CholmondeleyPageant of Power 2009otherwise called Bears get muddy in the woods!
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The Cholmondeley Pageant of Power took place on the 18th and 19th of July at the magnificent Cholmondeley Castle Estate in the depth of the countryside South East of Chester. The event centres on classic racing cars, rally cars and motorbikes, running on a sprint circuit on estate roads lined with Armco and straw bales. |
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The cars on-track ranged from 3-Litre Formula 1 cars to hot rally cars. Top racers included Alan Jones’ Championship winning Williams FW07 and an ex- Jackie Stewart BRM. The tree-lined track was beautifully smooth, with some good straights and some really testing sections. Spectator viewing was excellent and close to the action. The rally cars were in their element in the twisty bits where the fire-breathing yellow and white Audi Quattro put on a great show, spending much time sideways. Fastest time of the day, though, was set by well-known historic racer Justin Law driving a Lister Jaguar Coupe. |
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The static displays were fascinating, with Bentley and Bugatti in starring roles. The fabulous Veyron Grand Sport was there, as was the modern Le-Mans winning Bentley racing car; but the star for many was the enormous Bugatti Royale, in which did a lap of honour at the end – chauffeur driven of course.
The Cholmondeley Estate covers a vast area and there are well-surfaced access roads, however, the layout and site logistics was such that although the Sporting Bears booking desk was in the busy centre, the garage was in a fairly remote corner about two-thirds of a mile away to allow easier exit to the Dream Rides roads. |
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Thursday afternoon a couple of brave Bears in torrential rain (thanks Andrew and Graham) helped set out the garage area with metal fencing and secondary mesh fencing to control a secure car park. Friday arrived and again early Bears arrived (Janet, Andy and Graham) along with torrential rain to set up the stand and complete the garage area with safety notices and banners. Giles (beautiful XK120 previously owned by Giles the cartoonist) arrived early on that afternoon and Mike then spent an hour cleaning the mud off returning Saturday morning to complete the polishing. Later Bryn from Performance Legends arrived to deliver his Lancia Integrale Martini to complement the static display – thank you both! 8pm, display cars in place, gazebos set, garage area double fenced, off to put the tents up and get some food and sleep when I receive a call “the gazebos were blown down” and the whole stand had to be rescued by the “Real Men” of the Army Benevolent Fund who saved the wreckage. Once rescued we set our alarms an hour earlier and thought happy thoughts when we then noticed the garage was being over run by arriving motorhomes belonging to the power boat racers, (an insane breed of daredevils who know no fear) moving our fencing to use the metal matting reserved for the sports cars to get grip and drive through, civil war broke out and we had to defend our area and salvage the fencing and matting, o what a night! |
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Saturday arrives and we team up to try to repair the garage area, display gazebos and smile. Phil had already arrived and braved the rain under canvas with his great Corvette Pace Car through the night and new arrivals must have looked at the garage area and thought what have we agreed to! In true Bears Spirit every driver mucked in – literally – as we were parking TVRs, Ferraris and Porsches asking Mark to inch reverse his Ariel Atom between the Lambo and Marcos so we could at least look at the area. Mark Preece with his Lola arrived and grabbed a spot next to an Ultima to secure the matting. Due to the chaos we parked a Masa and Venturi with the Evo behind and then set to finishing the essentials for booking that I had left in Janet’s tent and were now needed ½ mile away at the stand – sorry Kim! From Scotland Mike and Helen Webber attended in Dino replica and Jaguar XK respectively. Carlube Oils and Lubricants kindly provided first aid kits and fire extinguishers for all drivers, as well as bringing a hot TVR and a Lotus Exige with drivers. |
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During Saturday morning we did see a little sunshine although the cool wall was affected by the wind so Heath Robinson stepped in and we made the best we could. Kim and son Jake came up and helped out with Julie Gardner and Helen Webber on bookings while Janet dealt with flyers, raffle and membership and trained Andy Hulse in the art of Dream Rides bookings, leaving Julie and Helens husbands Mike and Mike (is everyone called Mike on the Bears!!!) to polish mud off their Marcos and Ferrari ready for the day. Dream Rides was postponed till 11.30 due to the weather but we finally had a great line up of cars to offer the public who for many will be the first time riding with the Sporting Bears Dream Rides. |
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Saturday Cars
01 Ferrari 348 LHD Spyder
(courtesy of Carlube Oils and Lubricants)
(courtesy of Carlube Oils and Lubricants)
12 Lola T70 Spyder |
With the booking stand having only two static cars and the ‘Cool Wall’ to get their message across the rides were moderately priced to get Dream Rides established at the event and the team there pushed hard to raise the message for Sporting Bears.
