June 10th Cock of the North Summer meet!

Gazcw

Member
Messages
7,696
Those of you that showed, thank you

Stevo, Simon, Zep, Eb, Alan, Mark…..also to Benny for popping down!

the rest of you no shows on the list, hope you had a good day! Don’t complain next time you wait 18 months for a meet
One of the difficulties of a weekday meet I guess. Work takes over.
I can only do a Thursday every few months but weekends most of the time.
 

Alan Surrey

Member
Messages
990
Thanks also to Zep, for taking time away from the table to look at my leaky brakes.
It's great to know that they are probably not leaky after all and to have seen the reason why !
Things like this simply can't happen without meeting.
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,114
Thanks also to Zep, for taking time away from the table to look at my leaky brakes.
It's great to know that they are probably not leaky after all and to have seen the reason why !
Things like this simply can't happen without meeting.
Are the brakes just worn then and that's why the fluid is low ?
 

Alan Surrey

Member
Messages
990
Are the brakes just worn then and that's why the fluid is low ?
Thanks for following up, Phil.
Zep was very helpful and showed me that, if you know what you are looking for, you can see the pad wear on all four corners with the wheels still on :). That confirmed that the pads are well down, though not dangerously low yet. This in itself accounts for low brake fluid and the warning I was getting on the dashboard, but of course does not rule out a leak. Well, that was yesterday. Today the car is booked in for all round replacement of pads with Ferodo parts and a mechanics eye over all the system looking for leaks. It is brakes we are talking about here; the things that save your life. The practiced eye of an experienced mechanic is in order to assess for leaks. Meanwhile, once the new pads have bedded in, I will be keeping an eye on the fluid level.
So, from next Thursday I will have a thoroughly ok-to-drive QP again :numberone:.
 

Doctor Houx

Member
Messages
791
Wot no car pictures?

We managed this at the Norfolk meet with justo 5 cars a couple of weeks back. Hoping for more at next one Sat 10th July
 

Dan!

Member
Messages
3,029
@dem maser

If you want to increase the turn out, there needs to be changes made to the event. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...

Yesterday, the Essex region of the Lotus Owners club had a breakfast meet at local garden centre - big car park, nice cafe.

Over 30 cars attended, no one drove more than an hour to get there. The drive was enjoyable as it was early Saturday, not rush hour Thursday. No time needed off work, and all done by 11am meaning that it didn't really encroach on the ready of the day.

And a decent breakfast.

Maybe consider a change to the SM meet format?

8675786758867598676086761
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
Messages
8,795
If you want to increase the turn out, there needs to be changes made to the event.....

I think the low turnout on Thursday was partly because the list of people committed to going was an inaccurate hangover from a previous list, and because a handful of people had to drop out at the last minute (most of whom gave their 'apologies').
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
Messages
8,795
If you want to increase the turn out, there needs to be changes made to the event. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...

Yesterday, the Essex region of the Lotus Owners club had a breakfast meet at local garden centre - big car park, nice cafe.

Over 30 cars attended, no one drove more than an hour to get there. The drive was enjoyable as it was early Saturday, not rush hour Thursday. No time needed off work, and all done by 11am meaning that it didn't really encroach on the ready of the day.

And a decent breakfast.

Maybe consider a change to the SM meet format?

But yeah:

Timing: Mid afternoon on a weekday doesn't work for everyone, and maybe a window of 3-9pm is too broad. A weekend breakfast might be a better option - but then, that option already exists (pre-pandemic) at Wilton, Haynes, Alton....

Food: Definitely good to have decent food - the pub grub was pretty good though.

Parking: It is nice to be able to park up en masse.

Location: Good to have a location where no one has to drive more than an hour, but tricky to arrange (unless we all move to Essex). Anywhere in this circle works for me :D :

86762
 

Alan Surrey

Member
Messages
990
@dem maser

If you want to increase the turn out, there needs to be changes made to the event. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...

Yesterday, the Essex region of the Lotus Owners club had a breakfast meet at local garden centre - big car park, nice cafe.

Over 30 cars attended, no one drove more than an hour to get there. The drive was enjoyable as it was early Saturday, not rush hour Thursday. No time needed off work, and all done by 11am meaning that it didn't really encroach on the ready of the day.

And a decent breakfast.

Maybe consider a change to the SM meet format?

View attachment 86757View attachment 86758View attachment 86759View attachment 86760View attachment 86761
Thanks Dan for your helpful suggestion. I'm with Scaf: Anyone going to the trouble of arranging a meet is worthy of our gratitude. I also agree that mid week is always going to be more prone to a low turn out. However the breakfast meet at Haynes motor museum last Sunday was attended by just James and myself. The venue was excellent - parking arrangements, which included marshals, were first class and spacious. Breakfast centred on an excellent bacon bap and tea fit for a man. The museum, which included a large piece on Stirling Moss and Maserati, was good for more than one visit and the adjoining A303 was good for driving back and forth. However, despite all this, just two of us there. But more Lotus than you could shake a stick at. Perhaps they're just more sociable or suffering less from long-lockdown. Aston and TVR were out in force too.
I think we should just keep on doing stuff as long as lockdown rules permit and hope more of us are able to get into the swing of it.
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
Organisation of events is a real pain, so hats off to those who do.

Having done this myself for both day trips and short holidays I know the amount of time it takes and the challenges with people changing their minds. (Raather challenging when you spend an age getting discounts because you promised 10 rooms/tables).

I anticipate the numbers who go are heavily influenced by the number of active members close to the event location, rather than the location in general... one can hardly sell the Ace in the quality of their food!
 

rs48635

Member
Messages
3,181
@dem maser

If you want to increase the turn out, there needs to be changes made to the event. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...

Maybe consider a change to the SM meet format?

Fair comment Dan!
Sure that any forum member could arrange a meeting. I will turn up to meetings as and when if fits with home and work life. No problem for me to include a forum meet in my day off, having invested xx years and £xxxxx in cars what else would I prefer to do?
 

Doctor Houx

Member
Messages
791
My North Norfolk meet was brunch at a top quality pub on the coast with a huge car park from 10 to 12 on a Saturday morning. The first one got 7 people and 5 cars being 4200, GS. GTS a Testarossa and a GT40!

I was encouraged by that and the feedback to do another one on Sat 10th July when I hope we can build on the numbers. North Norfolk coast is a bit remote, but great drive to it on uncrowded country roads can be very attractive.... see u there!