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British Car Enthusiasts Brave the Weather to Support Children’s Charity with 2008 Show
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By Tony at 2008-09-23 09:30
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Despite the weather the British Car Enthusiasts Rally went ahead as planned on Sunday 7th September 2008 at Wicksteed Park, Northamptonshire. As with previous years the event raised funds and awareness for Make-A-Wish Foundation (UK) to help them bring a little happiness to the lives of terminally ill children. The money raised was slightly down on last year at almost £800.
As usual it was an early start for the organisers, beginning with an inspection of the rally field at Wicksteed, fortunately the ground although very wet wasn’t actually as bad as had been feared. The decision was made to show some true British spirit and proceed with the day as planned. The intermittent rain while setting up tents and display stands often brought the sanity of that decision into question but it was too late to turn back now, the team of volunteers from Make-A-Wish had their stand ready to go, as had G.W. Racing, who had brought along a selection of single seater race cars.
Eventually the trickle of cars arriving at the gate became a flood as groups from all around the country began to arrive. Before long over 70 cars had filed in and Jaguar, Triumph, MG, Rover Lotus, LDV and many others were represented. Predictably, many classic car owners had elected to keep their pride and joy safe and dry, but this just gave the more modern metal a chance to shine with the Aston Martin DB9 and the Beauford Classic Tourer kit car attracting a lot of attention.
Cambs Club Lotus arrived early.
Before long it was time for the Pride of Ownership Competition. After some very close results in the voting in previous years and to add a bit more variety, an extra “Chairman’s Choice” award had been created meaning that the final would now be fought out between five cars. The Categories and winners were…
Category A. Best modern saloon/hatchback/estate (made after 1995) – Steve Dobson, MGZS180
Category B. Best modern sports/coupe (made after 1995) – Tony Hall, Aston Martin DB9
Category C. Best Retro car (made between 1980 & 1995) – Mr Dobbs, Beauford Classic
Category D. Best classic (made before 1980) – Mr Hannah, MG BGT V8
Category E. Chairman’s Choice – Duncan Neal, Lotus Europa
The sun finally put in an appearance just in time for Samantha from G.W. Racing to present the prize packs donated by Meguiars UK car care products and it was then the turn of our special guest for the day, Jacob; who has spinal muscular atrophy; to select the Best in Show. After spending a few minutes looking round the final five, he chose the MGZS belonging to Steve Dobson , the ‘Typhoon’ paint; which changes colour according to the light; being the deciding factor. Steve later commented that it was the first time he had entered the car in a competition like this and was really surprised to win.
The DB9 of Tony Hall
Jacob was then taken for a drive round the field in the Beauford Classic, unfortunately this was the only car he could get into as he has severe mobility problems and needs to use a wheel chair, but he didn’t seem to mind and obviously enjoyed the experience.
Beauford Classic Tourer
With the sun still shining, attention turned to the auction and raffle. Items up for auction included a huge stuffed panda bear and signatures from past masters of the British Touring Car Championship collected at Silverstone earlier this year. Volunteers from Make-A-Wish then pulled the winning raffle tickets. The winners are…
First prize; Red Letter Days £150 gift card; Iain Morrison from Warrington.
Second Prize; £50 Marks and Spencer vouchers; Julia Colins from Northamptonshire.
Third prize; £10 Pizza Hut vouchers; Pamela Duggan from Cumbria
As the sky began to cloud over again and the team started to take down the tents, brit-cars.com event coordinator, Tony Palmer, commented that “The day has been remarkably successful given the conditions, while the turn out and money raised would have been much better if the weather had been on our side, we are happy with what has been achieved today. I have to say a huge thank you to all who have helped support this year’s event”.
The tentative date for the 2009 British Car Enthusiasts Rally is Sunday 6th September and an early booking has gone in for warm, sunny weather next time.
Special guest Jacob with Mum and Steve Dobson, owner of the
Best in Show MGZS180
Note for Editors.
brit-cars.com, an online community of like minded individuals who share a passion for British cars, motor sport and associated personalities. Our website contains articles covering latest news and reviews from the British marques we support and technical items written by our members, backed up by a very active forum and gallery of images. Our website is free for use by all and is a non-profit organisation, a website by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts!
Make-A-Wish Foundation® UK grants magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses. Established in the UK in 1986, Make-A-Wish has no cures to offer and all too often some of our endings are sad but, during desperate times when there seems to be no hope, Make-A-Wish steps in and provides positive and uplifting relief. Most of all, a wish granted brings a time of magic and joy for the special children and families we serve. Make-A-Wish is affiliated to Make-A-Wish Foundation® International www.worldwish.org It is now the largest wish granting organisation in the world and can be found in more than 30 countries on five continents.
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