Stratos UK Motorsport Weekend 2005 - Guest Speaker - Andy Dawson

[Stratos]

STRATOS UK MOTORSPORT WEEKEND 2005

11/12 June 2005


Following on from our previous successful Stratos UK Motorsport Weekends, we will once again be holding the Stratos UK Motorsport Weekend at Abingdon as part of the Abingdon CARnival Weekend.

Guest Speaker- Andy Dawson, renowned motorsport development engineer and rally driver, will be the guest speaker at the Stratos UK Motorsport Weekend dinner on the evening of Saturday 11th June 2005. Andy drove the Chequered Flag Stratos on numerous occasions, and took it to victory on the 1976 Mintex Rally.

The dates for this year’s event are Saturday and Sunday 11/12 June 2005.Those of you who have been to any of the previous events will know what to expect – a full weekend of exciting motorsport, and the company of a hoard of Stratos enthusiasts.

Several Stratos will be competing over the course of the weekend, with many more on display. Quite a few new Stratos have been completed of the last few months and we are expecting to see some of them for the first time at Abingdon this year.

The victor in the Sprint for the past three years has been Jerry Bailey, and he is expecting to return to defend his title, but several other Stratos drivers are committed to trying to put an end to Jerry Bailey's string of wins in the Sprint.

Accommodation this year will be at an alternative venue - The Milton Hill House Conference Centre, situated in 52 acres of grounds only a very short drive from the motorsport venue. We have made a group booking at excellent rates for the weekend at the conference centre. You can download a booking form in PDF format from www.stratossupersite.com, for you to post, or fax, to me. Alternatively, email me with your details.

The Stratos Enthusiasts Club will be holding its AGM as part of the weekend, and following the AGM we will be having a group meal with an after-dinner speaker, and this year we are honoured to have Andy Dawson, former Chequered Flag Stratos driver, and renowned motorsport engineer, as our guest speaker.


The weekend’s motorsport will once again comprise a SPRINT on the Saturday, and a RALLY on the Sunday, so we are all guaranteed an exciting weekend.

There are 9 cars entered for the SPRINT, and rumours abound of an entry for Lionel Gooch’s Stratos Evolutione to be driven by The Stig

Last year, Jerry Bailey, in his Martini car, clinched the STRATOS SPRINT TROPHY, leaving all other contenders trailing in his dust, while Richard Gibbons came home victorious in the RALLY. Will they be able to hold on to their crowns this year? Will a new contender come along and sweep all before them? Come down to Dalton Barracks, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK over the weekend of June 11/12 2005 to find out.

We still have some rooms and places at the dinner available, but, these are going quickly, so if you still need to book, you must respond quickly.

Directions to Dalton Barracks, and to Milton Hill House Conference Centre, will be available for download from www.stratossupersite.com in the next few days.


Can Jerry Bailey make it four in a row?



I’m looking forward to seeing you all there.



More details are available from:-

David Watson, 81 Preston Road, Wembley, Middx, HA9 8JZ, UK
Tel: 020 8385 2644
Fax: 020 8723 6867
Mobile: 07976 672987
Email: stratos@stratossupersite.com

[Stratos]

We still have some rooms available on both Friday night and Saturday night, and a few places at the Dinner on Saturday night, but you'll have to be quick 'cos they're going fast.

If you want the inside scoop on the Chequered Flag Stratos from the man who drove it to victory, you need to be at Abingdon this year to meet Andy Dawson.

[SUSIT]

Now you tell me Dave!!

[Stratos]

Sorry, Stephen, I only got it confirmed a few days ago.

[Bernard]

Dave
Anychance of a video of the guest speaker at our AGM ?.... cos I won't be able to make it either !...... bugger !
Bernard

[Stratos]

Dave
Anychance of a video of the guest speaker at our AGM ?.... cos I won't be able to make it either !...... bugger !
Bernard

Already planned.

