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French Car Show Feedback Wanted
- Thread starter Williams
- Start date
Venue was a lot better than rockingham
Felt space was at a premium for us (again)
Felt like we were just left and not really looked after by the events team.
Quite 'chavvy' still
Disappointed offer of rally ride was withdrawn and no notification given
No barriers as promised
All my opinion but don't think I'll take the vee next year. Better shows to go to.
Was good seeing everyone again though.
Felt space was at a premium for us (again)
Felt like we were just left and not really looked after by the events team.
Quite 'chavvy' still
Disappointed offer of rally ride was withdrawn and no notification given
No barriers as promised
All my opinion but don't think I'll take the vee next year. Better shows to go to.
Was good seeing everyone again though.
Well the word Donington seemed to entice people to FCS this year. Sadly it was little different, and even worse on the day, even after all the usual forum spamming and promises (which won't be allowed again).
Some have suggested the local McDonald's offered more space, an equally chav audience, plus cheaper food.
I've also been told some of you will not be going again or certainly not taking a Vee there. I was gutted to see pictures of our tiny space being overrun with other cars, seems other clubs were suffering just the same. I've read a lot of very negative, angry comments on various forums, and it hasn't filled me with any confidence. I was sitting with fingers crossed wishing for good reviews to come my way on the day.
I'm sure there will be fine excuses for this first draft at Donington, "Bigger and better things will come" , "We are listening to the clubs" etc.... To be honest I'm sick and tired hearing it now.
I won't be dealing with our club events next year, so any decisions for us to attend FCS (or not) will be down to our even greater events team. If FCS is on the cards for 2013 my name won't be on the attendance list.
Some have suggested the local McDonald's offered more space, an equally chav audience, plus cheaper food.
I've also been told some of you will not be going again or certainly not taking a Vee there. I was gutted to see pictures of our tiny space being overrun with other cars, seems other clubs were suffering just the same. I've read a lot of very negative, angry comments on various forums, and it hasn't filled me with any confidence. I was sitting with fingers crossed wishing for good reviews to come my way on the day.
I'm sure there will be fine excuses for this first draft at Donington, "Bigger and better things will come" , "We are listening to the clubs" etc.... To be honest I'm sick and tired hearing it now.
I won't be dealing with our club events next year, so any decisions for us to attend FCS (or not) will be down to our even greater events team. If FCS is on the cards for 2013 my name won't be on the attendance list.
Well now I'm home from work, I shall share with you my experiences of the day.. Hope you're sitting comfortably. [smilie=doubt.gif]
I got there shortly before 7am.. nice and early to secure our given 'pitch/stand', shown to me by a very polite and helpful steward. Had a nice chat with JT who arrived at the same time.. All very nice so far..
So.. all on my own.. playing guard dog.. thought I'd get ahead and start to give the car a quick detail after the drive up. Hardly started and 2 cars parked on the stand, no.. nothing to do with us or RAOC whom we were sharing with this year due to numbers. Turned out they'd given us the spot where all the track day officials usually park. Off to ask the steward to get them to move..
Our pitch quickly became a drive-through for all cars coming off the track to get their cars sound tested, also.. the queue for the track time log in was forming right across the middle of our allotted pitch.. no crowd control barriers.. Off to find my friendly steward again, who very promptly addressed the problems..
Next up was the arrival of 197.net. One of the guys who had a 200 cup, lovely looking car I have to say, shame the car didnt reflect the owners persona. He quite literally dumped his car next to the first of their cars that arrived which was also well and truely on our allotted pitch, the whole car. So I very politely and kindly asked if he wouldnt mind relocating his car on the 197.net stand and not the v6.net/RAOC stand, to which he flatly refused. I pointed out to him how these shows usually worked and that we required the space for other club cars that hadnt yet arrived, but no. Wasnt interested in being civil in the slightest. This guys attitude stunk. I asked him politely if he would reconsider moving back onto his own clubs stand but unfortunately with his negative and arrogant manner this clearly wasnt going to happen. I've never experienced such threatening type of behaviour ever at a car show, EVER! It was quite intimidating, infact I moved my car at the earliest opportunity as I just didnt feel comfortable with him near my car.
