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Stoneleigh Kit Car Show, Sunday 6th May 2007
We went to the show on Sunday as planned. Richard went in his Hood and John and I in the Westfield. A little bit cheeky perhaps but we parked in the Robin Hood Club area! We have been told that all members are welcome and since John is still area secretary for Herts RHOCaR we parked alongside the Hoods. There were a few odd looks when people saw a Westie next to the Hoods and one man even quietly asked John why he was parked there “It's because I am a Hoodie and still have one “ I heard him proudly answer…..
 spot the Westfield...
The show was very well attended, as always Robin Hood had so many cars on their pitch we spilled over into another area. There were plenty of trade stands as usual, some manufacturers had their cars on display and there were a number of cars for sale in one of the barns. It was very well attended by the public with much interest shown in the cars themselves. Obviously the good weather brought people out in large numbers. After a chilly start, it turned into quite a nice day.
We met up with Bob and Carol, the owners of the Sherpley. They were parked and camping with the South Wales Kit Car Club (SWKCC), there are only a few Sherpley cars in the country and since there are four others in the SWKCC it is the best place for them to go. The designer of the Sherpley car died and the person who took over has, as yet, not done anything about continuing to produce the kits and is not selling the design on either. Shame, it is a very interesting and different car. This link takes you to SWKCC where you will see the other cars’ photos. http://www.southwaleskitcarclub.co.uk/memberscars.htm .
Richard Stewart of Robin Hood fame, was there with his new cobra look alike, based on a single donor Ford Mondeo, costing around £5,500 for the kit. Didn’t see it myself but Stephen took a photo of it which he has sent for the web site. Mixed feelings from a few people about whether they liked it or not.
Good to catch up with lots of fellow SG7/Herts RHOCaR members. It seems funny going all that way and meeting up with all our friends. There are some photos below.
Attendees:
Richard Sumner
Chris Brown
Stephen & Lesley Altwasser
Dave Rose
Glyn Rust
Sandie & John
Cliff
Brian
‘Swan’
‘Feek’
John Hamilton-Smith
Graham
Allan Day
Piddy
Mike Shearing
Andy Petrie
Nigel Cady
Jason Burke and Jane
Alan Rowe & Pauline
Bob & Sheila
Paul Jones
John & Helen
Some Photos
 Tigers
Ultima 
 Series 48 Spyder
Beauford 
 Fiat 500
 Gemini
John Hamilton-Smith's NG 
 Cobra
Westfield's club pitch 
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John and Mal went to Stoneleigh together, I stayed home and did the housework.... no not really, I just didn't want to get soaking wet and cold and pay a lot of money for the pleasure!
Anyway, they had a good day although with the rain there weren't that many owner cars on display. John's Cobra was on display for the show, following some bodywork repair, they wanted to show off their paint work.
I sent them off with a picnic, but John said they didn't sit on a rug together, would have looked a little sweet... instead they sat in the car talking about men things.
John bumped into: Sandie, John, Andy Barbet + his dad, his son and his nephew, Peter Bell, Dave Rose, John Hamilton-Smith, Glyn Rust, Rosemary (seen from a distance but didn't get to chat), Chris Brown.
Saw Stephen's car but didn't see him, missed Richard and Caroline. He had a chat with Tim & Sue Norman, Peter Knight, Graham. Nice to go so far from home and see lots of familiar faces.
 
Hope you enjoyed yourselves if you went. See you next time.
Helen
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A show well worth going to, we think the biggest of all the shows we have ever been to. I can see why you need to camp overnight, there is just too much to see in one day. We did our best to cover as much as possible but still left much of it unseen. On the Sunday, Mal drove John and me in his VW with Andy and Connor following behind. The forecast had been a little changeable so we decided not to take the Hoods. As it turned out, we wouldn't have seen any rain but it was nice for John to be a passenger for a change. Thanks to Mal for a nice, stress free, drive. We were only slightly lost for a short time but that was down to the RAC route planner and not the driver I hasten to add. No complaints there. Nagged him a few times, but that is what women do best, I think you will agree....
As I said, the show was brilliant. Such a good turnout of cars on the Sunday although Piddy felt that Monday had fewer kits on display.
You can see Piddy's report on the East Hoods web site www.freewebs.com/rhocareast .
SG7 'members' who also went on Sunday:
Mal, Andy and Connor, Chris Brown, Sandie and John, Stephen and Lesley Altwasser, Steve Puttrell, Richard and Caroline, Bob and Sheila, Bob 'the Builder' and Andy Petrie.
Piddy, Mike Shearing, Pete Cherry were there but neither of us saw them. Sorry to miss you!
