20 replies to this topic

[sarnie]

Evening Gentlemen

*** Warning - Lots of pics ***

I don't really know where to start. I attended my first meet today which was the Gumball 2006 organised by Afreemason, to whom we owe may thanks.

I have only ever owned 3 cars in my life and two of them have been Zeds. I always associated cars meets with either chavved up Nova's or 80 yr old gents with restored Triumph Stags!!! I never knew what to expect and was a bit daunted when I saw off.

The meeting place was Great Central Railway in Quorn, Leicestershire. Reading through the thread posts I expected about 50 cars in a car park all revving engines and talking car gobbledegoop

This was my view when I arrived!



To be fair though it was my fault. I thought the meet time was 9am which actually turned out to be departure time !!! (I did spend 20 mins twitching at the curtains looking at the rain trying to decide whether to go or not !!) Good old Afreemason called me and said he would wait for me to arrive which was very good of him!! Whilst on this point can I just say how his zed is! Those rims, skirts and spoiler are gorgeous

Off we went anyway in our 2 man convoy on to Burton to catch up with the rest of the guys! Along the way Afreemans Sat Nav Lost his signal which, as he was leading the way, was hilarious Eventually arrived at the Hotel car park where everyone was assembled, to see an array of Supra's and zeds

Parked up and was firstly greeted by DJ350 from the OC. All in all I think there was about 14 Supra's, 5 Zed's and a Sierra Cozzie kinda thing.

As you can see the weather wasn't great:

3 White old Skool Supra's:



Val's Zed and Baldieman's Sunset:



Eventually, we set off for the next destination in Shropshire, with a chorus of Supra exhausts which were in danger of shattering the surrounding windows Afreemason had planned a nice scenic route via Rugeley, Stafford and Newport along some nice A Roads. Obviously this was not the quickest route but the desired one to give us a drive out to remember! We set off along the A38 and the Supra boys were all plodding along at 45 mph on the inside lane which the zed boys obviously didn't fancy doing:


After about 20 mins the Supra boys are no where to be seen Where did they go? The correct way is the answer Our dear friend Val who was majestically leading the way did not bother to look at the map or the directions and instead types in the post code of the pub we were heading to in Shropshire which takes us directly there, missing out all of the scenic venues, and along the lovely roads that are otherwise known as MOTORWAYS

We eventually make it onto the M54 and Baldieman spots a non convoy zed going into the services and takes us all in their to try and card it. The next 20 mins is spent pawing over some poor guys zed with Afreemason and Val battling to stick their spotted cards in the most prominent position!!! Heres a quick Vid of the Newbie's Kuro zed:



This is us blocking the exit to the services as we waited for Afreemason to refuel



We set off then for the pub to have lunch

Another mirror shot. With Ultra Yellow being the fastest colour all the other zeds are behind me



With my car being the fastest (colour) I was out in front which mean't I did not realise when we had reached the destination untill checking my mirrors to see that I was missing 4 zeds!!! A quick U- turn and all was well. Arrived at the pub to the news that one of the Supra boys had had a crash! Fortunately he turned up in one piece, a bit ruffled but not car/life threatening, phew!

Car park pic:



Stayed for about an hour or so and food and drink was enjoyed by all

Drove for about an hour or two down some nice windy roads which was a nice change from the Motorways!

Eventually arrived at Afreemasons place and he had us all in one of his fields!!



And



Last vid (focus plays up a bit but you get the idea!)



Unfortunately this was where my day ended. Had to leave to go do the girlfriend thing before she went to work. The rest of the guys headed off to attempt a BBQ and I'm sure they will be along shortly to fill you in on all the evening shennanigans

Can I just say a big thank you to Afreemason for all his efforts today and also to everyone else who attended and extended their warmest welcomes to the meet virgin!!!! Thoroughly enjoyed the day, the food, the driving and the company! See you all soon!!

[Ktrain]

looks like you had a great day ..


nice read

[Dom]

Sounds like fun... cheerZ fer sharing!

[sarnie]

q

Cheers!

It was a good day and totally different to what I was expecting!!

[Smoky]

Looks like you had a good day.

Just 1 thing, can't get the vids. Comes up with your password page

[sarnie]

q

hmmmm. Not sure how to get round that I tested it and it worked but obviously it let me view them If anyone knows how to post them so they can be viewed, pipe up

[GAZ 350]

Excellent read mate I take it all back now about you being a fair weather Zed owner


P.s. where did you hire a Yellow Zed from

[sarnie]

q

I read the first half of that post and thought, nah can't be Gaz 350. But then I read the rest

[Nobbie]

hang on...

