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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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