Due to various circumstances, I haven't produced a proper Stratos UK Motorsport Weekend video for the last couple of years, but this year's video is planned to be extra special.

[rutthenut]

Should I try to remember to take along my old video camera too?
Stick it on a tripod in the corner of the room?

(and remember to change tapes as the night progresses)

[Stratos]

Directions for the Hotel/Conference Centre can be found by following this link:-

Milton Hill House (http://www.initialstyle.co.uk/venues/index.php?action=mapAndDir&venue=43)

At the bottom of the page, on the left, there is a box where you are able to enter your postcode, this will then produce directions from your home to the Milton Hill House.

[Stratos]

If you are coming from Oxford direction on the A34, go past the Abingdon North turnoff, and exit the A34 at the Marcham Interchange, which is the A415.

Before 8am, you can go in via Gate A, and after that you must use Gate B. The route should have arrows pointing the directions for you.

Please use the dotted routes only.

Dalton Barracks (http://www.stratossupersite.com/maps2005.htm)

There will be a lot of traffic on quite narrow roads, especially on the Saturday, so please drive slowly and quietly through the villages, and surrounding roads.

[rutthenut]

Just a quick post to say thanks to all who attended, yet another great Abingdon weekend. And special thanks to Dave for the use of his car on the Saturday Sprint.

Cheers all,

[Swamprat33]

Well said John.
I would also like to say a really big thanks to Dave for his part in organising the sprint and rally events, which I thoroughly enjoyed and to Nico and every one else who planned the AGM and accomodation.
Cant wait to do it all again next year :D

Many thanks
Tim

[SUSIT]

Trying to find results for Sprint and Rally. Help please

[chris.richard]

should be her, but aren't up yet.

http://www.scmc.co.uk/Abingdon_05/Abingdon%20Home.htm

[Bernard]

Thanks to everyone who turned up wether to compete or spectate it was a really good day, also special thanks to Alan Dillamore who presented me with a framed photo of me competing at Wiscombe Park last year, to Dave and Nico for organising it all and finally to Sue Bailey for the cups of tea and coffee !!
Cheers
Bernard

[Jerry B]

My thanks to everybody who made the weekend as good as ever. There was a great turnout of cars on display and competing on the saturday with the sprint being as closely fought as usual. If you weren`t there I can tell you it was all very close with some great performances coming from some rapidly improving drivers.
Big thanks to Nico and the rest of the committee for making the AGM so professional. They need our support and help, so get off your arses and do your bit!
Biggest thanks of course go to Dave Watson for organising the event again. Honest Dave we do know how much effort it all takes and it is appreciated, well done!

[CorseChris]

As a simple spectator, I'd like to add my own thanks. Quite how you chaps manage to find the time to prepare and run a car in competition is remarkable. To then organise such a top event as well is nothing short of miraculous, so a huge thank you to David, Nico and their support crews.

[Sando]

Hear Hear. Thanks Dave. Another great weekend. Thanks Nico / all for the hard work of running the AGM and moving things forward. Andy Dawson was a great coup and I hope we can involve him again sometime.

Big smiles in both seats of Jerry's car on the rally too. Despite blowing the engine and not finishing, it was a very enjoyable time while it lasted and we were both still laughing while we were stuck out on the stage. Most memerable was the shove in the back off the line and out of corners, and has made me want to swop my engine out to V6 sooner than later.

I was too busy trying to find my lefts and rights and way round to match the maps on some of the twisty bits, to watch Jerry drive them all, but he wasn't hanging about! Just the way it should be. Well sideways! The red mist had decended and he was going for it. We caught the car in front within the first half of the stage!
Awsome Jerry, Thanks, and hopefully you'll put up with my attempts at Navigating again sometime.

ps Jerry, I won't mention the spin if you don't mention me saying 90 right, then looking up and saying no sorry 90 left! ;) (and no this wasn't on the same corner, but it's always the Navs fault anyway :D !!!!!!)

cheers
Rob

[pimms]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for a great weekend, finaly seen some faces belonging to the names I see on this forum. Very pleased to have been able to speak to some of you guys and learned a lot about the building af a Stratos replica. Made a lot of pictures from your cars they will be a good help while building my car. If all is well I will recieve my Hawk kit next month. Watching the cars go in the sprint and the rally was great, sorry for Jerry and Dave ( and of course their crew ) for not beiing able to finish the rally, better luck next year.
Special thanks to Dave and Nico for organising this great event!
Hope to see you all next year at Stoneleigh and/or Abingdon.

