Firstly, thank you all for attending and making the event what it was, an overall success. I didn't see any tears, apart from a few children having to leave.

 

This event was possible due to the continued support of our members via Freedom. Thank you all.

 

To those with classic SKODA's, brilliant to see the warmth and love you apply to these cars.

 

To the show and shine entrants, again, amazing level of care and passion shown here. We had to pick five and I wish we didn't have too. Loved them all, even that JPS one, my better halfs personal favourite too, seems opposites do attract. 

 

To those who arrived and decided to have a go on the track. I hope you all found something great out there and discovered a little more about your driving and adrenalin. Some very big smiles on people coming off when getting out of cars.

 

The yeti went down a storm, marshalls and all were commenting, but really the briskrover was brilliant. Top marks Haydn for commitment.

 

My thanks to the following people for making the day go far easier and better, you made a difference. 

In no order I'd like to thank:

 

Damian for helping on the stand, in effect freeing me to get on track, thank you.

Jayne for presenting and interviews.

Peter for timelapse, steadycam filming and drone work.

Johnny for filming, general and in car. Video coming soon...

Martin for kicking of the parking organisation, and to those thereafter.

Clare (SWMBO ) for surprising me by turning up and getting stuck in.

 

Oliver Horton of Horton Skoda for investing in the day, he paid for the SKODA promotion units to be there.

 

Chris from Chris Knott Insurance, helping to promote and launch BRISKODA:Insurance along with ChrisKnott Insurance

 

Richard at Blyton park for hosting the event, most will agree it's great venue.

 

Rob from Formula1 driver challenge, that was good fun.

 

OPIE Oils for a £50 voucher. Sadly the competition for this fell through, we'll roll it to next month/photo of the meet award.

 

 

Those who helped on the day but I've forgotten to directly mention. 

 

Thanks also to SKODA UK who sent a merchandise unit, there's always next year.

 

Thanks again to those who made pretty long journeys, from Devon, Glasgow and Northern Ireland, if you came further get in touch.

 

So 2014 National meet is done, but not forgotten.

 

I enjoyed the day and learnt more from it too for the next one!

 

 

Thank you

 

Colin.

FEEDBACK

I'm also encouraging feedback from the event. 

 

By far the loudest so far in emails is location. The odd call for not on a Sunday.

 

As mentioned, location, strong feedback is for more central or southern meet, that's mostly due to the demographics and population density. Like dates, no location is ideal, all involve travel. I thought long and hard about Blyton over some other venues. Some we'd even used before.  Quality and experience should override distance, otherwise we'll just end up on the same car park year after year. Maybe that's something I'm missing.

 

Timing was pushed into August to gain support from SKODA UK, due to the tour de france. In hindsight this was a folly. Although most of the weekend dates in July for circuits were booked or a lot more money. 

 

Talking circuits, I think I failed to realise how much of a draw that would be to spectators. A near constant flow of people watching. Certainly from a planning perspective, two meets in one day was a bit of a split brain promotion at times.

 

 

Loosely speaking I'm entertaining the organisation of a bi annual national interjected with a southern/northern.

So PlanA:

2015: Spring South, Late Summer North

2016: National Central

 

PlanB:

2015: M1/5/6 National Show

 

Maybe a weekend format, camping, show ground, driving/local attraction etc. Sunday show n shine, stage, band.

 

That's a throw it up in the air theory, nothing booked. I am courting feedback in this thread.

 

I'm also looking for volunteers. this year was fun to organise and a lot of learning from last years day and feedback.  But next year I'm wanting to improve again. In reality balancing my own work demands means I can't do the prep again solo.

 

So please, constructive feedback.

 

Oh finally, a better name than briskoda national. fest, social, annual go on be creative, I'm exhausted

I was on track pretty much the whole time so failed to really take in much else of the day.  That side of things worked well and I loved it!  Mongrel just did lap after lap and no issues.

I'd just like to say that Clare has impeccable taste

And the meet was pretty damn good too

Great venue, the burgers were the best I've ever tasted, bar none

The Hortons boys seemed to really enjoy it, especially when let loose on track in Oliver's WRC Octavia

Some glass-like S&S cars which put mine totally to shame

A superb opportunity to meet Briskodians from further afield, and an excellently run day

All I'd suggest for next year is that we have an award for 'Clare's Car of the Show'

Bryan

I was critical of it being so far North of the population density, but to be fair I don't think it would have worked so well in places further South that would have been affordable.

A good circuit with run off to make first timers feel safe and enough more technical sections to keep those more experienced happy.

 

Getting stuck in traffic for an hour to cover the first 20 miles out of 200 made me think about turning round.

But it was the best meet I've come across with freedom for people do do what they want, wether that was going on track, watching or partaking the the F1 simulator, wheel change, looking at all the Skodas etc...Facilities at Blyton were good too.

 

There was enough there to keep people interested for some time.

 

It's not going to be easy to beat this.

 

It's a winning formula, but not a cheap one I suspect.

