NSRA Supernationals Old Warden, Bedfordshire August 6th to 9th 2015

The Super Nats at Old Warden Park (Shuttleworth College) is supposed to be “the” UK Hot Rod event of the year and boy did it live up to its reputation again this year. We were blessed with four days of fabulous weather so that helps the feel good factor of course. Sunshine and blue sky, what more can you ask for?

 

We arrived at 12.15 pm on the Thursday just after the gates opened. We now know to arrive later next time as people had been queuing since early morning for the 12pm start so there was a bottleneck to get in for the first hour or so but after that it was fine.  Once through, we set up our lawn chairs, had our picnic lunch and watched many of the 600 arrivals of the day file into the arena.

 After the Stapletons arrived we followed them up to a prime spot on the hill overlooking the show field where we all set up camp and then relaxed. We had a nice afternoon, sitting chilling and catching up with friends. Early evening, 11 of us strolled up to the Hare and Hounds for a very nice but expensive meal. Unfortunately disaster struck when Zoe slipped and fell down a cattle grid, damaging her hand but luckily not breaking her leg so instead of spending a chilled evening, it was destination A and E instead! Meanwhile there was some low key entertainment in the Terrace restaurant, a venue which I personally found soulless compared to the nearby tavern bar.

Photo by Ricky Stapleton

 We don’t do camping especially as we only live 10 miles away, so it was home to bed and back Friday morning for more chillaxing at camp. Shirley picked me up at lunchtime in her Morgan and we took the afternoon cruise route (checking the directions were all in order- they were!), taking a pretty route through the Woburn Estate where we briefly stopped to admire the beautiful herd of stags. Our destination was to a private car collection where we helped set up the food and drink in anticipation of the arrival of 25 Hot Rods; the chosen theme being good quality, shiny pre-49s and many of the owners being people who had assisted the NSRA in some way either in the past or in the present. 

Photo courtesy of Ricky Stapleton

They were an impressive sight all parked up together in the courtyard. Once everyone had a drink in their hands it was off to see the extensive car collection with entertaining running commentary. Almost everyone had a fantastic afternoon, ( including a Frenchman who said it was the best car day of his life!) enjoying the congenial company, the hospitality and of course the cruise itself, though Robin had a bit of a shock when a herd of stags bolted in front of his car on the route! 

                                                                                                                                                                      

Back at Old Warden it was good to see so many people congregating around the marquee so early in the evening. Having already consumed a couple of glasses of Prosecco, I had a glass of 7% cider and then proceeded to waffle for England (sorry Butch). It was a good evening. The Rolling Clones in the marquee were excellent. The new Tiki lounge also proved to be popular with many people. The Corsairs sounded really good but it was too noisy for me (what do you expect at my age!)

Saturday and we assembled in front of the marquee with at least 200 other cars ready for the cruise to Santa Pod, which took us around the beautiful North Bedfordshire countryside to get there. The club display of cars behind the fire up lane was pretty impressive. Sadly, the Santa Pod experience continues to disappoint. As we arrived, there had been a big oil down which took forever to clear up and was followed by the staff lunch break. Both of these were unavoidable but then racing was delayed because the trackside ambulance was away treating a spectator. This is inexcusable in my book. There were so many people who had paid £12 to get in and then £25 to sign on to race as well as spending money on catering, it is totally unjustified not to have a separate first aid post for the spectators. As racers we spend hours and hours at the track waiting to race because of bad weather, being bumped for other classes, track accidents and oil downs so to sit in the grandstand on one of the most beautiful days of the year for hours and still not see any racing was somewhat annoying. I feel sorry for all those that paid for track time only to get two runs if they were lucky. I’m glad we had free entry to the Pod! I hope the cruise goes somewhere else next year.

Russ waiting to race- Photo by Rick

Back at Old Warden we visited the Tiki Drome Wall of Death, another free attraction for weekend ticket holders. It’s not something I’d ever fancied but I really enjoyed it. It was exciting and impressive to watch the motorbike stunts in such a small enclosed space. The Tot Rod Cruise took us down Memory Lane thinking of Paul, Lee and Ricky who had so much fun driving theirs. 

 

Another evening of entertainment followed and there was something for everyone and once again everyone was out early. I’m not really a fan of Rockabilly but enjoyed Legal Tender’s take on it followed by the Houndogs. Paul remarked that there seem to be a lot more young people there since he last attended in 2010 so that’s all good.

Photo by Rick

Sunday, there was plenty of time for the weekenders to put their cars onto the show field if desired before the gates opened for the Sunday only crowd at 10 am. The show field was soon full and the overflow parking had to be used. The quality of cars over the years just keeps on getting better and better. My personal favourite was the little egg shell blue 32 roadster and Dave went for Dan Boone’s blue 32. It was a great day. We escorted Barry and Ness Treacy around the showground for a while and they had a marvellous day catching up with old faces.  Barry was astounded at how the scene has grown since the 1970’s and the quality of the cars on the show field. We got to meet Roger Attaway who has written a very informative book “Street Rod and Custom Showtime” which I’m really looking forward to reading. We had quite a chat with Nick Butler and his family as well as many others we only get to see once or twice a year. 

