Annual Meet Report 2016
 

Right well here we go again!

I'm just kicking things off with a weather and road report approaching from the M4 and over the bridge into Welsh Wales.

Traffic was a bit thick around the M4/M5 junction and queues at the bridge tolls but most of the bad traffic was heading out of wales. All other roads were fine and the hot sunny weather that your romping endeavour reporters ordered during the reccy has arrived!!

See you all soon . . . .

When you've all finished using the good weather this weekend, make sure to pack it up and bring it with you to Ireland. Currently 22 degrees and sunny, but can't have enough sunshine.

Enjoy the meet, all.

It's been beautiful here (Glasgow & Helensburgh area) for some time. It reached 25C the other day and my patio furniture is worn out!

Hope the weather is great for the meet and the Ireland trip

Just a quick one.
Gwen and I arrived home safe at 20:00 hours.
A really great weekend, hot sunny weather and no rain till we got home.
Treasure Hunt on Saturday was fantastic, we are getting divorced next week (only joking, 'cos Gwen got her own way).
Photos to follow, I'm too tired to do anything at the moment.

And for those of you in the know; Gwen was surprised, was also incorrectly dressed but we managed. The caves were well worth the effort, though they were rather damp. SWIMBO kept catching the cold water drops in her hair.

As for the Steam Train, we missed it by two minutes. We could hear it but no sightings. Serves me right for trying to surprise Gwen with the caves and Shire horses, but they were lovely.

I promise, I'll find time to post photos in the morning.

First batch of photos below. What a great weekend. Superb weather, great to see everyone. And lets try really hard not to mention the Oli parking incident.... ;)

Thanks Neil / Mike for organising, cant wait to get planning the next one +++




http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916


My car took more cleaning than expected, so understandably, everyone left.... :D

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156916

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156936

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156936

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156936

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156936

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156936

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465156936

What happens in Wales stays in Wales..!

Those are some great photos.

It was a fab weekend, my first Audi meet and I really enjoyed it, especially the treasure hunt, even if the Germans beat me!

I still can't remember everyone's names. Hopefully I'll be at the next one...

Nah
 

Let's hear all about the parking incident 😂

Looks like a great meet. Sorry I couldn't be there. (Currently in the back of my car being driven by SWMBO in Barcelona.)

If it's any consolation I can't park my D3 for toffee.

A good enjoyable weekend away. Nice to meet everyone, lust over all the cars, and to have a drive round a very pretty part of the UK :love:

http://s33.postimg.org/wmsuaje4v/MG_8124.jpg

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http://i68.tinypic.com/2a847qx.jpg

A few from Saturday Morning at a Quarter to Breakfast

Some brilliant photos there!! ++++++



A very, very enjoyable weekend!

Thanks Neil and Mike for arranging the great weather and all the other fun stuff too :D

And of course thanks to David too (that pearl coloured D2 really is a beauty when the sunlight hits it) and to everyone else who helped to organise the weekend. :)


Back to work for me unfortunately now, so I'll post some photos and videos when I have time to go through them.

The cheapo Chinese GoPro clone worked better than I expected (this was the first time I had used it). The video quality is superb but I think maybe the mic needs some sort of windsheild ...

Similar to most dashcams, the camera saves the recordings as a series of short clips, so I'll string all of these together when I have more time, but here's a couple of the clips for now:

I think this is probably one of the better clips, showing a few of the cars as I overtook (from about 1 minute in):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/75lq0ieu61...00017.MOV?dl=1

A nice V8 roar on this one, after about 2 mins in (before the wind noise drowns it out) as I stomped on the loud-pedal to catch back up with David:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tmx53k4sj9...10014.MOV?dl=1

Our temporary parking spot (were we waiting for someone?):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppmy1771ff...20021.MOV?dl=1



EDIT by IT : Mirrored also to the forum site for speed and longevity, hope you don't mind Mark?

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/bigdata/2...t/01100017.mov
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/bigdata/2...t/01010014.mov
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/bigdata/2...t/01220021.mov

I took a few as everyone departed on Sunday Morning.
The last one shows the rather empty and forlorn hotel car park after the last (IT) of the intrepid explorers went oof to Pendine. The only vehicles there then were Richards special A8 cleaning van and our little old lady.

Quality is good, very steady, and the V8 when you push it does sound good +++

I don't think the wind noise is as bad as I expected, but it was nice when you slowed down.... ;)

Might have been interesting to have one of these on Neils roof facing backwards to capture the snake of 8's behind him.... Next time maybe..

Not at all. That's great Ian, thanks very much. Now I don't have to leave them in my Dropbox forever! +++

Yeah, I think what I need is one of those big hairy muff things.

... and something for the camera mic too.

Good idea +++

Perhaps on some sort of tripod to get it a little higher, Google-car style. Unless we can nominate a taller, non-8 vehicle, to take the lead, like Sarg's Beamer. :) At least that way Neil's 8 would be in the video too (unless we can find a huge selfie-stick for him?), and it means we will have found a good use for a BMW ;)




(only joking Sarg - PS I still owe you a pint :) )

I managed a few photos during the weekend. The quality isn't the best as just using my phone camera.