The next problem was the SAMCO rep's van. Not a problem with the guy himself, far from it, he was equally pissed off. After he'd finished setting up his stand, just to the rear of ours, he jumped in his high top, LWB Merc van to park it out of the way with all the other traders vans and was promptly sent back to our stand as there was 'no where to park' WHAT!? I dont know how many acres Donington Circuit covers but i'm pretty sure there would have been space for a van somewhere, rather than parked in the middle of out stand!! The poor driver had offered to park right at the back in front of the closed pit garages.. Just as well he didnt, as shortly after he'd parked the garages were opened.. these were the garages where the 2 F1 cars were parked! A great lost opportunity there for us to make something of our stand, with the back drop of 2 F1 cars that were almost entirely hidden from view by a large white van!
Once I felt comfortable enough to leave the car, I went for a wander... there seemed to be zero structure to the show with traders seemingly scattered about and no segregation of club stands. The whole show looked a mess. I didnt even know there were other clubs parked in field until it was too late in the day to take a look over there.
I have attended every FCS since 2002 when it was an intimate affair at Stamford Hall, then as it grew in popularity onto Bruntingthorpe (the golden days of FCS for me) and then onto Rockingham. This for me, was by far the worst show. A potentially great venue, and undoubtably superior track to Rockingham. But the layout was, at best, lousy. If it hadnt been for RUK having their show caravans and collection it would have effectively been a non event. Big thanks to JT for coming up trumps again here :bow:
I was expecting great things from FCS this year.. but oh dear.. was I ever wrong.
I'd spent a reasonable amount of time chatting to the FCS team, from having cars inside with barriers, cars outside with some sort of crowd control.. to possible new ideas for FCS 2013. Mark Dow even asked for a meeting with me to discuss our (v6Clio.net) requirements for next year and some new ideas for the show that I had. Now, admittedly, the poor guy had spent all week in hospital dealing with a badly broken leg, and I sincerely hope you make a full and speedy recovery Mark, though what happened to our chat..? We spoke very briefly mid afternoon, little more than a hello and how are we both getting on etc, but not even a 'speak to you later, sorry gotta dash'.
It goes with out saying how good it was to meet up with everyone that took the effort to attend the show, both old friends, new friends and new members.. 'snowy', good to meet you fella. Sorry you're car ended up being parked right at the back, shielded from view by the white van.
I think this was my last FCS, certainly with the v6. As Matt has mentioned, there are far better organised car shows out there. Just a shame they're not French car shows... yet.
Shaun
I got there shortly before 7am.. nice and early to secure our given 'pitch/stand', shown to me by a very polite and helpful steward. Had a nice chat with JT who arrived at the same time.. All very nice so far..
So.. all on my own.. playing guard dog.. thought I'd get ahead and start to give the car a quick detail after the drive up. Hardly started and 2 cars parked on the stand, no.. nothing to do with us or RAOC whom we were sharing with this year due to numbers. Turned out they'd given us the spot where all the track day officials usually park. Off to ask the steward to get them to move..
Our pitch quickly became a drive-through for all cars coming off the track to get their cars sound tested, also.. the queue for the track time log in was forming right across the middle of our allotted pitch.. no crowd control barriers.. Off to find my friendly steward again, who very promptly addressed the problems..
Next up was the arrival of 197.net. One of the guys who had a 200 cup, lovely looking car I have to say, shame the car didnt reflect the owners persona. He quite literally dumped his car next to the first of their cars that arrived which was also well and truely on our allotted pitch, the whole car. So I very politely and kindly asked if he wouldnt mind relocating his car on the 197.net stand and not the v6.net/RAOC stand, to which he flatly refused. I pointed out to him how these shows usually worked and that we required the space for other club cars that hadnt yet arrived, but no. Wasnt interested in being civil in the slightest. This guys attitude stunk. I asked him politely if he would reconsider moving back onto his own clubs stand but unfortunately with his negative and arrogant manner this clearly wasnt going to happen. I've never experienced such threatening type of behaviour ever at a car show, EVER! It was quite intimidating, infact I moved my car at the earliest opportunity as I just didnt feel comfortable with him near my car.
