Donington review 2004

Donington - September 2004

The Donington show took place over the weekend of the 4th and 5th of September with the DOC in attendance from late Friday afternoon to tea time on Sunday. Over the last year the owners of the Donington Exhibition Hall have decided that the field we used to use for the club display area would be better of as parking for the local airport. This meant that Limelight had had to do some serious reorganizing of the layout to fit everything in. So this year the field that used to be for camping up by the trees was used for both camping and the club display area. The field was not marked out so it was a free for all when securing a spot for the club stand. Fortunately the early arrival of Mike and Nick ensured we had a good location.

For next year we are adding some stakes and rope to the club paraphernalia as it is now becoming a necessity to rope off the area claimed to ensure that there is enough parking area for the kits. As it turned out we just managed to cope on the Sunday having filled our plot to bursting point with twenty cars. Facilities for the campers were either at the other end of the site in the old toilet blocks or by way of a porta cabin with loos although I did hear a few rather uncomplimentary comments about the latters condition. Personally when I tried to use it at about 5:00 on Sunday evening it was locked up. I did enquire if next year the show was going to have more space using land the other side of the trees for camping perhaps thus leaving more space for the clubs, but apparently the company who runs the circuit own that bit of land which is a different company to that which rents out the hall and therefore its not feasible to split the show over two effectively different sites. This also goes someway to explaining why the track day for kit cars was moved from its historical Sunday slot to Saturday which caused a lot of confusion, with people expecting to see or take part in the track action on the Sunday. The disadvantage of the new layout was that due to a number of exhibitors vans being parked between the halls and the club area, and the general array of tents some members of the public seemed unsure where the show stopped and the exhibitors camping area began and were afraid of walking into the general club area and looked on from the drive way.

Still, on the plus side the weather was fantastic in fact it was the best show of the season as far as the weather went. Saturday was as usual the quieter day but we still had a good attendance with several renewals and new members. Spare parts were rapidly vanishing from the for sales area including a nice new set of body panels. The club had a BBQ on Saturday evening which continued on well into the small hours of Sunday morning and was only brought to a close by a rather drunken member of another kit car club coming over and trying to hold an intelligent conversation. The way he kept trying to steady himself on the still rather hot BBQ every 2 minutes kept us amused for ages. Over a period of half an hour or so he elaborated on his history and contacts which seemed wide and varied and culminated in telling us he had written the DLVA database, (we presume he meant DVLA) By this time we were praying for intervention from the Sheriff of Nottingham but alas he was no where to be seen so in a unanimous move we bid him good morning and retired to our tents.

Sunday was even hotter and there was a steady stream of cars all morning battling their way through the crowds to arrive at the club area and then try to locate their clubs pitch. The show began to wind down in the late afternoon until most were gone by around 5:30. A thank you to those who stopped behind and helped with the end of show clean up and pack away, your efforts are appreciated. I guess that is it for this season (bar Exeter in November) until the Stafford shows starts the season again in March. Till then enthusiasm can be maintained by attending one of the area meets across the country.

Concourse winners

Best Legerra M. Young LEG 388A Runner Up Legerra I. Haywood Q736 RDM

Best Melos D. Hudd Q93 RAE Runner up Melos A Elliott Q676 ANJ

Best Phaeton C. Shippey JFE 651Y Runner up Phaeton R. Pursley PWX 391W

Best Sierra G Brook Q180 HAC Runner up Sierra R Lees UYT 289M

Best Other R Barr Eagle P21 SUD 640T


Welcome visitors to the DOC stand in the form of Graham Boulters Dad's and Sister's cars	Waynes World DOC style

The DOC stand	Mike Keeley's Malaga B+ with modified front end

Midtech Spyder Interior	DOC Stand

Dave Hudd's Melos	Congestion on the Dutton stand

DOC Stand