170 replies to this topic

[twink]

I have been twice before and my first thoughts on arriving this time was that it was probably not worth the 90 mile journey as the show seemed to be smaller than before. I was not so worried about the cost. However it turned out to be a great day as I met three legends.
First was Gus, the aforementioned and pictured 500 S
Next was 977 ARX. This is an ex-works Mini Cooper that Rauno Aaltonen drove to 3rd place in the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally, the year before Paddy Hopkirk won outright. The owner let me sit inside and look through all the albums of photos and press cuttings.
Then I had a long chat with John Sheppard who is the the most amazing and interesting person. I wanted to find out more about how the Mini was designed and he answered all my questions.
The museum is always worth a visit.
I also saw a RSP S in the general parking and since I have just acquired one myself I was naturally interested in comparing details.

Cheers dizzy!!

You deserve to buy him.....its official!

I missed Gus, what a shame as I would have loved to have seen him

However, I got to see the RSP S and meet its owner. It is beautiful having just come back from its restoration - another smashing Somerford job .

Minidizzy - is your RSP S on the register and are you bringing it to Stanford Hall? I'm glad you chatted to John, he loved his day and was quite overwhelmed by the interest and affection that people have for the Mini and the kindness everyone showed him.

I saw Gus - not MaxandPaddy tho

[project mini chris]

Was an Absolutely great day spent with Tanya, 89mini-boy and scissor-cut25!
Took lots of photo's so Enjoy!

Edited by project mini chris, 02 July 2012 - 05:21 PM.

[project mini chris]

[project mini chris]

[project mini chris]

[twink]

You must be a lot taller than me to have got those pics without the barriers in the way!!! The Senna painting was amazing!

[minidizzy]

I have been twice before and my first thoughts on arriving this time was that it was probably not worth the 90 mile journey as the show seemed to be smaller than before. I was not so worried about the cost. However it turned out to be a great day as I met three legends.
First was Gus, the aforementioned and pictured 500 S
Next was 977 ARX. This is an ex-works Mini Cooper that Rauno Aaltonen drove to 3rd place in the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally, the year before Paddy Hopkirk won outright. The owner let me sit inside and look through all the albums of photos and press cuttings.
Then I had a long chat with John Sheppard who is the the most amazing and interesting person. I wanted to find out more about how the Mini was designed and he answered all my questions.
The museum is always worth a visit.
I also saw a RSP S in the general parking and since I have just acquired one myself I was naturally interested in comparing details.

Cheers dizzy!!

You deserve to buy him.....its official!

I missed Gus, what a shame as I would have loved to have seen him

However, I got to see the RSP S and meet its owner. It is beautiful having just come back from its restoration - another smashing Somerford job .

Minidizzy - is your RSP S on the register and are you bringing it to Stanford Hall? I'm glad you chatted to John, he loved his day and was quite overwhelmed by the interest and affection that people have for the Mini and the kindness everyone showed him.

Yes. I registered her and I believe it was a new registration. Roger told me about Stanford Hall so I will definitely aim to go. The black RSP S at Gaydon looked great. I would have loved to look under the bonnet.

As for buying Gus (sigh) I can only dream but I now have two minis to feed and the coffers are looking distinctly empty.

[mm man]

The concours was better organised this year and I thought went really well. In fact, I could not fault it and those who were also showing their Minis seemed to enjoy it. It was certainly a good atmosphere in the concours and I thought the Show'n'Shine classes to encourage beginners to show their Minis was a good idea and again seemed to go well. I guess a big thumbs up from us for the concours.

Sorry but I have to strongly disagree, returned to showing after approx. 2 years away from the scene. I pre-booked into the only class my mini / trailer scooter combo was eligible for which was modified custom show & shine


After a two and a half hour trip pulled up at Gaydon asked where to park and after three different marshals one knew where I was supposed to go!


Parked in said place, an organizer came over and asked for my name he replied "yes you’re on the list" which he showed to me. Ticked my name off and handed me the judging form. He then asked me if I wouldn't mind moving to the next parking bay by the fence because of the trailer sticking out. I had no objection and then moved over. I then disconnected the trailer to square it up as not to take up too much space. After about 5 minutes another organizer came over and she said "would I change classes as there had been a mistake, there was no custom/modified class for a car of my standard and because I had done concours before I would have to move as I wasn't a novice". I explained I didn't think my car was up to concours condition (not clean enough) to be honest not interested in winning trophies any more just want to display the car and meet and talk to other enthusiasts.


After seeing the organizer correct details again on her paperwork. Then I had to move my car yet again to standard classic mini 1970-1979. I then tried to do my best with my 10 year old son to clean the car with very limited materials to try and get it to deserve a place in the concours area. We spent over 2 hours doing this because we had not done any prep. work previous because we were entering a show and shine!!??


We then stood by the car waiting to be judged, the judge then started to judge our section in a totally random order???? Never seen this done before they always start at one end and work their way car by car. Felt like we couldn't leave the car in case we missed the judging as we couldn’t work out who would be next. Then after a small break she then started to judge the section previous to ours???


