23 July 2012 - First Meet Review

Evening everybody!

So, as I'm sure you're all aware, the first meet was a great success. Numbers weren't massive, but those who attended all had a great time, and some came away with a few quid extra in their pockets!

The night started off with Aaron_206 waiting on me showing up in his 1.9 Diesel 206 (I was running late, believe it or not!), all by himself in the car park with a couple of his mates that he brought along. We had a chat and started getting to know each other, at which point 350ZGinger showed up in his tasty 3.5 litre Nissan 350Z, shortly followed by Benso18 in his Mum's 57-plate VW Passat, due to a badly-timed head gasket failure in his Beemer! We all had a bit of a chat, Aaron took some photos and everyone had a bit of a laugh. Just before we went into the track itself, Craigeboi showed up with a car full of people, followed by a couple of lads in an MR2 who didn't stick around for long. Unfortunately Andy in his 350Z couldn't stick around either, so he left before we went into the track.

As I had got a pair of tickets for the night through Tickets For Troops, I showed the girl on the ticket booth my email reference so me & Adam, the guy I brought with me, could get in for free. She informed me that she had four tickets down for that reference number, so a couple of the lads got free entry for the night as well. Winning already! So we headed in and got some food and drinks, waiting on the first race to start. Most of the lads had never bet on the dogs in the past, so a brief explanation was given, with help from the how-to guide in the front of the booklet that came with the entry fee.

So the races started, and everyone got really involved and had a proper laugh with it. One of Aaron's friends, Matty, showed up about halfway in in his classic Mini, complete with peeling Gaffa tape and rust on every panel! Still an awesome car, mind you!

I personally came away about £10 worse off, but some of the other lads came away a few £££s heavier, which is always good for a first-timer! Either way, regardless of money spent, everybody had a decent evening out doing something a bit different. Once we'd left the track around half ten, we pulled to the back of the car park under a floodlight to take a couple more pictures, and had great fun with a 'Disabled Parking' billboard. All the photos can be found HERE, and because of this, I would like to welcome Aaron to the team as the official Club Photographer. Finally, everyone said goodbye and headed home after having a decent night out!

During this event, we had got talking about what would be a decent second meet idea. The general consensus was that Go-Karting would be a good option, and with that in mind, I have already begun planning the next meet HERE. If people could leave their feedback on this, and any suggestions or ideas, they are more than welcome!

Anywho, enough of this essay, onwards and upwards with the club! We might be small-time now, but give us a few months and a couple more meets and we'll be growing before your very eyes!

Alex.

P.S. This is my favourite photo from the night, just for the comedy value...