Thanks again and good luck with your cars!

Best regards, Pim

[CorseChris]

I think I do have one complaint about the weekend - there simply aren't enough hours in the day. I always find I didn't quite get to talk to everyone I wanted to, nor get to look at the cars as much as I'd like. Other than managing a few comments, I didn't really get to speak with Andrew & Hidemi (despite sitting next to them at dinner!), nor did I get a good look at their car.

I reckon we could spend a week and not get everything done.

[Stratos]

Thanks to everyone who attended. Without you all coming we wouldn't have such a great event. If you all enjoyed it as much as I did, you'll have big grins on your faces all day today.

I can't believe it's all over so quickly, but I'm already starting to have ideas on how to make next year even better.

Many thanks to Nico for organising the AGM and for helping me with the accomodation.

A special thanks to Andy Dawson, for saying yes to me so quickly when I had been let down by other speakers, and for being such an entertaining speaker. For those who missed it, Andy's speech was fantastic, and I'm sure will be a memory to be cherished for many years. (PS It was recorded on video and will be available soon)

To all the competitors, WELL DONE - everyone of you seemed to be enjoying yourselves, and that's what it's all about. I hope you'll be back competing again next year.

To John Rutter, (part of Team Foot - which will be explained in the next newsletter) many thanks for taking care of my car, and for your feedback - I hope you enjoyed driving it.

To Jerry Bailey, well done for taking the honours in the Sprint yet again. You keep giving us all a target to aspire to. Sorry about your engine in the Rally, I would have loved to have seen how your times would compare to the Subarus and Metro 6R4s.



And, finally, ......

I hope no-one was upset that the award for Best Stratos on the Sunday was for my own car.

As you all know, only a few weeks ago, my Corse was sat on the drive looking very sorry for itself, and still just Twin-cam based.

But, on Saturday morning, it was there competing on the Sprint, and V6-powered and working fabulously well. It was very competitive instantly, and I absolutely love it. :)

That was all down to one man, who put in a phemomenal effort to make sure my car was at Abingdon. So the award for Best Stratos, and my ultimate thanks, went to Keith Waite for building my Corse.

Unfortunately, the car didn't finish the Rally on Sunday, due to a faulty steering column adapter fitted by the previous owner of the car, but everything Keith did on the car was fantastic.

Keith, I'm really sorry I couldn't get the car to the finish of the rally for you, but thank you from the bottom of my heart for producing such a brilliant car.

[Jerry B]

Sando, of course I don`t mind you mentioning the spin because it was your fault, I was still laughing about the "90 right...................no, left" call.
Great fun though and of course you are welcolme to navigate anytime.

[Stratos]

Sando, of course I don`t mind you mentioning the spin because it was your fault, I was still laughing about the "90 right...................no, left" call.
Great fun though and of course you are welcolme to navigate anytime.

Hope this was caught on video.

[rutthenut]

I think I do have one complaint about the weekend - there simply aren't enough hours in the day.

Well, there were the hours in the night-time too...

Mind you, staying up with Geoff Turton and his guys till 4am certainly made it harder for my early start this morning to go to work! But all part of the fun.

As always, an exceptionally enjoyable weekend, made possible through the immense efforts of a few individuals (and their wives) as well as the attendance of enough enthusiasts to share the good times.

Good to see faces old and new, from near and far.

