MOPAR NATS TEAM, THANK YOU..

[Blue]

Yes, thanks to all concerned. Had a great time due mostly to the people so the weather couldn't spoil that. Still my favorite event of the year!

[db]

It's the one event a year I won't miss. The people, the cars, the place make it unique I think and incredibly special.
There's nothing like seeing so many muscle cars in one placed being used (and abused) for their true purpose... RACING!
My weekend was very up-and-down. It was nerve -wracking as it was my van's first real test, to haul a family of 6, all our crap, and the Belve, 400 miles round trip. Bearing in mind just 2 weeks ago the trans was in bits in Duncs, the prop was in bits in Proptech and the seats were half-built in my garage. I was incredibly pleased and relieved it made it with no bother at all. I was also bloody exhausted so I wasn't quite up for the night time socialising!
The Belve however was a different story... I've had no Tim to check it over as I normally do before the Nats so my pre-flight checks were done virtually track-side. I found a damaged pushrod. Justin and his mates kindly helped me strip the top end to find the pushrod had holed a lifter. He went off and scoured the pits on a sadly frustrating hunt for parts.
So my racing was over before it even started, gutted! The only thing that saved my sanity having worked so damn hard for weeks to get there, was that if I'd not checked before racing, my motor could have been destroyed. So big relief mixed with big disappointment. Add to the the crappy weather and 4 small girls to entertain (all future race fans ) the weekend nearly bloody killed me!
I've learned a lot, next year I'll be better prepared and like last year, you won't get me off that track till the last flag drops on Sunday night

[RobTwin]

Well we had a great time despite camping underwater on the sat nite

I'll get some pics up here asap - nearly finished going thru my 380+ photos and also have a few videos that i'll try and get on here somehow.

Thanks to photobucket messing us about, they will prob have to be posted via a Flikr link or similar

[guy whitwam]

Thanks to one and all for making the Nats the must do event of the year. Have to agree with some of the others it did seem a little down on members this year ,having spoken to a couple since it seems that those who tent where put off by the forecast of rain so hence them not going, thank god I have a caravan otherwise we would have been under water where we were.
The show field was rammed on both days and the racing brilliant , saw all the usual crowd and met new faces so for me and her ,we had a great time.
Thanks to the MMA crew for the bottle of champers and the good wishes from all to us for our wedding this Friday.
In short the best event of the year, best racing and best people to spend the weekend with
Thanks
GUY and TRACEY

[MilesnMiles]

Fist Nats I missed in over a decade, sadly, feel guilty now. But I discovered a problem late Thursday on the car and then we had torrential rain down in the SW Fri/Sat and it simply didn't seem realistic. Glad you all had a good time and shame I missed on seeing all the good people.

[Dave81]

I was however surprised at the amount of members who didn't turn up.

Had a good weekend.
In all honesty i was Bananarama! of at my car having an issue, so drove the daily to the event....Not really the same after the fun of last year, so not really in the best of moods for it.

Then you have the weather. Better than forecast, so cant really argue, but now sporting a cold following camping in the water on Sat Night.

Big thing for me though as i always make the trip alone, is what Ade posted.

3-4 years ago there were around 5-10 of us walking around just talking, drinking and watching the racing. Just lads doing what lads do until 2am.

This year only one plus me. The rest were all absent. Life is life and i understand that. Some things are more important than a weekend at the pod, but its the same with the MMA Forum.

I spoke to Simon on the club stand about this very issue on the Sunday.

A LOT of what used to be daily posters (with associated knowledge) have just dissapeared into the ether. Without the regulars you get the tumbleweed effect and it cant be too good for new members. Really need the forum to be a hive of activity, whch also helps to project the community feel which is what is so good about the MMA.

Unfortunately im not sure what you can do about it as it does seem that the facebook/Social media side of things is gathering momentum.

I know of people who are members on there that post daily, but dont on here......Also a few members that seem to have migrated across.

Photobucket being muppets doesnt help regards posting photo's, but thats a side issue to the evolution of social media.

This place is a goldmine of info and good people.......Just need to keep the regulars here posting stuff and try and get the others involved.

Special mention to the NSS. Highlight of the weekend for me, its great to see so many taking part. Good ole racing where being the fastest/richest isnt the be all and end all!!!

Edit: Thanks to all involved with the Event! Good to have one like this in the UK!!