Then imagine my surprise when the pa system announced judging completed presentation now brought forward to 3:30pm, I hadn't been judged!! My sheet was still on the window screen although both the cars to my left and right and the one behind me had been judged, mine wasn't. I then went over to see to organizer to ask what had gone on, got the reply "you must be joking, I'll try and find out what's happened, I'll ring the judge" I said "Don't bother she is stood 15ft away". As you could imagine I was extremely annoyed and I had to pre-empt her and asked her for a refund at least. She said she would sort it out and did apologise for what had happened.


I then started to pack the car away to try and salvage some of the little time that was left to at least walk around the museum with my son as the rest of the show was winding down. The next thing I know the judge responsible for judging the class came over "what seems to be the problem" after explaining what had happened she replied "well you wasn't on the list" and then she carried on to explain it wasn't her fault but the organizers? Even though she had judged all the cars around mine again in a totally random order she said it wasn't her responsibility to check what cars to judge even though we were parked in categories.


Then a gentleman from the museum came over and said "I've been told I need to give you a refund but only on the concours entry" will send me a cheque out (still not arrived!).


I must say after this experience and ones leading up to this (reason for 2 years no showing) in the concours side of things I will never show this vehicle again in a judged capacity, I will now only do display only events. I found quite a few people that seemed to be very disappointed with the way things seemed to be going in this area. Maybe time for a re-think. I was planning to go to Himley, spoke to David Hollis and he informed me that their show & shine was not just for beginners but anyone that had a car to show and didn't want to go into concours. It was not judged on how clean your car was, but voted on by the public that had cars in the same area. That seems to make a lot of sense to me as a lot of people just want to show off their cars and can't be bothered with hours of cleaning after hours of travelling. So to sum up, I must agree with the majority of people on this thread, Gaydon has really gone downhill as I have previously been twice before when it first started and this one as a show was not in the same league in the organizing/trade stands/activities/atmosphere.


"How could she have missed this, it’s not as if it doesn't stand out" to quote the organizer....

[twink]

I saw yours, I did love the matching bike

[mm man]

I saw yours, I did love the matching bike

Thanks very much

[miniman retford]

I've seen your car & scooter at numerous shows over the years & allways have to come look again.
Really love it

[TfcIan]

I saw you're mini, I wouldn't call it standard mini 70-79! Loved the matching trailer and Lambretta, do you ride it at all or is it just for show?

[mm man]

I've seen your car & scooter at numerous shows over the years & allways have to come look again.
Really love it

I saw you're mini, I wouldn't call it standard mini 70-79! Loved the matching trailer and Lambretta, do you ride it at all or is it just for show?

Thanks minimad nice to know you still enjoy having a look , I should be at that mini and vw show next weekend if your there come and say hello.

Hi Tfclan yes i do ride the lamby as much as i can normaly every weekend locally,but have done some longer runs on it last year one of them was to go to Stanford hall on it along with a friend on his, it took us around 1 3/4 hours good fun had a great day .Also will come in handy if the mini breaks down ! not sure what I would do about a helmet though???

[Tanya]

The concours was better organised this year and I thought went really well. In fact, I could not fault it and those who were also showing their Minis seemed to enjoy it. It was certainly a good atmosphere in the concours and I thought the Show'n'Shine classes to encourage beginners to show their Minis was a good idea and again seemed to go well. I guess a big thumbs up from us for the concours.

Sorry but I have to strongly disagree, returned to showing after approx. 2 years away from the scene. I pre-booked into the only class my mini / trailer scooter combo was eligible for which was modified custom show & shine


After a two and a half hour trip pulled up at Gaydon asked where to park and after three different marshals one knew where I was supposed to go!


Parked in said place, an organizer came over and asked for my name he replied "yes you’re on the list" which he showed to me. Ticked my name off and handed me the judging form. He then asked me if I wouldn't mind moving to the next parking bay by the fence because of the trailer sticking out. I had no objection and then moved over. I then disconnected the trailer to square it up as not to take up too much space. After about 5 minutes another organizer came over and she said "would I change classes as there had been a mistake, there was no custom/modified class for a car of my standard and because I had done concours before I would have to move as I wasn't a novice". I explained I didn't think my car was up to concours condition (not clean enough) to be honest not interested in winning trophies any more just want to display the car and meet and talk to other enthusiasts.


After seeing the organizer correct details again on her paperwork. Then I had to move my car yet again to standard classic mini 1970-1979. I then tried to do my best with my 10 year old son to clean the car with very limited materials to try and get it to deserve a place in the concours area. We spent over 2 hours doing this because we had not done any prep. work previous because we were entering a show and shine!!??


We then stood by the car waiting to be judged, the judge then started to judge our section in a totally random order???? Never seen this done before they always start at one end and work their way car by car. Felt like we couldn't leave the car in case we missed the judging as we couldn’t work out who would be next. Then after a small break she then started to judge the section previous to ours???