In the midst of all this good-feeling banter, anyone want to consider organising a Christmas meet of some sort - without the competitive element, but with the food, drink, chat and 'bonhomie' that comes from these events?

(and I don't want to volunteer - but would love to try and attend if someone else could put this together)

[Swamprat33]

Good idea John. Anyone fancy doing a joint organised outing?
I am happy to help arrange such an event if someone is prepared to assist me.

[chris.richard]

Probably January would be better - December time is usually 110% spoken for.

[catswhiskers]

Good idea John. Anyone fancy doing a joint organised outing?
I am happy to help arrange such an event if someone is prepared to assist me.
Well Tim, I reckon its about time I put something in. I've received a huge ammount of help and encouragement from many people on here during my build (which is getting close) so I'm up for helping with anything you are considering. I can help with either admin, sourcing venues or virtually anything you need help with. Send me a pm and well explore the possibilities.

Thanks for the seed of an idea John. And so sorry I didnt get to Abingdon in the end. Work actually got in the way for once. :(

Cheers,
Mick

[Swamprat33]

Thanks Mick. I've also had an offer of help from Jane Smith, so if it is OK with you i'd like to suggest that the 3 of us form a working party for this event.

Speak to you soon
Tim

[Stratos]

Tim/Mick,

Well done for jumping in. That's what we need - a few more people helping to organise events. Many thanks.

[catswhiskers]

Fine by me Tim. We probably need to arrange a 'brainstorming' session. ;)

Mick

[Swamprat33]

sounds like a saturday or sunday pub lunch is on the cards for a spot of planning.
I'll be in touch with you both soon.
Tim

[rutthenut]

If you are thinking about January for another meet, you may want to consider tying it in with the Autosport Show at NEC.
Or possibly the Winter Rally (Bournemouth area), which I think is on around that time?

Enough ideas from me though, thanks for those volunteers who have steped forward to try and take this forward at all.

Cheers all

[Stratos]

Or possibly the Winter Rally (Bournemouth area), which I think is on around that time?
Cheers all

John,

What was the Winter Rally is now the Sunseeker Rally, and is usually held at the end of February.

We had a display at their Rally Show about 4 years ago.

[Swamprat33]

I dont know what folks are wanting.
Do you want this event to be tied in with a motorsport event or just a social get together in a pub or restaurant.

I guess it would be best just after Christmas, unless we want to have an official Christmas meal.

Ideas and suggestions will be welcomed.

Cheers
Tim

[CorseChris]

Something on the more social end of the scale for me please. That time of year, indoor is more appealing!

An official Christmas meal eh......as long as it's at a decent Italian restuarant and there is no turkey in sight I'd be game. (Game, geddit??)....

(And people who know me would probably find that almost impossible to believe...).

[Stratos]

I think it should be social.

[Swamprat33]

To be honest Dave, I was wanting it to be a social event too, but John made me think that it was worth asking the question.

Ok then, starting to look like a Social pre-Christmas get together in an Italian restaurant with good parking.
I suggest trying to find somewhere fairly central, say around Leicester.
That should make it a bit easier for most folks.

I love it when a plan comes together...... :D

[Sando]

Sounds like a good plan to me :)
Can we bring the other halves so we don't have to drive home ;) :D
R

[Swamprat33]

i dont see why not. the more the merrier.
We seem to have a basic plan now, so will thrash out some details over the next week with Mick and Jane and come back to you then
Cheers
Tim

[shaun]

Mrs Sando driving 'his' car, I'd like to see that. What if she likes it, a double entry for next years sprint?

[Swamprat33]

I cant see Rob letting that happen to be honest.
Imagine if he was beaten by Mrs Sando.... :D :eek: :p

lol
Tim

[Sando]

:D :D
No Chance of that!
(Just to make sure I'll prbably not go in the Strat then.) .......I think it might be in Hospital having a transplant by then anyway ;) , I fed up with you lot all blowing me away on the Sprint :D

R :cool: B