The next problem was the SAMCO rep's van. Not a problem with the guy himself, far from it, he was equally pissed off. After he'd finished setting up his stand, just to the rear of ours, he jumped in his high top, LWB Merc van to park it out of the way with all the other traders vans and was promptly sent back to our stand as there was 'no where to park' WHAT!? I dont know how many acres Donington Circuit covers but i'm pretty sure there would have been space for a van somewhere, rather than parked in the middle of out stand!! The poor driver had offered to park right at the back in front of the closed pit garages.. Just as well he didnt, as shortly after he'd parked the garages were opened.. these were the garages where the 2 F1 cars were parked! A great lost opportunity there for us to make something of our stand, with the back drop of 2 F1 cars that were almost entirely hidden from view by a large white van!
Once I felt comfortable enough to leave the car, I went for a wander... there seemed to be zero structure to the show with traders seemingly scattered about and no segregation of club stands. The whole show looked a mess. I didnt even know there were other clubs parked in field until it was too late in the day to take a look over there.
I have attended every FCS since 2002 when it was an intimate affair at Stamford Hall, then as it grew in popularity onto Bruntingthorpe (the golden days of FCS for me) and then onto Rockingham. This for me, was by far the worst show. A potentially great venue, and undoubtably superior track to Rockingham. But the layout was, at best, lousy. If it hadnt been for RUK having their show caravans and collection it would have effectively been a non event. Big thanks to JT for coming up trumps again here :bow:
I was expecting great things from FCS this year.. but oh dear.. was I ever wrong.
I'd spent a reasonable amount of time chatting to the FCS team, from having cars inside with barriers, cars outside with some sort of crowd control.. to possible new ideas for FCS 2013. Mark Dow even asked for a meeting with me to discuss our (v6Clio.net) requirements for next year and some new ideas for the show that I had. Now, admittedly, the poor guy had spent all week in hospital dealing with a badly broken leg, and I sincerely hope you make a full and speedy recovery Mark, though what happened to our chat..? We spoke very briefly mid afternoon, little more than a hello and how are we both getting on etc, but not even a 'speak to you later, sorry gotta dash'.
It goes with out saying how good it was to meet up with everyone that took the effort to attend the show, both old friends, new friends and new members.. 'snowy', good to meet you fella. Sorry you're car ended up being parked right at the back, shielded from view by the white van.
I think this was my last FCS, certainly with the v6. As Matt has mentioned, there are far better organised car shows out there. Just a shame they're not French car shows... yet.
Shaun
Matt":2eeoo3ya said:You forgot the guy with the mic asking if your vee has a body kit from halfords fitted
LMAO... I forgot all about that... :rofl:
The best part of the day for me too was taking those pics at the end of the day, and just generally having a laugh whilst doing so.. :approve: :approve: :salut:
Take away all the friends that I've got to know through owning these cars that were there, and the show really was a major let down. I'd consider myself a real 'die-hard' FCS fan, but this year has all but killed any enthusiasm I had left for the show. I wouldnt recommend it to any v6 owner after the debacle at the week end.
mick.harris
New Member
I've never really been to any car shows before, so can't really compare events like shaun, mossy and matt who are regulars at these meetings,
I actually thought it was O.K., although I was surprised people could walk between our cars on the day, I took it for granted they would be roped off in some sort of enclosure,
I basically parked up and went for a wander round for 2 hours but never felt comfortable where my car was parked
I was home for the moto gp that start at 1 o'clock so maybe that tells a story,
I thought the row of 4 different coloured vee's looked good though !!!
I actually thought it was O.K., although I was surprised people could walk between our cars on the day, I took it for granted they would be roped off in some sort of enclosure,
I basically parked up and went for a wander round for 2 hours but never felt comfortable where my car was parked
I was home for the moto gp that start at 1 o'clock so maybe that tells a story,
I thought the row of 4 different coloured vee's looked good though !!!
Haha, a car show where you're scared to leave it parked/have your face kicked in? It did make me chuckle for all the wrong reasons, good work Shaun
Glad I didn't bother (was thinking about it)
I hope you haven't killed the FCS guy's account yet, I really want to read his reply
Glad I didn't bother (was thinking about it)
I hope you haven't killed the FCS guy's account yet, I really want to read his reply
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