Club members assembled for the journey to Santa Pod at Chiverton Services at 0500hrs
Written by: Tristan Barratt
The day started misty which didn't bode particularly well but it seemed to brighten as we set off.
After stopping for breakfast at Bridgewater, we arrived at Santa Pod at 1130hrs after a good clear run.
The gates were opened at 1200hrs and we continued through to the campsite (AKA "The Quagmire"). Finding a dry enough spot seemed to be the challenge of the day, as the field was obviously drenched and muddy from previous events.
Once we'd found an island to pitch the campsite on, we ventured off to sample the delights of the pod on a warm and humid 'Run What You Brung' day. The rain managed to stay away allowing some good runs down the strip - arguably the most memorable being the huge motorbike that covered the quarter mile in about 6 seconds - equaling the time the jet car completes the run in!
The evening wore on and after much beer and merriment we eventually managed to catch a few hours sleep before the main event.
Sunday morning broke and with the club stands field too wet to use, the stands were all moved to the opposite side of the strip, on the tarmac area. Much better and hopefully where they will stay for future events, particularly as the Duchy stand was a minute's walk from the cafe! Ideal!
The joy of this show is the sheer variety of Classic Fords on display and even thought there seems to be an increasing number of more modern Fords it's good to still see the older metal so well represented.
From Concourse to stripped out Nitro cars, there really was a little bit of everything. One of the more notable entries were 3 Taunus Transit vans (never sold in the UK and bearing more than just a passing resemblance to VW Camper vans). These had travelled over from Europe especially for the show!
Rain did stop play for a short while during the day, which meant a couple of hours of drying out time but once accomplished, the drag strip re-opened, allowing a couple of runs for the ever-popular Jet Funny Car.
We eventually packed up and headed for the gates and the long drive home at 1600hrs. The most arduous part of leaving was getting out of the pod itself!
Once on the motorways, we again made good progress and all were home by midnight at the very latest.
The best show of the year and we cannot wait already for next year!
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