FIRST POSTED September 2013
Goodwood Revival was attracting all the media attention this weekend but a hardcore of Vintage Sport Car Club enthusiasts filled up the entry for their annual hillclimb at the picturesque Loton Park near Shrewsbury. But there was a storm brewing. Or so the Met Office said. Not just bad weather, they were is really imaginative mood and there was talk of ‘Atlantic gales’ and ‘Severe weather warnings’ . Consensus was that if Saturday was reasonable – maybe turning to bad then Sunday was bad – turning to Armageddon…
Driving up on Friday afternoon to set up the bookstall I certainly ran into a lot of rain and had to put the marquee up in a deluge that only abated as it got dark and the job was already done. And there followed a chilly night in the tent…in the marquee (sort of canvas double-glazing).
At 4am another deluge woke me up . This didn’t seem very promising. Was it even worth taking the stock out of the back of the car?
In the end Saturday was very nice indeed. The clouds rolled over but the sun broke through more often than not and the wind was a mere breeze . At the end of the day’s action nearly everyone hung on and enjoyed the annual Hog Roast and a pint at the bar. A grand evening was being had by all – except the traders who were all franticly packing up before darkness overtook them! Me included.
If Saturday had been better than expected but the news from home was of and impending meteorological disaster and you just don’t want to by taking down a 20 foot marquee single handed in a force 10 gale…
So it was a short event, but discretion was the better part of valour ! I didn’t get much chance to look around so the choice of photos is very limited but they give you an idea of the venue, which despite being very close to Shrewsbury and a lot of large nearby population centres seems to suffer from a lack of awareness and thus, the sort of sizeable crowds you find at Prescott.
I met some interesting people including two 750MC competitors who’s names I didn’t catch but one of them had worked for Brabham back in the early 60s and the stories were great.
The whole trip gave me a chance to try out my ‘new car’ that being new only in new-to-me and it’s a 1995 Peugeot 405 estate with 112,000 miles on the clock. Now to put this in perspective my previous car was a Volvo V40 with 200,000 on the clock… but then the V40 cost me £385 and the Peugeot was £400…I like to get my money’s worth out of a car!
Indeed the 405 performed well. The drive back home down the A49 was particularly nice, the moon was out and picked out the hills around Church Stretton like a scene from a black and white movie and even loaded up with stock and towing a trailer containing the marquee and tables, plus my 56lb weight for helping anchor it all down, it turned 43mpg.
Next stop… well I won’t say because last time I mentioned Beaulieu and I didn’t actually get there…hence the new car.