All in all Saturday finished a great success with some quick lessons to improve Sunday implemented. We packed down the stand and gazebos and stored away to watch the amazing Fireworks and Classical concert complete with The Royal Artillery live cannon fire for the 1812 overture and parachuting fireworks through Dambusters while Chun in his Lambo, Steve in his Porsche GT3 and Mark in his Ariel Atom all drove south together which must have made someones day to see that convoy dropping down the A49.
On Sunday cash bookings were also taken at the Garage, utilising walkie-talkie communication to avoid double booking. Sporting Bears members Jane brought along her amazing XJ220 to change the Sunday mix along with Jay Hales Morgan Plus 8 and a Fiat 124 Abarth owned by Classic Cars writer Ross Alkureishi. Finally the Carlube TVR had mechanical problems so just the Lotus arrived, Steve Bell managed to prize his Impreza away from the repair shop to drive up and Bryn completed the change with a great example of a Porsche 993 racer straight from Japan with skirts low enough to test our matting. |
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Over both days the weather played the role of welcome to British Motorsport and most public parking was on grass, which soon turned to mud, thanks to the torrential showers that blighted the weekend, and which caused the track to be closed and the Dream Rides to be suspended for a while. Fortunately the organisers were prepared with towing vehicles on standby, tons of straw and pallet loads of sawdust. That said it did not rain ALL the time and there were enough sunny intervals to do the occasional Dream Rides ‘roof down’.
Totally unaffected by the weather were the ”Dancing JCB’s” which put on an immensely popular display of synchronised tricks, rather like earthbound Red Arrows, and just as noisy, if a little slower. Equally at home were the Army, who put on an action-packed display of fighting vehicles roaring round a “battlefield”.
Between the track action the power-boat racing on the mere and Army and RAF helicopters in the sky, and a glorious Spitfire display were all outdone by the jaw-dropping solo performance by a plane from the Breitling aerobatic team. |
Sunday Cars 01 Ferrari
348 LHD Spyder
(courtesy of Carlube Oils and Lubricants)
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The rides produced a total of £2230 and new Bears were recruited over the weekend, with further possibilities in the future. Well done to all the team for making it all happen!
Finally a big thank you goes to all the people who helped and also to the following companies without whom we would not have been able to function at the event, please ask them to quote for work you may require in business.
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Electromech Engineering Services Ltd – 2 fully expensed mobile phones for 6 months, a laptop and the generators. Carlube – two great cars (TVR and Lotus) with drivers, fire extinguishers and first aid kits for all other cars taking part plus Framed Prints of the TVR and Lotus to raffle. Cheshire Oaks Audi – Audi R8 with driver. Herbert Walker & Son (Printers) Ltd – 20,000 A5 colour flyers Hobs Reprographics – Dream Ride tickets and booking sheets. The Safety Shop – Health and Safety Signs (Sporting Bears Car Park) Speedy Hire – Pedestrian Fencing (Sporting Bears Car Park) Oldfield Primary – Mesh Fencing (Sporting Bears Car Park) Sitelink Communications Ltd – Base station and 5 Radio sets Arco - loan of High Visibility waistcoats Ryman Stationers Ltd – Various stationery items Evo Magazine – Limited edition prints to Raffle K&N Filters – 2 x filter sets to Raffle CES UK Ltd – £50 voucher to Raffle and £50 donation to the Bears. |
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As our first venture into Dream Rides at CPoP we had secured a place on the Map boards site around the site and a half page piece in the program so for a first year we were well represented although lessons for next year are listed for discussion.
Janet McPherson (Sporting Bears Membership sec) will present the cheque to Lt Col Philip Aindow MBE TD, North West Regional Director of Fundraising for the Army Benevolent Fund on 10th November before Armistice Day and for the local drivers coming across it will be a pre NEC chance to run out.
I am preparing for July 17th and 18th 2010 and volunteers welcome, please email your offers of car, time, energy and wellies to maxnw-sbmc@hotmail.co.uk.
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