Then imagine my surprise when the pa system announced judging completed presentation now brought forward to 3:30pm, I hadn't been judged!! My sheet was still on the window screen although both the cars to my left and right and the one behind me had been judged, mine wasn't. I then went over to see to organizer to ask what had gone on, got the reply "you must be joking, I'll try and find out what's happened, I'll ring the judge" I said "Don't bother she is stood 15ft away". As you could imagine I was extremely annoyed and I had to pre-empt her and asked her for a refund at least. She said she would sort it out and did apologise for what had happened.


I then started to pack the car away to try and salvage some of the little time that was left to at least walk around the museum with my son as the rest of the show was winding down. The next thing I know the judge responsible for judging the class came over "what seems to be the problem" after explaining what had happened she replied "well you wasn't on the list" and then she carried on to explain it wasn't her fault but the organizers? Even though she had judged all the cars around mine again in a totally random order she said it wasn't her responsibility to check what cars to judge even though we were parked in categories.


Then a gentleman from the museum came over and said "I've been told I need to give you a refund but only on the concours entry" will send me a cheque out (still not arrived!).


I must say after this experience and ones leading up to this (reason for 2 years no showing) in the concours side of things I will never show this vehicle again in a judged capacity, I will now only do display only events. I found quite a few people that seemed to be very disappointed with the way things seemed to be going in this area. Maybe time for a re-think. I was planning to go to Himley, spoke to David Hollis and he informed me that their show & shine was not just for beginners but anyone that had a car to show and didn't want to go into concours. It was not judged on how clean your car was, but voted on by the public that had cars in the same area. That seems to make a lot of sense to me as a lot of people just want to show off their cars and can't be bothered with hours of cleaning after hours of travelling. So to sum up, I must agree with the majority of people on this thread, Gaydon has really gone downhill as I have previously been twice before when it first started and this one as a show was not in the same league in the organizing/trade stands/activities/atmosphere.


"How could she have missed this, it’s not as if it doesn't stand out" to quote the organizer....

I'm sorry that you did not have a good experience but I think on the Concours front, you were an exception. It appears that there was a problem with the classes that neither the organisers or you picked up on before the day. Personally, in your position, I would have queried the class position before I booked to ensure that my Mini was in the correct class if I felt is wasn't clear. You say that you have shown before therefore you are not a beginner, but there no classes for modified in the Concours classes so I would have checked that I could show a modified Mini in the Concours class. However, I am sure that the organisers will review the class situation in light of this and also know the manage Minis that are entered in the wrong class to ensure that they are properly transferred from class to class (if it is possible) without getting lost.

I know that some people do use Concours and Show 'n' shine primarily to get a good parking space, be in the centre of the show and to be easily able to talk to other enthusiasts. I feel that if showing in Show'n'shine wasn't your primary reason for entering, possibly you should not have entered. Personally, I expect anyone who enters Concours and Show'n'shine to compete in good spirit, i.e. to compete (the primary reason for being there) but to do so in good spirit (chatting to other competitors and enthusiasts as you clean). Personally, I would not attend any of the classes (Concours or Show'n'shine) without a reasonable cleaning kit as how else would I be able to complete? My understanding was that the Show'n'shine classes were supposed to be a beginners class for the owner, not so the owner could show to a lesser standard (not so clean).

I feel that your Mini and bike were interesting and visible enough to be parked anywhere in the show and still get plenty of attention and enthusiasts coming to speak to you.

Dave Hollis told me about his Show'n'shine plans last year and I think they sound like a great idea and would suit you well. There are people who want to show their Mini but not in a Concours type way. Gaydon's Show'n'shine is not the same idea as Dave's as the point of Gaydon's class is to encourage new people into Concours, and to be judged by judges not fellow enthusiasts. I don't think these two Show'n'shines can be compared as they are quite different with different aims. BMC also run excellent, thorough and competitive Concours classes.

Personally, we find the Mini Concours scene as it stands is good and does the job, to grade Minis. Although all judges look for slightly different things when they judge, broadly speaking the same high standard Minis win. While you get comments like it's always the same Minis winning and that's boring, people don't complain about same football teams, tennis players, dogs (I used to show Bassets) winning. If they win time and time again, it is because they are the best.

Our judges at Gaydon were really helpful and told us what they had marked us down on (they also told us what they liked, although we were more interested in their constructive criticism). We know differerent judges have their different likes and dislikes so don't automatically take their advice, but it is invaluable to us to hear it so we can consider it, talk it through we other enthusiasts then use it to improve our Minis.

[Reddimini]

Hi everyone. I'm helping with the Gaydon show and want to try to get it back to it's best. Thank you for all the comments on here, be they good or bad. I've printed it all off and will be talking to Gaydon about how to fix all the issues for next year. If anyone wants to send me comments or suggestions separately then please do. My email address is [email protected]