Prize giving proved to be a very difficult choice and it was good to Dave’s and my pick make the top ten. Participants’ choice- an Alvis Woody didn’t do it for me but I understand why it won. It was different and exceptionally well-built and a credit to the owner.

So another event came to a close and driving home it all felt a bit flat after such a good weekend. We are lucky that people are willing to step up to the plate to organise such events as these and I am one of many who are grateful they do.

Bedfordshire and Warwickshire Friday 31st July to Tuesday 4th August

 Friday 

 

The power of Facebook is such that it is an easy way to get an event advertised to like-minded people. I found Revs and Rhythms at Robert Bloomfield Academy starting at 4pm. We weren’t sure how busy it would be as it was the first one but thought if nothing else it would be a nice ride out through the mid Beds countryside. 

 

We were pleasantly surprised to find at least 50 other cars there by the time we arrived and we got to park next to a beautiful original Model T complete with picnic basket on the back.  probably a couple of hundred more came after us including Robin in his blue Model A Rod (which was Dave’s many years ago), Stuart Flitton and Chris Newham in his lovely black and red Model B.  

 

The Rhythm

part was a warm up act called Boo Sells (“if everyone boos at me I’ll take it as a compliment”) who gave a good rendition of many of the old favourites. His version of Hotel California was pretty good too and I forgive him for not doing the instrumental bit at the end with only a single acoustic guitar for company. The main band “Spacegoat” were a young group of male and female singers who had some very good material of their own as well as some excellent cover versions. One interesting feature was their “drummer” who achieved the sound of drums through his mouth! A novel idea that worked very well most of the time but the sound did have a tendency to overpower the rest of the band so a little work on the sound system would probably be a good idea. Nevertheless it made a nice change to hear some fresh musicians. The drive home was typical of the weather we have had this year. Most mornings have been sunny, then the clouds and wind come keeping the temperature down, then at tea time the wind drops, the sun comes out and we get to witness yet another beautiful sunset.

 

Saturday 

 

Another day, another car show, this time in Stotfold once again in Mid Beds at the green opposite the Coach and Horses. I decided to give it a miss, preferring to go round some friends for a barbecue so Dave went on his own. He arrived at the start time of 4 o’clock only to find the field was almost full. Many of the cars from the previous evening were there too as was Janet and Andy in the Noddy car. At the pub a French(!) Rockabilly band played to lots of fans of that particular genre, not our cup of tea but if it gets a crowd out I’m all for it. 

 

Sunday

 

With the weather holding for the third day running, we set off early to Long Itchington near Southam in Warwickshire, about an hour and 20 minute drive away for a breakfast meet better known as The Butty Run at the Long Itch Diner. We got a cracking parking place right outside the café and ordered a full English for Dave and a vegetarian breakfast for me (full English minus the sausage and bacon plus an extra egg and mushrooms). By the time we’d eaten, it was mad out there and the queue for the food was long for the rest of the morning too.

 

The car park was heaving, every spare piece of land was covered and cars were parked on both sides of the carriageways. It was a good job we weren’t in a hurry to leave as we were well and truly blocked in.  This meet on the first Sunday of the month has been going a few years but the consensus was that this was the busiest one ever. It made a really nice change and after a wander around the cars and bikes, we read the papers sitting in our lawn chairs and once the cars started to move on, we enjoyed the drive home back through the lovely Northamptonshire countryside to return home, then on to Lee and Dani’s surprise engagement party at the Stapletons home (a family link from 7 generations ago but in fact long standing friends and Hot Rod buddies.) 

 Tuesday

 

Tonight was a bonus.  The weather forecast was fine so we were soon on our way to a car show I hadn’t even heard of until 5 o’clock today, at The Dovecote and Stables in Willington. We arrived to find at least another 100 cars plus others came and went during the evening. We were lucky to get a good spot next to the Stables. Once again there was an eclectic display of vintage and classic cars, a few Hot Rods and many cars that are now deemed classics even though they were new out when we were first driving! On one side of us was a nice maroon Triumph Herald (Dave’s first car was a Herald) and the other side a very dirty and rugged looking Land Rover Defender. They seemed to be running out of room and people were remarking on how well supported it was this year. Judging by the number of American cars that are currently coming into the country at the moment let alone what is going on in other areas of the car scene, it is safe to say that enthusiasm for all things with a motor continues to increase. 

 

We bumped into Pete Hulatt in his Cobra AC and John Leydon in his beach buggy. Dave has only recently met Pete for the first time in 40 years. They were apprentices together. John is a long term friend of ours from my teenage years but he also worked at Cutler Hammer at the same time as Dave and Pete, who even went out with John’s sister for a while. Bedford sometimes feels like a very small place! John Huckle was there with his Woody Standard, the third time Dave has seen him at a a show in 5 days and Kevin Jones turned up in his Sunbeam. Looking around there were several cars that have popped up at all the local shows, proving that car nuts don’t need much of an excuse to get out and about, just a rain free weather forecast. We have also noticed that the classic car people (as opposed to Hot Rodders) turn up early to events but then most of them are retired.

The event was raising money for the National Trust, who are the guardians of the 16^th century, grade one listed Dovecote and Stables. The stones for the buildings were believed to have been taken in part from Newnham Priory following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry V111.  They were taking good money on the tea and cakes but could have been a little more pro-active with the bucket on the gate.