[Blue]

Some good points there Dave and I can relate to most of them. A few years ago there was a whole mob of us at the track, one by one people drifted away and at the Yanks weekend I was pretty much on my own. It happens, met a few new people this year so hopefully that will improve.
As regards the forum, we still have as many members as we ever did but far fewer regularly post these days, their choice. I do believe a higher proportion of members don't work on their own cars these days and that will seriously affect Forum traffic IMO.
Glad you like NSS, I hope you will race with us at some point! We would love to have a 32 car field every time out and to do that you probably need more than 50 cars involved as not everyone can make every meeting for one reason or another. If anyone else liked the look of the super stockers and fancies joining us then come on down we want you!

[TW71]

As the whole thing evolves it would seem that peoples ''stuff'' changes, many old members no longer members etc.

The MMA part seems to be a smaller portion of the weekend now, more focus on other events and new participant's not MMA related?

It does look like many do not do there own ''wrenching'' on here but I think its more likely to be ''Social media'' taking over, maybe its easier? I don't use it but it seems it has the whole world at its control . It must be as the posts are so few on here than a few years ago.

Did not have the car there unfortunately which doesn't help !

Thank you to all you guys doing their best for keeping it going

[Dave81]

Blue....would love to eventually join something like the NSS with the Dart. May be a few years until I can make the cut though.

[adrianp]

Many thank to all involved in this years' Nats - I had a ball. Only my second time and even managed to drag along the family this year and they enjoyed it too. Weather was what it was and Sunday could have been much worse. Managed to snap a pole putting together the tent on Friday in the wind so it could have been much worse - thankfully a liberal application of duct tape saw it rescued !

Probably spent more time this year running between the tent and the pits that I did saying hello to people but still managed to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones too. Even with the rain break on Sunday morning it provided a good chance to walk up and down the pairing lanes and say hello.

As always was great fun racing with the NSS class and thanks to Don for his hard work organising and congrats to DaveB for the win. I managed to get through the first round but a cherry greeted me in the second round against Boz which was a shame as the car ran a 12.94 on a 12.93 dial in which is pretty good (for me at least )

Already looking forward to next year !

adrian.

[Gas for GOSH]

Well I had a blooming good weekend - Bananarama! was a week because Ive come back to a lot of usual rubbish to sort out. It is a highlight weekend for me. Ive done the write up for Connected and posted a ton of photos on FB because it is too much difficulty to resize here. If that is an issue as to why there are not so many comments being posted, well all I can say for now is the MMA committee is going to resolve that one way or another.

I really hope it does not go the way that Duncan and Dave have mentioned...people preferring to meet in a B & Q car park. I dont have time for that. This event is great to meet people (even if I keep forgetting faces - sorry Dave Tildesley AGAIN!) race when you can, take photos, play guitar or cards when you cant.......always stuff going on which is why I dont do static events.

Look out for some decent photos in Connected soon.

Simon

[Cannonball]

Well I had a blooming good weekend - Bananarama! was a week because Ive come back to a lot of usual rubbish to sort out. It is a highlight weekend for me. Ive done the write up for Connected and posted a ton of photos on FB because it is too much difficulty to resize here. If that is an issue as to why there are not so many comments being posted, well all I can say for now is the MMA committee is going to resolve that one way or another.

I really hope it does not go the way that Duncan and Dave have mentioned...people preferring to meet in a B & Q car park. I dont have time for that. This event is great to meet people (even if I keep forgetting faces - sorry Dave Tildesley AGAIN!) race when you can, take photos, play guitar or cards when you cant.......always stuff going on which is why I dont do static events.

Look out for some decent photos in Connected soon.

Simon

Perfectly put Simon, The whole experiance at the pod is superb, its not just about the racing, even the three nights rain did nothing to stop our camps fun, I did the car show gig for a while to be honest even the thought of being at a static show makes me feel ill, i would be bored within an hour for sure, The pod. or shakey is a family experiance, one of my daughters brought my 8 yr old grandson his 3rd nats he loved it and is excited already for next yr, planing which bike he wants to bring,,

And crikey hats of to the pod crew they worked damn hard to keep the track going, the main problem being the water table coming back up through the tarmac, but they got the job done, and the guts of the promod drivers is something else, i think if i were about to do a low 6 sec run and saw the guys out with mops etc half track it would be a touch worrying,,

[RobTwin]

.....And crikey hats of to the pod crew they worked damn hard to keep the track going, the main problem being the water table coming back up through the tarmac, but they got the job done, and the guts of the promod drivers is something else, i think if i were about to do a low 6 sec run and saw the guys out with mops etc half track it would be a touch worrying,,

Yes we noticed that - some crew waiting 2/3 the way up the strip at the side of the track then jumping over the barrier to carrying on removing water between races!

[kma176]

Heres a couple for you Dunc

[kma176]

Lost a bit of quality using Imgur for the photos but its getting there!!





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