Transport Festival '22

So the show season is upon us and although we had the intentions of attending everything the uncertainty brought on by what’s been going on in the world cast a shadow over proceedings.

Our initial thoughts were that we would exhibit at the National Kit Car show in Stoneleigh but after a couple of set backs we instead opted to attend as members of the public rather than in any official capacity. Although it was nice to get out for a bit the hay days of the massive kit car shows with lots of exhibitors seem to have gone for now. Hopefully that will improve in time.

This weekend however, saw the annual Festival of Transport in the War Memorial Park in Basingstoke. This is a fantastic event covering all things vehicle related and put on by the local Rotary Club supported by Basingstoke and Deane. Last year the event eventually went ahead later than planned in August when Covid restrictions lifted. It was still well supported but understandably not firing on all cylinders.

This year however, the show returned to its normal slot in early May and with the weather outlook promising a clear day things were looking good.

My normal work schedule hadn’t been kind so it meant I would be going straight to the show after a night shift but the support we receive from some great friends and customers meant that we would be ok.

At 06:30 hours we were turning up on site with our demonstration cars which included our monster V8 demonstrator stripped and ready for a kit, Gareth’s lovely dark grey Cobra and Jonathan’s stunning Isabella.

After some initial confusion over the placement of our gazebo and some interesting discussions with a man and his official, Council approved tape measure we were up and running. We have a great spot in the main field close to the food court area and the majority of people visiting the show pass by throughout the day. In addition to the stand we had five slots for cars in the normal static display area and fortunately enough for us this is right next to our stand. That meant in total we had eight cars on display in some form or another.

No sooner had we got everything ready people started streaming into the park. We were swamped from the off and before too long all of us were interacting with potential customers and enthusiasts. I have never seen this event so busy and with an estimated 23 thousand people visiting throughout the day it far out stripped all of our expectations. It was brilliant to speak to so many like minded people and the support we received was quite humbling. At one point I looked across the park and it looked like the FA cup final had just finished rather than a local transport show.

There were long lines of people at the ice cream van, people enjoying coffee sat as tables to the front of the food vans and families sitting under the trees. There were of course people working their way through the various trade stands and  wandering through the vast number of vehicles on display.

One thing that seemed to attract quite a lot people was our little JC Midge, with children climbing in and out and their parent’s taking the opportunity to take a photo. I’m not sure our good friend ‘sun bathing Sue’ was so happy with the constant beeping of the claxon horn but Dave revelled in showing the little people how it worked. Sue also attracted some attention from an old boy who commented on her being the best chassis he had seen all day.

After the initial rush I thought that things might calm down but perhaps the good weather and the close proximity of the park to the town centre brought every body out. We were absolutely swamped all day and as a result I am pleased to say we have some very firm interest in our cars with potential customers looking to purchase kits or commission full builds. We have also picked up some valuable contacts who will no doubt help us to progress our little business in the future.

At some point during the day we usually take it in turns to have a little time out to walk around the show. This year was so busy that I only managed to make it to the loos and didn’t even get into the second field.

By the end of the day we were totally warn out but this has to be the best show experience we have had and we will definitely be back next year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who helped us as without their support and help we wouldn’t be able to do what we love. I wont mention everybody as I’m sure they might get embarrassed but you know who you are. That’s customers, friends and family.

If you are interested in anything to do with transport whether its cars, trucks, motorbikes, buses Etc…. then put this one in your diary, you wont be disappointed.

It is a great day out and credit has to be given to The Rotary club volunteers and Basingstoke & Deane.

When you tell people you come from Basingstoke you are often the butt of jokes, usually about our round abouts. Basingstoke gets some bad press but where else can you attend a free event of this magnitude nowadays.