 

Kudos for organising and taking the financial risk/hit.

I'm proud to the the Member on this Forum and over the moon that I was able to make this Meet...!!!

 

It was really good and I enjoyed every minute of it. The Track, Show and Shine, all Skoda and finally Super Duper Friendly and Helpful Members... :sun:

 

Nothing can beat that...!!!!! :clap:

 

Thank you So much Colin and I can't wait for the Next Year One...!!

The meet was (as expected) an outstanding day, impeccably organised and delivered by Colin and all that supported him on the day.

 

Unfortunately I don't trust my car enough to put it on track, let-alone having my poor little 64bhp car lines up against Jason's 300bhp Mongrel or Richards 1,000,000bhp Yeti! Theres always next year! Spectating was a great addition to the day, especially with the spectacular exit of Haydn's Brisk Rover (I'm glad to hear its not as bad as it looked and that its already on the way to being fixed!).

 

One idea that was thrown around by a couple of people was the idea of having a "For Sale" corner. Having Briskoda members coming from far and wide gives a great opportunity to swap and sell that may otherwise be out of reach.

I understand that this would need quite a lot of thought as to how it would work. (Jumble sale/auction format, making sure its freedom members only selling as per the forum rules etc.etc.) But if done correctly I think it could be a great opportunity.

Another addition to this could be the newly formed Greenline, again having the chance to meet with people further afield and possibly getting parts back to those places with a little help from friendly members.

 

Thanks for the meet Colin and crew, Great weekend!

A day of great company, lots of Skodas, screeching tyres and sunshine ahhhhhhhhhhh   Location was spot on in my view, it only means folk further afield need to leave a little earlier and use a little more fuel (unless there is a sea in the way :( ). Definitely worth it and by the comments on some of the other threads, some gutted they didn't make it. Could always have it in Northern Ireland so that everyone is in the same boat, some great tracks to choose from that are economical!  :peek:  I would happily return to the same venue again, just not all in 1 day perhaps, but I had MOT booked on Monday so meant it had to be that way    :coffee:.

 

 

Tip Top Tastic Colin&Co, cheers for all the hard work.  :clap:

"Thanks again to those who made pretty long journeys, from Devon"

 

Worth every one of the 270 miles.

Thanks for all the efforts from Col and the others involved it was very much appreciated. We definitely had a great day. This was the first National meet we'd been able to attend due to me working on all the previous occasions and i thought it was really good day.

 

Location wise.... Well we were just over an hour away and i know others have complained that it was too far North..... Lets see... Having a look at a map of the UNITED KINGDOM it would seem to be pretty much spot on central North and South. It is rather more further East than it is West but i don't know if there are any other circuits that would have been further West.

 

Let's not forget Southerners.... There are Briskoda members who live North of the border and who would have a hell of a lot longer journey than yourselves had this weekend if the meet was moved further South. Life doesn't revolve around the area South of Watford!!!!

 

 

 

Anyway that's my 2p worth with regard the location.

 

 

 

I'm not sure having two meets (North/South) per year rather than one National meet would work.... After all that's the whole point of a NATIONAL meet.

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Dave.

My only criticism is that it centred mainly on the track, great if you wanted to spectate or go round it but for those with no interest in the track it left little to do once you had walked around the cars,

Gaydon was better in that respect as there was the museum to walk round.

 

Location is never going to please everyone but those who want to go will make the effort.

 

I also think one meet is better than two.

 

Maybe a full weekend meet with say the Saturday focused on the track and Sunday on the static shows / group / whatever??

Worth every one of the 270 miles.

And that's just the distance travelled around the track!

Agree the track was a spectators draw. And for sure off track, not much to do, well apart from socialise That's why it was good to get the f1 and Scalextrix & gokarts etc.

 

 

the north south debate is always going to occur. I think Blyton added miles by travelling east from the M1. The closer to the M1/5/6/40 corridors the better.

 

There was a for sale corner this year, but I suspect nobody was formally in it. Although I hear a few people talking about selling parts. Greenline, sure good call.

 

The two meets concept is based around the following year have a big single one. Plan C is keep a single national one, but slide it north and south accordingly.

 

I like the saturday/sunday split. Saves the split brain promotion too. Also had a few talks to other marques, making a show of shows. It gives us something extra to look at, or you can stay in the Skoda field.

 

It's all good feedback I'll keep pitching in and of course begin to reach out for an event team.

The DS3 club would probably be up for that Colin... Let me know if you want me to speak to the site owners?

Location wise did not mind it, seems pretty central and would not really want to travel much further North. The only headache was it being in the middle of nowhere, so access to the major trunk roads was difficult. I've never known it take so long to travel 11 miles from the A1, got stuck behind everything on the single carriageway A roads.

 

I travelled up with my mother as a day out for her, she enjoyed it even with nothing much to do. We did leave at 3PM, would have stayed later had it been further south.

 

The track was a big draw, and good fun for those who took part.

