463 replies to this topic

[MGBailey007]

hello im hoping to go down for L2B and my mates wants to follow me in his car but its not a mini will he be allowed to do that or is it just minis, and when you buy tickets is it for the car or is it a ticket per person?

[The Otter]

The tickets are per car, and as far as I am aware it's strictly Minis and Binis only at Crystal Palace for the camping. Anyone could tag along on the journey down, but of course it's minis only on the seafront at Brighton. Your mates could follow you down and find somewhere near by in London to park their car (if that's possible) and then join you in the park for the night (I think this is allowed, someone else will be able to confirm this), and there's different places to park all around Brighton on the Sunday.

Sven.

[MGBailey007]

thanks alot steve so one per car that good then and how much roughly is it anyone got any prices

Matt

[2-alex-2]

i still waiting on my issure of minworld to arrive in the post. im hoping its not to late to get my entry in as this would be my first if i can get in realy want to do it now.

[The Otter]

It's £30 a ticket (plus whatever it costs you to send off for it) which gives you access to the camping area in London, the seafront parking in Brighton, and a "run pack", which last year included a t-shirt, a couple of stickers, the run plaque for the front of your car, a little bottle of car polish/wax, and maybe a couple of other things...

I wouldn't worry too much about being lightning fast with the applications, they were still selling tickets at the Brooklands Mini Show at the end of March last year, so you should be fine.

[2-alex-2]

ok well just hope it get here so i can send it off and not worry about it how many tickets are there what the max and how many peple get turned down then

[Mini_Magic]

There are tickets for 2100 minis. I think they did not quite manage to sell all of them last year. The years before had been complete sellouts with many disappointed applicants.

I wonder why last year didn't sell out, it surely can't have been just because of the recession?

[AVV IT]

I wonder why last year didn't sell out, it surely can't have been just because of the recession?

I don't think it was all down to the recession, there were certainly some issues with the organisation at the Crystal Park end of the 2010 run, that put some people off from returning last year. But I do think that the recession certainly had an effect, as it's also had an effect on classic mini ownership and classic car ownership in general . Let's face it just about everyone's wallet has been squeezed over the last year or so, and less and less of us have got the spare cash to keep a "money pit" second car on the road for fun any more.

Even those of us that do have the cash to keep their mini on the road, probably don't have the same amount of spare cash to spend on them as we used to. I certainly don't personally and therefore I didn't go to as many shows last year as I did in previous years. Also with the escalating cost of fuel, driving half way across the country and back again for a day out, is getting less and less affordable. With the spiralling cost of insurance for younger drivers, I think that the younger mini owners are also finding it more and more difficult to keep their minis on the road too.

These are also some of the reasons why the classic mini is selling for so little at the moment too. There are an abundance of people looking to get rid and a lot less people looking to buy for exactly the same reasons.

Edited by AVV IT, 27 January 2012 - 04:49 PM.

[Mini_Magic]

These are also some of the reasons why the classic mini is selling for so little at the moment too. There are an abundance of people looking to get rid and a lot less people looking to buy for exactly the same reasons.

They're still bloody expensive for what they are though!

[mab01uk]

I wonder why last year didn't sell out, it surely can't have been just because of the recession?

AVV IT is right there are probably several factors involved.......another reason I would add having been on many L to B runs since it started in 1985, is that a large number of the runners used to be made up of the more casual owners running a cheap 'shoestring' everyday driver Mini which have been rapidly disappearing from the roads due to rust, ever stricter MOT's, etc and they have not been replaced for over 10 years now by new replacement Mini's coming on the road as used to happen in the past. Sadly even the last classic Mini's from 2000 are now surcoming to rust and insurance write-offs at a fairly rapid rate so the run is becoming much more reliant on the diehard enthusiasts to make up the numbers and in future years I guess more new MINI's taking part.

Edited by mab01uk, 27 January 2012 - 06:30 PM.

[The Otter]

Yeah I can certainly imagine a lot more Binis doing the run in future, and I think it would be much better if the organisers could sort of put them in their own section for the line up and camping. I don't mind them doing the run at all, but it does kind of spoil the view when you're taking shots of the rows and rows of classic minis, then there's just one big modern thing in the middle of the pack

[AVV IT]

Another issue might be the internet??... No do bare with me on this one!!

Back in the nineties when I first owned a mini (i.e. when the internet was in it's infancy and no one had ever heard of Ebay) one of the main reasons for going to mini shows was to visit the trade stands and buy parts. Back then if you didn't live near any of the mini specialists, then the only other real option was to mail order your parts from a tiny description given in a mini magazine advert. Generally that meant sending off a cheque, waiting for it to arrive and to be cashed and then waiting for the parts back in the post, often only to find that you ordered the wrong thing and having to send it back again. Buying parts at shows avoided all that delay and hassle and it meant you could see what you were buying too. I certainly used to go to shows with a long list in my hand and come back with a car full and hardly any room for my passengers.

These days thanks to the internet, Ebay, Paypal, overnight delivery & paying over the phone by credit card etc. You can see what your buying on line, order and pay for it instantly and have it in your hand the next day. So now I don't tend to need to visit shows to pick up parts that I desperately need, therefore I don't tend to visit as many shows any more. I tend to visit shows purely as a day out nowadays, I might pick up a few things from the traders if I happen to need anything at the time, but it isn't a major motivation for me going to them any more.

Edited by AVV IT, 27 January 2012 - 07:18 PM.

[2-alex-2]

how many people do you think will be there this yea what the limit for ticket does anyone know. as i read last year there was 2,200

Edited by 2-alex-2, 29 January 2012 - 08:02 PM.

[AVV IT]

It's usually just over the 2000 mark, as I understand it's dictated by how many minis they can squeeze in to park on Madeira drive.

Edited by AVV IT, 29 January 2012 - 08:12 PM.