[Architex_mA8tey]

ANNUAL MEET REPORT 2011


FRIDAY 3rd JUNE

We checked in at our base hotel at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire at various times on Friday evening. It quickly became apparent that the layout and the show ground with all its parking would work very well for our purposes - there was a bar restaurant with an outside terrace and we were able to park to the side of it on a gravelled area and sit outside watching for new arrivals along the show ground's network of roads. (an interesting additional benefit was the ability to drive around the show ground to test the cars and it was all private roads. . . mua ha haaaa!)

Those attending on the Friday evening were -

Architex_mA8tey
CtL
Reffro
Brian9 and Connor123
IceBlue8
DarrenJoe90 & Mandy
Dezzy
Oli18



So we had 8 cars as the darkness fell and we ate drank and were merry (did I mention that we drank too? ahem) CtL lived up to his reputation as a hater of children (I quote "I hate my own let alone anyone elses") and stole an ice cream from Connor123 whilst he went to the loo!!



Reffro went to bed with a bedroom full of rubber. . . but don't worry it was a set of 4 replacement tyres that he had picked up on the way to the meet and didnt want to carry around in the car for the weekend! I did just wonder what the cleaning maid would think when she came in the next day to clean and saw a pile of tyres though. . .

Singh (Amar) was conspicuous by his absence having swanned off to London all day gallavanting around as young people do lol but couldn't resist a drive-by snoop at 00:45am to see what cars had arrived!




SAT 4th JUNE

I expect you are all expecting me to say that we were all up with the larks on Saturday enthusiastically polishing our 8's before breakfast. . . erm well some of us were and some wernt lol. Food at the hotel was great and between breakfast and 9.15 we fettled with the cars before we set off in convoy to the meet up point at Coombe Abbey Country Park.

As we left the showground a D4 A8 wafted past the other way (almost like a "fly past" lol) and we set off in convoy towards Binley. the sat nav took us through a housing estate with loads of speed bumps (deep joy when youve got 25 and 30 profile tyres!!) and when we got to the end and were about a mile from the meet point we were confronted with ROAD CLOSED signs. . . damn! they were digging up and re-surfacing the one road that people were all going to come along to the meet. We turned around and went back over the speed bumps again(sigh) and diverted around to the opposit end of the road leading to the country park. This time there were some country roads and a bit of the Fosse Way to drive on so the convoy picked up some pace. As we approached the other end of the road to Coombe Abbey guess what. . . ROAD CLOSED signs again - Ugh! We drove past them hoping that we would be able to get to the meet point and finally made it for 10am and decided to try and text, phone and message as many as we could and put a message on the forums to warn about the road closures!

As we parked up at Coombe Abbey we were joined by another 6 cars to bring us up to 14! -

DaviesBike (Guy) from Tyresmoke plus his other half in his newly sprayed black S8 with the awesome exhausts
Notorius (Sergey) in his 3.7 QS (woo another one to join mine!) with the monoblock wheels and the excellent steering wheel and gear knob upgrades
TinTin and his friend Fran in his beautiful black FE S8 with the Red Leather Interior

Ainarsimms and his other half (plus tiger the dog) in his S8 (told us he had won the car on ebay after bidding while he was drunk lol)
Dave C and Maria from A8 Parts in his D3 A8
IT in his D3 A8 (aided by the above two and feeling the effects of a previous night of debauchery lol)

So. . . after an hour and a half meeting up and looking at the cars everyone set off into the Warwickshire countryside and villages on Part 1 of the Treasure Hunt, which was set in villages off the Fosse Way (an old Roman Road that runs between Cirencester and Leicester - hence its long and mostly straight!)

Part one of the Treasure hunt ended with everyone meeting at the Leopard Inn at Bishops Tachbrook near Leamington Spa which has great food and a nice big car park lol - the treasure hunt got mixed comments at the half way stage, everyone had to solve clues for each village name before they could go to the village and find answers to the village clues, and we certainly should have given everyone longer, but hey ho, its really just about driving through some beautiful villages and countryside in an 8 lol.



