Michael,
Thank you for your comments regarding the Lands End. I am however a little disturbed at the rumours at the end of your message. Do you know if it is anything more than a rumour at this stage? I hope not.
The idea of the Lands end running on any other date than Easter seems almost laughable. Why would anyone want it to change. Am I the only one for whom the Lands End is an Easter tradition? Has it ever run on another weekend? I am fairly certain it hasn't since the mid-60's!
It worries me to think that it is being moved merely to appease those who have to drive great distances home on the Easter weekend. I know that this is a headache with the traffic today. It took me almost double the length of time to return to London the following Monday! However I would gladly spend that time sitting in the car with everyone else and keep the Lands End at Easter. Its all about the adventure that so many Clasical Gas members have referred to. I think moving from Easter would in some way detract from that adventure. After all part of the adventure is recounting what you did over Easter, to everyone else who sat inside and watched TV for four days!
Is it a concern over accommodation? Surely not. Provided plans are made early enough this shouldn't be an issue. The one time I couldn't get accomoadation (my own fault), I had to drive another 200 miles at the end of the event. Admittedly I was shattered but again it was all part of the adventure.
I hope I am not the only one with this view, and further I hope this is only a rumour that the ACTC committee will laugh at when they hear it.
As for moving back to Newquay. Again I ask why? The Lands End should finish at Lands End. If this is not possible, then as near to it as possible. Why on earth finish it at Newquay of all places? The only advantage I would see is that maybe Bluehills would be the final hill again. However I would like to think we would still do Flambards which is a real MCC stopper.
Again I hope all this is a rumous but rumours have their way of becoming the truth. Maybe it is time for tradition to change? But what's next? Running the Lands End as a day trial?!
In my previous message I meant MCC committe not ACTC!
ReplyDeleteWell said Giles. I am only a newcommer to MCC events but do enjoy this Easter adventure. Good Friday alows time for a little last minute preparation before the evening start. Then do as I have done for 4 years, drive home on the Sunday in minimal traffic. For accomodation get the Penzance tourist guide, hundreds of places to stay and many will do just one night. This year we got B & B in a little private hotel next to the railway station and huge long term car park and only booked 2 or 3 weeks before the event.The food problem was sorted this year even for us late numbers at the excellent finish venue.Please do not move from Penzance, its a great finish town with plenty of accomodation.Stuart Harrold
ReplyDeleteI too am amazed that the MCC would even consider the idea when they have such a successful format with a huge entry and a vast number of interested spectators that turn out, many of whom are on holiday in the area over the weekend and would not be able to make it at any other time. As regards finishing the trial, I think Penzance has proved itself as the much better venue due to the lack of amenities elsewhere. I mean, at Lands End itself you could almost be in outer space - there's just no atmosphere! Did anyone also know that the MCC have decided to go back to making the failure of a Special Test count as failing an Observed Section on the Lands End again. I thought the whole idea of abolishing that and running the tests in prominent venues such as Bude, was to provide a spectacle for onlookers, not for people to watch cars pussy-footing around making sure they don't go the wrong way or hit cones. They may as well not bother with Bude altogether and just run the test in an old lane somewhere as before. There are obviously some things that we mortals are never supposed to understand!
ReplyDeleteRe the failures on Special Tests subject.I think that the columns headed failures are meant to explain to competitors where they went wrong if they have a time which they feel is in excess of the time they took.From what I can see of the results (and I didn't check each line) no one was failed a section for cocking up a test.We made a pigs breakfast of Bude (wrong route) but that didn't stop us getting our Gold.Please don't move the LE from Easter. We wouldn't get anywhere near as many spectators and we wouldn't get the extra day to recover before going back to the daily grind.Chris
ReplyDeleteGiles,Definately only a rumour, I did not hear it from a committee member but I believe it was well founded. The person who told me is part of an informal "keep the lands end as it is movement" and I guess he told me because he knew I would post it here!Michael
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good movement to me Michael. Lets hope nothing comes of it, but it must be being considered from what you have suggested. The new trials calendar will be discussed in a weeks time at the next ACTC council meeting so any changes from the proposed format would, I'd have thought, become apparent then.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone. I believe that the mysterious and vocal "Escort" was meaning that the failures on Special Tests were to be re-introduced from next year onwards, rather than that they were inforce at the moment.It would be ludicrous(not sure of spelling)to change the date, but if we want to rid ourselves of hundreds of spectators it of course must be the way forward.