You d really have a zed then sarnie?!!

[sarnie]

q

Yup. And guess what????????????



ITS YELLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GAZ 350]

Glad you had a good day, now join up and come to the National you know you want to

[sarnie]

q

Hmmmmmmmmm

[sarnie]

More pics:









More pics:

[GAZ 350]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm FFS it's half a tank of joy juice (ugh don't know where that came from UGH )

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO ...... your feeling sleepy ........ very sleepy......... just imagine all those Zeds and only 1 (or 2) custard one's

[Baldieman]

Sarnie.
What more can i have added to this almost completly full report but.....

You missed the awards ceremony.


Yep, Zeus won best in class and i am sure that you would have won the bottle of single malt if you had still been there !

But the best and dirtiest colour won


So a quick note to all. Don't wash the car if you want to win.....

What a truly wonderful day this was and good to see that the club was also represented in two shows.
Well organised by the Supra Club and the weather finally cleared so that a BBQ in the back of an old mk3 supra could be enjoyed (pictures to follow once i get around to down loading them)
Superb food cooked by Glyn (afreemason) and the boss (Nikki) with the hospitality of their new gaff.

Totally top day.

Cheers guys for making it so much fun in appauling weather.

[stoko]

Sounds like it was good fun - sorry I couldn't make it.

[afreemason]

uuuurrrrrggggghhhhhhh

Morning guys ....... the lack of broad band at home and a strange illness that seems to have come over me since very early on Sunday moring have resulted in me only just getting round to posting up on this one ...... Sorry

Well guys, despite the weather ...... what a chuffing brilliant day ...... I hope those attending feel likewise and those that didn't get the urge to join us for MIDLANDS GUMBALL 2007 ...... which I have a vague recollection is now officially in the planning stages !!!!!!!

All in all five clubs were represented to varying degrees, the 350z OC, the 350z dark side mkiv supra.net the mkiii supra club and the worcester Jap club.

From the 350's, special thanks to SARNIE, DAVE, DOUG and my good mate VAL sporting a new pair of trackie trousers !!!!!! It was also wonderful to see Mrs Doug & Mrs Dave as well, who always claim to have a great time but must have been a tad curious as to we seemed to enjoy splashing round the countryside (errm M54) quite so much

Guys, it was great to see you and without you all of the hard work and organisation on events like these really does amount to nothing.

Although they'll probably not see this special thanks to S7eve from the mkiv club for organising the route and planning this yars event and Deano & Sean from the mkiii site who made sure we had their fantastic bbq to cook on ....... if anyone remembers the converted half a mkiii supe from JAE you'll know what I'm talking about.

Well ...... Sarnie obviously couldn't stop for the bbq as he has quite clearly been sobre enough to ALREADY post up a shed load of quality pickies from the day !!!!!! Cheers buddy !!!!!!


Well, it was an early start and although the weather was good to start with, the omens weren't great ....... what do they say about red sky in the morning ??????



A quick blast down the motorway and we were off to the meeting point in Quorn, Leicester ........ at this point my little zedlets, I've got to tell you that my tango terror really held his own well with the faster tt boys, although I obviously wasn't as quick, I managed to keep up pretty well, that second turbo kicking in was tough to live with but I seemed to be in the right gear each time God bless empty roads at 7am !!!!!

Once at Quorn station, it wasn't long before the Midlands hard core arrived

but who let a ford in ....... where's Kev when you want him.

I tell you what though ...... these mkiii Supra boys were on the ball, 9am prompt and the buggers were off .... I think we told them that the first cars to finish got an extra beer


Well ...... as Sarnie has already said, I hung on until he got there and then we headed off for the mid morning stop ...... and yet again ....... I managed to get lost with a bloody sat nav ....... I blame the cloud, I blame the cubby hole, I even phoned Nikki up and blamed her (well lets face it the other half's always to blame ! ). By this stage it had started to rain and by the time we got to the first "check point" the mood was just a touch subdued, a mkiii had done a spin coming round an island andnarrowly missed a mkiv following it but other than severely soiled underpants nothing was damaged. When Sarnie and I arrived we were immidiately greated by Val who had made the run down from Manchester that morning and then we were five !!!!! I tell you what for a moaning Italian he's well chipper first thing in the morning

What with Val and the arrival of the last expected Supra ........

....... apparently this has an extra AAA battery for extra boost !!!!! ........ we were off again.

