Adventure Overland 6/7 October Daventry

[overlander]

I missed Tom McG when he checked out the LRCC Stand at Peterborough, but it looks as if he's pulled out all the stops for this one. Judging by the website: http://www.adventureoverlandshow.com/, this show should not be missed by aspiring overlanders or seasoned travellers alike. Check it out, I'll be there, might see you..

cheers

John H

Born Again Overlander

[Jabbawocky]

HI John

That looks like a very interesting show. Wouldn't mind going myself, but I refuse to pay to display my vehicle.

Cheers Mick

[RMS]

Hey Mick,
I'm not sure if I'm able to go yet, but Tom did offer LRCC free club tickets

Give it a week or so to sort out who can make it, then I'll send off for the tickets.

Tom did say that he would like us on the show field as an LRCC display rather than on the camping field, as our sort of vehicles are what the show is all about

Come on guys; who else wants to go - it looks like it will be an interesting weekend - something to kick-start our plans for next year

Cheers,
Robin.

[bigdave]

HI John

That looks like a very interesting show. Wouldn't mind going myself, but I refuse to pay to display my vehicle.

Cheers Mick

I just had a look at the website. Display vehicles enter for free, and stop on the display field not in the camping area.


I'm tempted...

[overlander]

Haven't checked but isn't it display vehicles over 3.5tons which get free admission?

cheers

John H

[RMS]

HI John

That looks like a very interesting show. Wouldn't mind going myself, but I refuse to pay to display my vehicle.

Cheers Mick

I just had a look at the website. Display vehicles enter for free, and stop on the display field not in the camping area.


I'm tempted...

He actually says:

"Don't forget, only vehicles over 3.5 tonnes are eligible for "free entry"
(basically it's a way of helping owners offset their sizeable fuel bill),
but any interesting vehicles can be featured here and included in the display line-up."

I've asked Tom for clarification - he did tell me at Peterborough that it would be free for us

[Spider]

We are going alone to have a look to see what it about.
It's got to be better than the mainstream Land Rover show (which are all about how much money you can spend on bolt on bits)

[RMS]

Well, things move fast around here, don't they

I spoke to Tom, the organiser, this morning and we now have a stand on the show ground with 4 free vehicle passes, which is the maximum number available.

Quoting a good friend of ours, "the quick and the dead" philosophy means that two passes are already spoken for, with Mick and Dave offered first refusal on the other two!

One of our members has also been invited to speak at a seminar on Friday night (well done JH )

I'll keep you posted on progress, in case any passes become available.

Cheers,
Robin.

[RMS]

Well, Mick heard a bit of a 'tinkle' from his gearbox today, then lost 2nd gear

As he's got so much on at the moment, rebuilding his house etc., he doesn't think he'll get it sorted before this show, so if anyone else wants a pass, please PM me.

Cheers,
Robin.

[TomMc]

Jabbawocky - You make a valid point, but equally you have to understand what goes on behind the scenes to form an educated judgement. At this point I’ll apologise in advance if I start waffling, but the “why should I pay to display my vehicle?” question is something that crops up time and time again during the show season, so should be explained properly.

First off (in my opinion) a Club Display Stand at a show should feature representative vehicles of said club, perhaps 2, 3 or 4 vehicles depending on size of the pitch. Ideally these should be the very best vehicles the club has to offer, only due to time and money, everyone knows this isn’t always possible. Personally, as an enthusiast I would rather see 1 or 2 good examples of a particular vehicle than row after row of mediocre models that tell the public nothing. Far from ‘highlighting’ the club, I feel they make a display look drab and boring.

Then there are clubs such as LRCC, that, by their very nature, almost all the member’s vehicles are interesting and worthy in their own right of gracing a Club Display Stand to represent their club. The problem is, owners expect free entry every time. Fair enough if you’re displaying a Rolls Royce at village garden fete, it’s ‘standoutable’ (good word) so deserves a complimentary pass, but you wouldn’t expect free entry at Rolls Royce Show,. If that happened then nobody would pay to be there and therefore no money would be taken to hire in the toilets at £750 a unit! That’s the dilemma.

So what is an event organiser to do? Well if you’re a BIG outfit with pots of money to spare, not to mention a massive county showground to fill, you can hand out 5, 10, 15, 20 complimentary passes knowing full well that is both filling up the place and importantly - you can afford it. Of course you can afford it because you’re charging visitors £15 per adult per day, and an extortionate £8 for kids! In these hard financial times I find this obscene, so will shout this from the rooftops at every given opportunity.

Then there is the likes of me, a true enthusiast (unlike 99% of the big Land Rover shows in recent years that have been run solely for profit), which can only afford to hire a relatively small venue and will charge £10 adults day admission, children under 16 years are free – that makes it a reasonable family day out. Mum, dad, the saucepan lids … and even the neighbour’s kids for £20, that’s the big difference.

Can I therefore afford to hand out unlimited passes to clubs, even though they may have a whole array of good, presentable vehicles to display? Well the answer is obvious. Instead I allocate four passes per Club Display Stand, these I would hope to be distributed to the people that really matter to a club – the officials who do the donkey work and keep the balls in the air year in year out. To be frank, I couldn’t give a jot if they never even reach the members who have a pretty vehicle and are only seen two or three times a year for the big shows, then disappear and contribute nothing whatsoever to the club for the remainder of the year. Grrrrr!!!! Makes you wanna spit!

This is why the pass allocation is relatively low at ADVENTURE OVERLAND compared to ‘other shows’. It’s us against them, always has been, always will … unless of course I win the lottery, then I could give all the good guys a proper day out ‘on the house’. Until that day comes, I’m afraid you’ll have to dig deep – well, relatively deep – to attend an event which I believe will be far more interesting than every other Land Rover/4x4 event that has taken place this year. Fighting talk indeed, now all I have to do is deliver; help!!!