Stoneleigh 2012
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Stoneleigh 2012
Stoneleigh 2012 was another busy show for the JPSC. Here’s our club write-up.
Stoneleigh always runs Sunday to Monday, but as ever the JPSC arrived at our pitch in the middle of Saturday afternoon. Well when we say JPSC, we mean Pete with a tin-top full of club kit.
Luckily help was at hand, and Ian Archer & Pete put the marquee up – it can be done by one person, but it’s a whole lot quicker with 2 or 3. It was then that Edd texted Pete to say he was stationary in his Striker stuck on the M69 with a snapped cam belt. The decision had to be made before the recovery truck appeared – get carried back home, or get carried to Stoneleigh and pray that someone could track down a spare cam belt.
While Edd was making up his mind, curries from the local takeaway in Kenilworth were ordered, and just as we shot off to collect them, Edd turned up on the back of a recovery truck – the search was on for a cambelt.
Several more Saturday overnighters arrived during the afternoon and evening – Jim Giblett had to make a panic tent purchase when it turned out the poles were missing from his tent. A bit like Pete at Stoneleigh in 2011, when he discovered his son had left all the tent pegs on a hill in Shropshire a month earlier.
Stoneleigh has a history of cold nights, and whilst 2012 was not as bad as previous years, most people complained about the cold, but at least the sun was shining on Monday morning.
The organisers seemed to have changed the pitch layout in our area a bit, resulting in the Royale owners being further round the corner towards us. This, combined with a high turnout of their cars and owners meant we had a bit of mix and matching going on on the pitch. We will sort this out with the organisers next year.
Furys seemed to dominate on Sunday, with about 20 cars in total, including a couple of Strikers, a Fulcrum and the odd Phoenix, Mojo and Stylus. We have had a lot more cars than this in previous years (40 +), but may be the recession is hitting the kit car scene harder than we thought. Other shows so far this year seem to bear this out. Jeremy made an appearance, albeit not in his J15.
Public attendance was high, with plenty of people enjoying the sun, but what was praying on Edd’s mind was "Where will I get a cam belt from ?" Claire Rule came up trumps, but was struggling to get across to Stoneleigh, so after the JPSC AGM, Pete and Edd shot up to her house to collect it.
Returning to the showground after 4pm meant that all the supermarkets had closed leaving us with no food, drink, or charcoal for the JPSC BBQ, but an all night Tesco Express was found which had all we needed (its location has been stored for future reference).
Half an hour later, Edd’s new(ish) cam belt had been fitted, and the car seemed to run OK. His confidence in the ability of the club members to source and help fit a new belt was well founded.
Sunday night saw a group of hardy souls barbequing until it got dark, with the conversation moving from kit cars to the state of the Greek economy and back again (are the two related ?).
Monday started really well, with the sun out initially, but the weather forecast quickly came true, and it started raining at 10am, and stayed that way for some time. The public and the daily kit car arrivals seemed to have dried up (can’t blame them !) and with cars starting to get stuck in the mud on some of the wetter club stands, it was decided that we would close up shop at lunchtime on Monday.
So another Stoneleigh show out the way. As ever, it is always the biggest and best attended show of the year, and whilst things were quieter than usual, there were plenty of active clubs about and a good show from the manufacturers.
