Once again, this year, our Mid Essex club dusted off our tents to go camping at the Woodlands Campsite to attend the Silverstone Racetrack Summer Festival weekend. A group of us, Steve, Debbie, Alan, Dawn, Steve B and their son Ross, along with Jo and Gerry and I,met to drive down together (my wife Sue missing out as she is not keen on camping!). We also met Dave, Teresa with Steve and Helen at the site.
We met on Thursday 24th August at Baldock Services on the A1(M), about halfway to Silverstone to have lunch. We then all set off for Woodlands Campsite !
Gerry led the way with Alan and me following close behind. Upon reaching Woburn Abbey, Gerry pulled over and quickly jumped out of his car. Gerry had accidentally turned on his heated seat and his backside was baking hot! He was covered in sweat. Luckily, he cooled down in no time and we were on our way!
Jo asked me to lead the drive from Woburn Abbey,however my Sat-Nav was playing tricks leading me to a few wrong turns! Alan also disappeared so we had to carry on without him. After several road closures and diversions the group arrived at Woodlands. Alan and Dawn were there already with Steve and Debbie.
The following morning on the Friday, the group made its way to the track,we parked up alongside approx. 80 TVRs. We all chatted together and had a nice coffee, we also met with Jane from the TVRcc office.
We set off around the Silverstone Festival event, there was a lot to see, including market stalls, the museum, other car clubs making up hundreds of classic cars to see and discuss.We watched some of the racing and explored the pit lanes.It was amazing to watch them repairing and setting up the cars for the races. There were no limits to where you could explore, you could freely walk around the pits, photographing the cars and mechanics at work!
That evening we took the time to enjoy the entertainment, we got to seethe 80’s bands, The Christians and ABC, both were very good!
The following morning after our breakfast, we drove over to circuit again. We spent time taking in the atmosphere and also bumped into Jeremy Clarkson with his wife, both there to support their Diddly Squat Farm shop made famous by the Clarkson’s Farm Shop show on Amazon TV.We also saw Mike Brewer with Elvis on his Wheeler Dealer stand. We then enjoyed more racing, this time it was between Formula 1 cars from the 1980s and 1990s, their engines certainly sound much louder and aggressive compared to the modern F1 engines that are used now!
We all continued to enjoy the entertainment on offer and in the evening went to watch New Rules, an Irish band along the 90’s band the SugaBabes. They certainly had us all up and dancing. They put on a really good show and are incredibly talented singers, we all agreed how good they are.
On the final day, the Sunday,the group finished up watching the racing finals and visited the Silverstone Car Auction where there were five TVRs up for sale. Then after another coffee at the Tvrcc stand we all made our way home.
It was a great weekend! Many thanks to Jo for organising, and to those that attended.
Pictures from the weekend are up on the Event Galley.
Alex DRO