Amar (Singh) and Jugga turned up for lunch in their 8 (BAJ1T) and joined in with the group pics (woo 15 cars now!) and shot some great photos of the cars (thanks guys) and Darren took some more too along with a group pic of everyone as a memento of the meet. Oli18 and Tin Tin both had to leave us after lunchtime to get away but thanks to you both for coming across to see everyone!

Part Two of the Treasure Hunt set off at 3pm from the pub and after much more scurrying around the Warwickshire countryside everyone met back at Stoneleigh Park at the hotel for an evening barbecue and the treasure hunt results / prizegiving



Winners were -

1st. 38 Points - A8 Parts Team - Dave C, Maria and IT - Juicer Machine
2nd. 33 Points - The Murple Meople Eater - Conan The Librarian - Aluminium Dash Rings Set
3rd. 29 Points - Kopft Dezzy - Dezzy & Reffro - ODB Bluetooth Reader
4th. 25 Points - S300GUY - DaviesBike Team - ODB Bluetooth Reader
5th. 24 points - Blind Rockets - IceBlue8 and Notorius - Audi Ice Cube maker
6th. 18 Points - de-Chromed Dunderheads - Brian9 and Connor123 - Shell Oil Vintage Oil Can Car Cleaning Kit
7th. 1 Point! - Ambulance - Ainarssimms Team - Car Cleaning brush and Ice Scraper

Everyone else who took part and came to the evening barbecue got a Shell Oil Ferrari Drinks Bottle

BIG thanks to CtL, Reffro and Amar/Jugga for all their help in Planning the treasure hunt and the venues with me
Thanks to CtL, Oli18, TonUpKid, Dezzy and Architex_mA8tey for donating the prizes
Thanks to The Stoneleigh Park Hotel for an excellent Venue and for the Barbecue
Thanks to the Leopard Inn for a great lunchtime meet venue and for being so quick with the food.





We were joined later in the evening by RanjA8 in his lovely mid brown PF A8 QS (car 16!!) and more merriment and talking car bo**ox ensued. We also took a few pics of the cars at dusk with lights on etc.







Trophy885 (steve) dropped by after work at about 11pm for a drink so we met another owner and put another face to a name - thanks Steve and good to see you.


SUNDAY 5th JUNE

After another nice (gentle) breakfast we all mustered at the car park for 10am and were joined by RanjA8 and Singh to head off on a cruise to Billing Aquadrome to see the NSRA Car SHow.

We said goodby to IceBlue8 Jim at this point as he had to stay for a family meet up. Thanks for bringing the book and original D2 aluminium wrapped sales pack for us to see Jim that was really
interesting (Oh and thanks for bringing a wee dram or two as well ahemmmm! ).

8 of us cruised off in our 8's on the A roads towards Northampton, trying to keep in a convoy and splitting into 2 in Leamington Spa where some stopped for fuel. We were soon re-united and on our way again and Reffro peeled off to go home south at Daventry and the remaining 7 arrived at Billing, meeting up with 3.7slp Steve from Tyresmoke 8's forum when we were there and also saying hello to Botang who poppoed across to see us. Steve's bargain silver 3.7 QS took the 8 count for the weekend to 17 and after some introductions, VAGCOM checks and food from Dezzy (who was by now nominated as our tour chef) who set up his camp stove and cooked some food, we all went along to the showground to check out the street rods and american cars at the show.







Im pleased to say the weather held out pretty well with just a few spots of rain at the end of the afternoon. Everyone left the show at about 4pm to head off to the four corners of the country - CtL Dezzy and me cruised back via Oxford and then split off in various directions having got our fill of V8s over the weekend and at the NSRA show!

I personally had a blast and would like to thank each and every one of you who made the effort and were able to come and meet up, and I look forwards to seeing everyone through the rest of the year at the shows and meets we are supporting and have set up on the Diary here. If anyone has any ideas for things to do at future meets or places we should hold the meets then let Mike or myself know. . . here's to a great summer this year with all things 8 !!!