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Adam & I have had our entries confirmed for the YMF in June.

Really looking forward to this one.

I'm sharing the Mini with Wil Ker this year & Adam is in his A7 Special.

Mark F

And me, I’ll be out in Minty again.

Hum, well that was a "mixed bag" weekend.

On the positive side, both Adam, in his Austin 7 & Wil driving my Blue car got 1st in class, Wil finishing 4th overall. With me finishing a distant 3rd in class & Mick Brough winning the road going Saloon class in his ex Norman Grimshaw Cooper S.

This was probably over shadowed by the less positive aspects of the event. Regarding the Hillclimb, the endless queuing & waiting to get a run that was the feature of all day Saturday & then again on Sunday Morning, meant that a lot of competitors simply packed up & went home before close of play on the first day. Before this weekend I had never seen drivers punching their cars in frustration over massively extended waits. Eventually, the organisers reluctantly listened to our Star paddock marshalls from Harewood Becky & Christine who finally managed to get things moving properly on Sunday afternoon. But by this time it was far too late for a lot of competitors.

The track is very challenging, but I have to say that I did enjoy it. But like many closed road events, it's far more like a short rally stage than a hillclimb. This really didn't suit some of the cars competing leading to damaged cars & in some cases drivers too. Adam had so much trouble keeping his seven on the track that he did one timed run & went home as he feared injuring himself or the car before his race at Silverstone in a couple of weeks. As there was no real competition in the class it simply wasn't worth the risk.

I know a few other competitors also had problems with the surface, the most notable being Pete who had a big off in Minty, I'll leave him to elaborate on this in due course if he wants to.

So, I am sure you can see that this was a potentially good event, but with some huge issues. This is before we get onto the show & club stands. It was pretty much impossible for any competitor to get up to the show field but from what we could gather it was an absolute car crash with traders & punters being in very short supply & with many of those in attendance bordering on apoplectic with fury. This made the astonishing £30 entry fee totally unjustifiable. I feel genuinely sorry for the organisers as they must have made a crushing loss over the weekend. Even the weather conspired against them to piss it down on Saturday night ensuring that only the hardiest of people with free tickets bothered to go & see the very good bands that were performing on a what must have been an eye wateringly expensive stage.

The organisers are currently saying that the event will happen again next year. If it is to do so, there needs to be some serious head scratching as to how the event can be improved for everyone involved as this was far from the celebration of Motorsport we were promised in the blurb.

Personally, the only way that I can see it being able to justify it's existence is to reduce the size & expenses dramatically, so a more reasonable entry fee can be charged for Drivers & punter alike, which will hopefully increase the numbers attending. We will see what transpires.

Despite my spin into the banking on Sunday trying too hard at the wrong (bumpy) bit of track with too stiff suspension I really enjoyed the weekend with great company. Some great laughs that I really needed. Minty has suffered a low down hit into the subframe more than anything which knocked her front end out of cock, became airborn after spinning into the bank and shattered the front O/S Vortz on landing. The landing sent a shock wave up my spine which has inflamed an old back problem so abit sore today. I’m sure I’ll be fine, dented pride and bank balance but Minty will be fixed possibly without even changing any panels. The thing is if you’re not trying there’s not much point in being out there and it’s only my 2nd misdemeanour in 27 years (on and off) so I don’t feel too bad but carrying on doing this in Minty with an early 60s low back seat, harness and no proper cage in a car that deserves to be treated with some respect is probably not a good idea anymore so retirement feels imminent for this car.

As for the event as a whole, yes the track delays were annoying (ok I was responsible for one of them!) the food was extortionate, the layout is poor, spectator access and ability to actually spectate is poor, organisation still lacking, actual show content was way down on last year, car clubs virtually none but most of all the ticket prices were too high and that’s where it all starts to go very wrong because it was VERY quiet. I’ve been very honest about this with the organisers and I can’t imagine why any petrolhead doesn’t want this to do well, all the competitors do but I can’t see them coming back from this. Would love to be proved wrong though.
Not all bad news though, the music stage was a brilliant addition (albeit poorly sited, as the paddock is) it wasn’t charged for and at least two of the bands I’d definitely pay to see again! The weather was great and the craic was top quality but I know the war wasn’t predicted and ensuing cost of living crisis when they set the price out last year (which has hit everyone) but they really have some work to do if they’re going to survive.

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