Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

[snuffy]

This years is cancelled I see:

http://www.cpop.co.uk/

[snuffy]

Odd really as it seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

I went a few years ago and was not taken by it, but I'm in the minority there.

[snuffy]

I had my car on a club stand for 2 days about 6 years (I can't exactly remember when now) but we never paid and got in to the rest of the show for nothing. It was the same when I went to CarFest about 3 years. Again, on a stand, no payment and free entry. There's no way I'd ever pay for either event. In fact, when I went to them, I do remember thinking "these poor bds have paid for this".

The trouble is, I find it okay for an hour or 2, but then what ?

[snuffy]

droopsnoot said:

Well, you did really well at Carfest at least. Back in the very early days of CPoP, car displays were free for the car and driver, entry to all of it. Then they charged for paddock entry (which caused quite a bit of confusion and hassle), and then they just did discounted tickets.

This seems to be a common theme with car shows.

For example, years ago I went to Supercar Sunday at Gaydon. It's pretty much just the cars that people bring and the museum (actually, that's all it was). A few weeks later people had a letter and plaque by way of a thank you for bringing your car. Then the next one I think you just had to pay for your passenger. Then the following year you had to pay to display your car. So I gave up.

It seems that these things start off okay, and then money becomes an issue, and then that's when it all goes wrong.

[snuffy]

droopsnoot said:

I've never found a way of displaying my car at Carfest, paid or not paid.

The year I went for free they wanted 100 Aston Martins on each day. They had about 70 on the Sunday when I went. But leaving the show was an issue; the AM club organisers were not keen on you leaving before the end. You had to sneak off when they were not looking !

[snuffy]

droopsnoot said:

I think if the car is part of a display that paying punters are coming to look at, I don't think it's that unreasonable to have to stay until a certain time, unless it's a silly time. For example I do Tatton Park shows, the organiser insists on no-one leaving until 4pm, because he's still got people paying to come in at 3pm. Some shows don't (or can't) enforce it, some don't give out plaques and prizes until late on, that kind of thing.

That is a good point. I think for CarFest I had to be there by 7am (certainly no later than 8am) and then stay until 6pm. But that made the day way too long (which is why I suspect they did not get the full 100 Astons).

At Supercar Sunday I actually did not feel like I should leave early because the main (only) attraction was the cars that people had brought to put on display. And since people had paid to see those cars it was not fair that owners left early.