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I think they're great Pete, especially the panoramic ones! :)

I don't know why but it never occurred to me to take any panoramic shots.

Another memorable meet, I am missing the convoy action already :)

Thanks very much Mike, Neil, David and A8Parts crew for organising +++

Here are some pics I took.

+1 from me
Especially the pseudo traffic bobby one :D

Thanks Mark. I'm always tempted to buy those clip on lenses for phones to give wide angle and fish eye etc., never got round to it.

I did have one where you aren't looking so "severe", but it was very much a selfie!

Just to add my thanks to everyone for a great weekend, arrived home this afternoon after stopping over at Stephen's last night. Final mileage (including a trip to Tenby yesterday and a small diversion to pick up a part for my son's car today) was 950 miles for me.:D

Great pictures so far, I did take a few but will not be up to Connor's standard, however if they are reasonable will get them up as soon as I can.

Was great seeing everyone+++

Big thank you to everyone, especially the organisers for a great weekend +++

Pics from my little camera
 

Nowhere near the quality that Connor usually produces, but hope you enjoy anyway+++

and some from my phone
 

some more from the phone

Brilliant photos Brian! +++

Maybe not to Connor's standard, but very good all the same! :D



Here's the entire 'action cam' video of the drive to Pendine if anyone wants it. This is a rather large file (about 6.2GB) so it's going to take a while to download:
https://mega.nz/#!UpRzlbLB!LBjTsrZi_...GAyQlJoWAKo-tw


Ian, perhaps you could drop it onto the web server too, space permitting? :)

Done - Mirrored here:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/bigdata/2...e-05-06-16.avi

+++



Edit: I think maybe it needs some music ..... or perhaps the Benny Hill treatment to speed things up :)

If you want to see more of the cars, jump to about 45 mins in.

I'm currently grabbing it. Space is really not a problem, so I'll get it onto the server in the next day or 2 +++

One for the road. On the way back from the meet.

I tried to keep up but they were too fast. Also a patrol car came up behind me just as I was going to floor it, lucky escape.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1465481747

Good one Goran. +++

S8s in their natural habitat! :D

Lovely - and too true, not that mine sees one much these days ;)

Found this in my boot today, hidden behind one of the side panels! :p

Great trophy. I still think it looks rather like the cockpit seat from Alien (which is not a criticism btw...;)..)

Had a fab time meeting everyone and their motors. Talking car stuff and catching up. Thanks for all the great pictures and most of all, big thanks to our trusty twosome (Neil & Mike) for making it all happen. And, of course, our sponsors A8Parts +++

Yes thank you so much for the great organisation!

It was so nice to see you and your beautifuls 8s. The treasure hunt was great and lead my poor blue car through paths of the Breacon Beacons where no A8had been before. Well, maybe except of Peter's S8. ;-) Marvellous scenery! (naughty scenery also grazing and reaching for the underfloor of my S8)

Thinking of the National Botanic Garden of Wales there must've been some indignant looks of nature lovers suddenly being confronted with a whole lot of A8 (and even someone wearing a shirt "doing my bit to climate warming"). :ROFL:

Also the locations were great. Perfect choice!

http://up.picr.de/25829025jl.jpg


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Hopefully many of you find your way across the Channel and come see us in Kassel 12th to 14th of August.

Its just 364 miles from Calais Ferry Port to the hotel ;-) And from Unna onward (once you have passed by the Ruhrgebiet) there should be rarely any speed limits if at all. Your cars would sure love that :D

Information is available here or there :
http://a8-germany.de/wbb/index.php?p...&threadID=3779
http://www.a8-freunde.com/thread.php?threadid=22479

Hi,
Zum einen kann ich danke Ihnen für unsere treffen sich in Wales in diesem Jahr teilnehmen, dann kann ich entschuldige mich für nicht mehr Zeit mit Ihnen zu verbringen.
Ich muss mich entschuldigen auch für nicht sehr gut zu sein bei in Deutscher Sprache zu schreiben, auch wenn ich höre, dass meine Rede angemessen ist (einfach nicht genug Praxis haben).
Now if you will forgive me I will stop struggling and hope that you are able to understand me.
Having spent nine years in Lippeland (Bielefeld and Detmold) with the British Army my German should be much better.
I am attaching some photos that I think you could be interested in that I took over that weekend.
As much as we would like to attend your Annual Meet I am afraid that due to prior commitments this year will be impossible. We also had to miss last years German meet but we will do our best to make next year's.
Gwen & Ray

Thank you. I spent the evening collecting and saving all the pictures from this thread since Forum Registration now allows me to see & save them :)

Welcome on to the forum Vera!
If you want to post pictures you can upload them on this forum so they will stay there forever - we are lucky to be able to have pretty much unlimited storage :D

Thx for the hint, fixed that .. well... thought I did.

Hm. It is not as it is supposed to be but still full of Pictures.

Great pictures Vera! +++


info* you can do it two ways, you can embed the pictures like you have done or you can click the little paper clip icon and just upload them and then they just show as little thumbnails you can click on