Header Image -

Monthly Archives

3 Articles

The Legendry Grand Tour, North Devon – Saturday 26th – Monday 28th August 2017

by admin
The Legendry Grand Tour, North Devon – Saturday 26th – Monday 28th August 2017

As every year, The Six Ex MOC support this annual event which whilst having fun raises much needed money for the Children’s Hospice South west for chronically ill children.

August 2017 saw club member’s heading towards North Devon for this 22nd year event which included Steve, Rachel, Dave, Alix, Len, Luke, Dawn, Nick and myself. Steve, Rachel, Dave, Alix and myself camped this year, away from the main group of event antendee’s, at Westacott Farm which offered more in the way of “the comforts of home” compared to that of the campsite at the Big Sheep. Including electric hook up to enable us to even have an oven!!

The Legendary Grand Tour is unlike any other motoring event in the country because it is not confined to a field but let loose on the roads of North Devon. What makes our event so special is that the Mini cars, which are at the heart of this event, do not drive off in groups of 20, or 1 every 3 minutes, but in a convoy one after the other. You could never call the LGT the biggest motoring event in the country, because it is restricted to 250 Minis, but when it is out on the open road in a convoy travelling at 30 mph, it is nearly 10 miles long and can take 15 to 20 minutes to pass, so it must be one of the longest. The convoy visits many different towns and villages across North Devon, in fact, it joins some of the towns and villages together. It brings thousands of people out into the streets to watch the mini’s go by invading housing estates where people are sitting on their front lawns drinking tea and sipping glasses of wine and waving flags from behind homemade banners. The spectators will fill lay-bys and they will be standing on bridges laughing and smiling and waving as the convoy goes by.

Over the past 22 years, the Minis have been taken into the hearts of the people of North Devon and that’s how the event can do what we does and get away with it. There is an incredible reaction from the children who drag their parents out to watch it year after year. They cheer and dance when they hear the mini’s coming, their Mum’s and Dad’s, Nan’s and Grandad’s smile and wave as they go by. Maybe it bring’s back a few memories of a time when they had a Mini and how the whole family squeezed into one to go on holiday. It is amazing to think some of those children who originally waved at the convoy all those years ago now have children of their own who come out and watch as it goes by. This year the crowds were even bigger than normal and we especially noticed this on the drive out from “The Burrows” on Saturday Night which ended up in Appledore.

This year the Six Ex Member`s raised over £550.00 towards the charity whilst dressing up at “Cardinals” in their mini’s for a second year. Some of the reactions we got was amazing and Miniworld Magazine even wanted us to pose for a photo for the magazine.

We all had a great weekend and look forward to attending the event next year on the Summer Bank Holiday in August. We look forward to seeing you there!

Rich Clark

Swindon and Cricklade Railway Classic Vehicle Show – Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th August 2017

by admin
Swindon and Cricklade Railway Classic Vehicle Show – Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th August 2017

A late addition to the show calendar, we only found out about this event at South Cerney Extravaganza a couple of weeks before.  The show hasn’t been held for several years and numbers were down on what they had previously been although the organisers hope to build this up again in the coming years and have taken club contact details for next year.

Carenza attended on the Saturday and Jean and Nick attended on the Sunday with Jeans Cooper and a first show outing for Nicks new Wolseley 1300 which had been picked up the previous day after seeing it for sale at the South Cerney show.

Entry to the show was free for those displaying vehicles and included train tickets.  The line has been extended in the last year toward Swindon and work is now progressing to extend on toward Cricklade.

Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza – Friday 4th – Sunday 6th August 2017

by admin
Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza – Friday 4th – Sunday 6th August 2017

Rachel, Steve, Nick, Dawn, Paul, Jean, Len, Carenza, Dave, Alix, Michael and Bryony – together with guests from Mini Fixers (and a couple of well-behaved dogs) – all pitched up over the course of what turned out to be a really enjoyable couple of days.

We arrived early on the Saturday morning and quickly erected the club stand and both gazebos.

This immediately prompted the most torrential thunder storm we had witnessed since the Lydiard Park event a week or so previous. For minis / Elf’s that don’t like to get wet, it hasn’t been a fortunate couple of events! However, safe and dry underneath, we waited it out with tea and many bacon rolls until the sun re-appeared about an hour later and decided to stay, at which point we quickly dried the cars and watched the whole site come to life.

Now in its 43rd year, the show attracts thousands of visitors and enthusiasts from all over the country, displaying modes of transport ranging from bicycles and scooters, to traction engines and tanks. Truly something for everyone.

Our minis sat perfectly amongst the myriad of classic vehicles on show, and, as always, received warm support from the public. We spent many hours happily chatting to people who fondly remembered when the ‘mini was my first car’.

This really is a huge event and you do need two days to take it all in properly. But what a lot to see! There were vintage fairground attractions such as carousels and travelling pipe organs, and numerous hobby stalls and trade stands where you could buy anything from a hideous piece of taxidermy, to a beautifully preserved Wolseley 1300. One of those items was purchased by a club member, but we won’t divulge which!

Hundreds of classic marques were on show and, after more bacon rolls, we had a wonderful time nosing around the rows of Fords, Plymouths, Cadillacs, Austins, Singers, MGs, Triumphs and countless others; meeting the owners and hearing their stories, before enjoying a beer or two whilst watching a rather mesmerising display of vintage tractors criss-crossing the arena.

The site, as always, was clean, impeccably maintained and, despite the heavy rain on the Saturday, completely mud-free. The benefit of this event is that nothing compacts a sodden bog into a useable road quite like a 100 year old steam roller! The only slight disappointment was returning to our pitch on the Sunday to find that some helpful sod had decided to steal one of the gazebo’s feet overnight. Very irritating but, being the optimistic bunch we are – and after a few more bacon rolls – we just appreciated that they only took the one, and remained silently stoic about our unrecognised donation to some another disabled, less fortunate gazebo than ours.

After watching the magnificent procession of vehicles making their way into the arena for the final Sunday display, some of us joined the queue to leave, and some of us went to find chips. It didn’t really matter what time we left, we all got caught. Being stuck in a traffic jam can be unpleasant, but when it’s a summer’s evening traffic jam made up of Minis and every other classic under the sun, it’s something you just have to sit back and enjoy. And enjoy it we did!

In all, a wonderful weekend. Roll on next year!