Met some RHOCaR members, namely:
Swan Junior, Swan, Big Lee, Billy & Joey, BazWaz.
Saw Mitch from a distance and sadly missed James (Docter Fox). Rizzla was unable to come, problems with his car.
Not that many cars for sale in the barn area this year, but I did fall in love with a Quantum 2+2 (in yellow of course). Although I really love my Exmo, I am tempted to go for a kit with doors to make it easier getting in and out, (having a major back problem makes life difficult) and a more practical car that I could use all the time and keep at home instead of at mother's. I keep my Exmo in her garage and she misses the storage space for her lawn mower! It was very nice but I am sure it will have been sold. I am too scared to ring and ask it he did sell it. What if he didn't??? You can see how nice it is from the photo below:
We also saw Nick Ferris' car up for sale. It is being sold now by Uxbridge Kit Cars for £4,995. It was very well presented.
I don't know how many Hoods were on the RHOCaR patch but there were loads. I should imagine Sue would know how many were there each day.
The Cobra section was as always very well supported, just some of the below:
John and Sandie are in there somewhere!
The show was excellent, well organised and interesting. I even managed to find a stall selling teddy bears! Well, John had spent some money, so I did as well... Thanks again to Mal for taking us. Look forward to going again next year. Just hope it is as good.
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My Day At Stoneleigh 2004
By Mal
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I went to Stoneleigh today, I was originally going to Old Warden but a 11th hour change of plan was made on Saturday night after seeing the forecast for the Sunday and Monday. I thought this was a better option as the majority of the show is in the dry.
It was my first ever kit car show so I don't really have anything to compare it to but there was a disappointing lack of 'punter' cars there mostly due I guess to the weather.
There were some nice looking cars there, particularly taken with the Gardner Douglas T70 (Lola Replica) and as for panel replacement kits the Varanti looks the part as does the Aeon. The Robin Hood stand had a lot of activity and for my part the Westfield stand was busy but a bit bare with the XTR 2 and XTR 4 both missing.
The ride up there was an experience I will never forget. My decision was to go in the Golf as the Westie appears to be running hot in traffic. I had an invite to join up with a guy called Steve Wilson and some of his pals.
We met up at his house in Streatley and while we waited for the others to join us there ensued a small debate about the sense of going up in kits cars given the light drizzle. Valour and stupidity won over common sense and Steve was determined to take his car. At this point it is worth mentioning that the car is a very competitive WSCC speed series car. It is black has no carpets and runs a Hayabusa engine with TTS supercharger. I made a simple mistake and opened the back of my car to reveal my crash helmet and my 'Waterproof' coat. Ah says Steve, seeing as you have your helmet you can come with me. I wasn't really in a position to refuse, I don't know the way and keeping up with these guys would be a bit of a task even in a 150 bhp Golf GTI.
Bugger it is hard to do up a racing 4 point harness in someone else's car when your wearing a crash helmet with your hands shaking!
So the convoy sets off, Westfield Megabusa with supercharger, Westfield Megablade, Dax Cosworth Turbo and a BMW 316. We stopped for petrol in Luton and by the time we came out it was p##sing down.
Bear in mind that the car is running Yoko 052's not exactly wet weather stuff, so the drive to Toddington was interesting to say the least. We hit a couple a puddles on the way and it was like the water splash at Alton Towers, with water going over the top of the entire car.
By Newport Pagnell I was very aware that I was sitting in a puddle and the makers of my Waterproof coat are despicable liars.
My scientific research can now reveal that when you travel at 60 mph in the p##sing rain you get wet but at 120mph you do not appear to get twice as wet.
The clouds broke by the time we hit the M45 and Steve show a little of the awesome acceleration the car is capable of, I didn't care by this point as my will to live had disappeared at Watford Gap.
We arrived at Stoneleigh to have the embarrassment of having to get out of the car to be able to extract my wallet from my jeans pocket to pay the passengers entrance fee.
As we parked up in one of the covered areas, a small crowd had gathered, it is clear now Steve and his car have a bit of a reputation.
Off came the coat to reveal my tee shirt soaked through, the water proof trousers came of to reveal a soaked bum and legs and a squelching left foot. The foot had been in a puddle all the way up but because of the encroachment into the foot well I didn't notice.
Fortunately the WSCC stand was at hand to so the purchase of a club polo shirt and sweatshirt at least allowed me to put something warm and dry on the top half, however 5 hours with a wet bum is not to be recommended.
Still while we were there the sun came out and I had a great time with my new found pals. It even stayed dry all the way home but by this time I had chickened out and was warm and half asleep in the passenger seat of the BMW.
Oh the joys of kit cars!!!!!!
Mal
(Purple Westie)
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