuck it out until 2pm, by which time a lot of people had already drifted away.

I did enjoy the event, and I don't want to do-down the organisers, but it has diminished a lot on the past few years and does not represent good value for money. I will go again next year, but I won't camp, and it will just be for one day. And if I have to pay £5 to park on the grass field, it will be my last..!

MW