Cholmondeley Pageant of Power (CPOP) 15th-17th June

[Sean Smallman]

Mud, mud glorious mud.

I got in all right, quite a few are being pushed after getting stuck.

Off to find a bacon butty

[PaulPSB]

Mud, mud glorious mud.

Its always a big problem as it will only get worse with cars running across. Been to a few shows over the years that required a diversion to a jet wash on the way home to remove all the mud from under the car

[GlennS]

I've given up.

I've managed to extract the 944 from the camp site, thankfully without the aid of a tractor although my mate wasn't so lucky in his Zafira. Those Bridgestone Potenza S02s are better on mud than I thought!

I'm now "safely" ensconced in a Little Chef about to comfort myself with an Olympic Breakfast.

I might go again, but I wouldn't take the Porsche; I can make better use of the mileage and it is obvious that the car club presence is an afterthought at best. The efforts made by the organisers to support us were minimal, bordering on contempt.

[Sean Smallman]

As an organiser myself, I am reluctant to slag off others efforts. I have to agree with you Glen, contempt is a good word to sum it up.

They have done nothing over the last 24hours to sort out the roadways. Straw would helped enormously, my 4S was the only car to make the Club parking unaided this morning.

They closed access to the area at 8am, which confused everyone.

The event itself, had it been dry would have been ok for a day. Not enough going on for a weekend, the track cars get 4 runs a day.

No Silverstone Classic or GFOS, disappointed to be honest.

Sad that the CGT spun out under braking, hopefully the bill isn't too big

[GlennS]

I had seen the car entry lists from previous runnings of CPoP so I'd like to think my expectations of the event were "reasonable". I wasn't anticipating anything on the scale of Goodwood or the Silverstone Classic. The event itself would probably have satisfied me over a leisurely weekend in decent weather, particularly if we'd had some good car-club banter going on.

What disappointed was the poor camping area which was singularly lacking in facilities or preparedness. A waterlogged, sloping, un-mown field which rapidly turned into impassable mud with half a dozen portaloos frankly isn't good enough. Once my car was in there on Thursday night it was stuck. No chance of taking it down to the club area, no chance of taking it out in the evening to find a nice local restaurant... stuck. From Friday afternoon onwards they were towing cars INTO the camping area with tractors. That went on for much of Friday night so sleep was "difficult". In case you think I am exaggerating just how bad the field is, let me tell you that Land Rovers and other 4x4s were having to be towed around by tractors too. They couldn't cope with the conditions in that field either.

The car club area was much Sean described. Another area of lumpy, saturated ground which hadn't seen a mower in quite some considerable time. The access "roads" were appalling. Car clubs and their members spend a lot of time getting cars looking good for these events and it is reprehensible for them to be treated so poorly.

This obviously wasn't a one-off mistake. The MX5 Owner's Club was camped in the field next to us, had been going to Cholmondeley for several years and knew the drill. They'd reserved a camping space, marked it out and brought their own ride-on mower along to cut the grass both in the camp site and down in the club display area. They'd brought along a 4x4 "support vehicle", towing for the purposes of, and they'd also arranged with the organisers to take their cars down on Friday night by driving along the track itself after the Friday sessions.

CPoP had ample warning of awful weather this weekend and ample time to make contingency. They didn't. That's where they failed in my opinion.

p.s. if anyone from the MX5 Owner's Club happens to read this I'd like to say "thank you" for your hospitality on Thursday night and the good company over the weekend.

[Sean Smallman]

I did not take many photos, left the camera in the car

[duncs]

I went to the fireworks concert last night (which was excellent as usual) and got the chance to walk along the track and suss out the ground around the car club area. I saw the MX5's in force and also the MGF's and the Vauxhall club! But other than that not much going on in the club area so many must have given up the ghost. Last night I was debating whether to bring the 944 when I go today, until I saw a Defender getting itself stuck in the mud on the field and needing some hefty pushing - that pretty much made my mind up that I'll be taking the Touareg!

Duncs

[Sean Smallman]

I went to the fireworks concert last night (which was excellent as usual) and got the chance to walk along the track and suss out the ground around the car club area. I saw the MX5's in force and also the MGF's and the Vauxhall club! But other than that not much going on in the club area so many must have given up the ghost. Last night I was debating whether to bring the 944 when I go today, until I saw a Defender getting itself stuck in the mud on the field and needing some hefty pushing - that pretty much made my mind up that I'll be taking the Touareg!

Duncs

Wise decision