I tell you what, it's bloody hard work making just five zeds look like a decent convoy but I think we filled the road nicely ......... and I think the ultra yellow is even more visible in the merk than the sunset !!!!!!

[afreemason]

We've learnt some very positive lessons for next year ....... the first is to actually tell Val he doesn't need to go straight to lunch ........... if it hadn't be lashing it down I'd have been a little cheesed off to be trundling up the M54, but given the conditions, I was happy to be in one piece.

We did pull over to check the maps at one point only to have a rather ungainly fight to card a rogue zed break out scaring young children and putting the elderly at risk of their general health.

Needless to say we finally acted as gentlemen and left both cards on the car. Do you remember Sarnie's photo of four zeds waiting by the services ........ any idea why ....... this was the view from the shell service station ...... note to self : fill up before going on a car run next time.


Oh and Val ...... I did drive back past that black zed ....... I thought you were running out of spotted cards so I recycled yours and i'll post it back to you


With Stafford simply a name on a map and our hopes of actually being able to answer more than half of the questions on the Gumball Quiz fast disappearing we arrived in near perfect formation at the pub car park for lunch ........ I say near perfect as our bananna coloured point man just carried straight on past ...... obviously to recon the road for the afternoon session !!!! Lads, I've go to say though, that the display we gave of synchronised parking was absolutely pathetic, alhough the photo's gloss over the rather large gaps ....... lets just say that the Supra lads still don't see a need for parking sensors after what we managed




Unfortunately were more reports of casualties, a mkiv had a close encounter with a grass verge on the wrong side of a wet bend and a mkiii managed to hit a low flying bird (I assume it was low flying) and buggered up his oil cooler. There was also a story about big Deano from the mkiii club spinning ut we're still not convinced that it was accidental !!!!!!

Well I for one thought the food at lunch was stunning but lets face it you don't get to be a fat bloke by being a fussy eater. Unfortunately, that was where I had to leave you all for a while as I had decided that it was only fair that I get my butty back to help Nikki get sorted for the afternoon session ....... although I did find this sight to great me in the car park ....... a friendly AA man ........ all I'm going to say is that he spent a lot longer looking at the Supras than the zeds ......... I think this touting for business bit is getting out of hand. I did say hi and was told that if he hadn't been working he'd have been driving his mkiv round with us !!!!!

[afreemason]

Well, everything started to get a little hazy from then on to be honest ........ Mike was helping judge the competitions so I really don't know how another sunset managed to win the zed class .......

well I do ..... he didn't recognise Vals car which incidentally is looking and sounding very very tasty these days ..... a credit to you mate!


I'm a little worried that the mkiii with the gimp mask caught his attention in that class

And surprise surprise and NA won the mkiv class


The bbq was actually a great success despite the weather which actually cleared up about 7pm and gave us a very mild night which we enjoyed until about 1.30 am. Try as we might we couldn't convince Burna (mkiv) that horses didn't have claws that then got cut down into hooves ...... in fairness the more pi55ed he got, the closer he got to the horse until he stroked it then fell over ...... Dougal the horse was obviously very disappointed at this !!!!!!

As the night progressed lots of people decided that it would be a good idea to go on a pussy hunt ...... and when they found one they were agast at how it looked ........ to much time spent pawing over cars rather than pussies ...... those cute little flat faces !!!!!! the cats have never had so much fuss !!!!! ...... well what were you guys thinking !!!!????? God only knows what would have happened if the chickens had got out ..... I think Deano would have needed restraining !!!!!

At this stage I should also thank S7eve for providing the sound system for the night ........ although it did need jump starting the next morning !!!!!!!

The surprise arrival of the night was Lovat on his new R6 ....... complete with full one piece leathers ....... it was really nice to see him without asking him to sort out a car problem ...... although he never did sort out that ..........




Nikki and I we're thrilled to have all of you guys over, it really was no trouble at all, we couldn't have hosted a better bunch of petrol heads to be honest ...... oh and Burna !!!!!! It was fantastic to see so many cars in the bottom paddock but there was PLENTY of room for more ...... so look out for MIDLANDS GUMBALL 2007


A few more photies, cus I want to:

[Paintshield]

Brother can I have the rights to use the two photographs you posted The Supra with the Vinyl Bra and Vals

Could you email me I soooooo want to use those on our website juxtapositioning is great, as they both have stonechip protection and the contrast is hilarious Boy wait till the supra owner takes that thing off at the end of the year will he ever get a shock!!



Cheers

Tom