ReplyDeleteI also hope the LE doesn't change from Easter, at present most of Good Friday is spent on those last minute jobs (changing the engine/gearbox/clutch etc. .....) but more seriously with the current time schedule it would mean time off work which adds to the expense for some people and like Chris Phillips said earlier I also like the extra day to recover.Are you sure you didn't hear this rumour on April 1st Michael?
ReplyDeleteI quite agree that the date for the Land's end is easter, although I do wish Easter didn't move its date around so, something to do with the moon I believe. As for the finish, I think this year's event proved that we could have an excellent venue for it in Penzance. It would be terrible to lose Flambards although I do see that Trungle mill kept its Norwegian Eurosong score of Nul Fails at least for the cars this year.Tony
ReplyDeleteThe Land's End is easter, time for us to spend an extra day in a very beautiful part of the world, or nip back early to a day relaxing at home. If some people are considering moving the Land's End from Easter for no apparrent reason then could I also ask that we consider the Exeter and the Edinburgh, as my wife's birthday is in the first week of October, as coninsidently is my father's wife, so if that could be moved a couple of weeks later that would suit me much better! A extra week to recover from the Christmas and New Year festivites would good too!The other subject of special tests I find a little confusing. Surely we should be deciding the outcome of our finish, or award, on the the hills. I decided to compete in trialing not autotesting so as a piece of fun around the cones is a good entertainment.On the different tack I seem to remember from "Wheelspin" CAN Way describing special tests timed on hills. What about a timed ascent of Crackington, include the restart as this year flag for the various classes with restart marshal to drop the flag after a very small length of time. Just a thought.Mark Ps Can't find the spell check apologies
ReplyDeleteFollowing on from the last paragraph of Mark's 'reply', and my apologies for once again promoting the Stroud Anniversary Trial (although it does show that our ideas are in tune with a large number of the potential competitors), but we currently intend to have a least one special test which involves a 'timed climb' (as they were known PreWar) but with our own particular twist - and it's on a hill with a solid PreWar history that has not been used for a car trial for years.Andrew
ReplyDeleteMy vote is to keep it at Easter !I like the thought of a "timed climb" for some sections, would liven up Trungle Mill a bit !!Also I'm in favour of the "autotest" type special tests, much more interesting than a straight Line A to Line B.
ReplyDeleteThose at the ACTC Council Meeting will now know that moving the Lands End away from Easter is not a rumour. Those who feel strongly about this change to tradition should attend the MCC AGM when it will be debated, but be warned - the only way to get it back to Easter may be to offer to take over the organisation of the event yourself.Andrew
ReplyDeleteIt is the Lands End organising team that wishes to move the event, at their post mortem meeting, the team voted 100% in favour of the move. They did so for solid organisational reasons. BUT! Their's is not the final say so, the idea has to be approved by the MCC executive which meets next on Thurday Evening 6th June so those that are opposed should lobby the committeee members that they know. As Andrew Brown says, you will also have your chance to say what you think at the AGM - 15th July at a venue near Reading. You should also bear in mind that the originator of the idea was John Aley, our President and a person who is a great traditionalist. If he wants to move the date there will certainly be a very good practical reason for it.He is currently writing a papare on the pro's and cons of the move which I will post on the MCC site as sson as I have a copy of it. One of the reasons for the move is undoubtedly the difficulties of getting organising assistance at this time of year, not just on the day, but making the commitment months in advance. So, as Andrew Brown says, Ifyou really want a Lands End at Easter, be prepared to put your time and effort where your mouth is. And before anyone says that they live too far away, remember - The C-of-C lives in Gloucestershire, The Exeter secretary lives in Kent, The Exeter C-of-C lives in Birmingham and they manage it.As for dates in general, remind me to explain the ACTC week numbering system to you sometime.
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