 

Having attended both this and last years at Gaydon, I did think there were a lot less people milling around and less cars parked on the access road than in the carpark at Gaydon. People also seemed to leave early, at 3PM the access road was getting pretty quiet.

 

If there was one loose I guess it was the Skoda merchandise trailer. Last year it was really popular, but this year I hardly saw anyone buying anything. My mum bought a cheap keyring, but the trailer did not seem to have much for sale available to buy.

 

Organisation, much better than last year. Having the show and shine in one place was much better, last year wandering around the carpark trying to find cars was problematic and time consuming.

I have not long got back after a further stay after the meet, I would like to echo the appreciation for Colin's hard work in organising the event.

For me it was closer than Gaydon last year having said that it was still 305 miles to get there!

It felt as if there was quite a low turn out compaired to last year probably due to the amount of vehicles using the track? As Gismo68 has said there was not much else to do after having a look around as I did not have much of an interest in the track side off the day.

We left shortly after 2pm

On the positive side we found an ice cream parlour in Blyton which has to be said was excellent!!

Having said that we are looking forward to the 2015 meet.

 

If there was one loose I guess it was the Skoda merchandise trailer. Last year it was really popular, but this year I hardly saw anyone buying anything. My mum bought a cheap keyring, but the trailer did not seem to have much for sale available to buy.

 

I have to agree with you on this one. I went into the trailer near the grain store and had a look, found a Fabia S2000 Tee-shirt I wanted but there were no medium ones there.

Other than that it was a great day.

MTPW

Geographical location: Book it and they will come. I believe Colin should apply the same mentality to this as a local meet. You'll never please all the people regardless. Those who want to make the effort to come will, those who don't, won't.

2014 Venue: Great. Loved the track element. On-site camping option was great, and would make me consider a making a weekend of it if that were an option for 2015.

My thoughts on a potential weekend format:

Friday: Friday night, chill-out, relax, BBQ & Beers etc. Perhaps some entertainment - there are members on here who are in bands etc.?? Artic trailers make good stages no?

Saturday: All the stuff you had this year on Sunday, some detailing demo's, an on site Dyno? some good old fashioned summer fete type games, coconut shy, throw a wet sponge, some clowns, stilt walkers, fire breathers and full-on Ibiza style transvestites for good measure.

Sunday: pack up if you're camping, drive-out/treasure hunt and Sunday lunch somewhere local or on-site hog roast

Folks would have the option of a weekend day only, weekend with camping, or Saturday Day only.

Wristbands a la festivals make really good tickets.

Name wise: Colfest. Briskodal Gathering

EDIT: perhaps a marquee for the weekend that could be multi purpose, stage for evening entertainment, and awards presentation. Shelter from rain and or sun. 'indoor' stalls.

Kiddies Karting? A Briskoda 'merch' stand.

A fully stocked stall selling detailing products... would have made a killing!

A marquee, probably a good call if some random field, and if a random field then:

 

A quick google puts a marque for 400 seated ( not required, but guide to size)  at 2 to 3k.

Portaloos are 78-80 each, 130 for a disabled access one. Toilet trailer, 5wcs etc 400.

+ a bung to the farmer for the field.

Last band quote was 1500 for a night, 4 piece. Although I'm sure some local bands would be happy to gig.

Stage hire, hard to say. A HGV trailer definitely cheaper, but quick estimates around 1100 to 1500 per day. 

Security? and clean up, maybe.

 

Soon adds up, but those are worst case top 5 google quotes. Not final or negotiated on.

 

As an aside, an outside led screen and film hire, say italian job is 1500-2k. 

 

Time to plan is almost upon me, best go and do some work first :S

 

Other choices would be camp/caravan park with good local tourist to support B&B/hotel requirements.

I'd be tempted to add a bar too

If in a farmers field, most farmers have a long flat-bed trailer for towing hay bales etc. The farmer neighbour to where I work lets us use hers for nowt.

 some detailing demo's, an on site Dyno? .

I like these, and a detailing demo by our site sponsor ChrisRs would be great if he would be willing to of course, or else someone else either from the forum or not. Dino would be a good chance for some of the modifying crew to see how they compare to one another.

 

A fully stocked stall selling detailing products... would have made a killing!

Of course. I would have bought a couple of bits from it to start with.

 

I'd be tempted to add a bar too

But of course it would be a shame if it were to be blamed for anything...

I enjoyed the informal atmosphere at Blyton. Plenty of room. Cafe and toilets available. I wished to purchase some clothing and accessories but nothing tempted me. A better choice and range needed. Some detailing products would be good. Dedicated areas for Skoda models to compare ideas. I loved the site, but, wondered if it was wet then their would have been problems. The idea of cars and parts for sale, second hand, tuning products etc. has merit. A fee per stall? Nominal for personal bits, a little more for semi professional product?

Colin, you organised a thoroughly excellent meet, thank you.

We have a lot more than just insurance partners Colin, was nobody else interested in opening a stall?

 

I know you tried with a local ice cream business which fell on death ears...