Prescott Midsummer Fest – June 2010

Although the La Vie en Bleu and VSCC meetings at Prescott capture many of the headlines, and also generate the most interest among forummers, there are plenty of other meetings during the year, and when blessed with good weather as was the case for the late June meeting, the Midsummer Fest, you can be sure of an excellent day out in this most scenic and historic of settings. With another appointment in the Forum diary for the Sunday, this visit was on the Saturday, which is always the quieter of the two days of any weekend meeting. Nevertheless, there was plenty of interest, and we enjoyed a great day out.IN THE PADDOCKThere was a wide variety of cars parked up ready for the challenge of climbing the hill as fast as possible, with entrants ranging from purpose designed hill climbers such as the Pilbeams, to cars that were road legal.

Many of the competitors were vehicles we have seen here before, but it is always good to see them. That is especially so for the most distinctive sounding car of the day, the awesome Audi Quattro Sport.

Lotus

Ford

Clan Crusader

Gilbern

Ginetta G15

Mini

Morgan

Porsche

This Westfield packed a 4.6 litre V8 engine under its bonnet. With a weight of less than 600kg, it was described as “sometimes a handful” by its owner. Sounded simply fantastic, though!

Another competitor with a glorious sound to it was this Dodge Viper.

There were only a couple of pre-war entrants, including this MG

Austin Healey Sprites

Reliant Scimitars

ON THE HILLConditions should have been perfect, but car after car kept coming off the hill. Maybe everyone was just trying that bit too hard? By mid afternoon there was plenty of sand down, suggesting perhaps some of the entrants had been laying a trail of oil. which would not have helped matters. Thankfully, although a few of the cars looked the worse for their experience, none of the drivers were seriously hurt.

IN THE CAR PARKWith a relatively small attendance for the day, all the visiting cars were either in the Orchard, or parked up on the slopes of the hill. There was plenty that was interesting, and worth a photo or two.

Personal favourite, perhaps unsurprisingly, was this Fiat 500 Tributo Ferrari. This is one of the initial batch of cars that were supplied to each UK Ferrari dealer so they could offer them out as courtesy cars. I met someone the following day who had received one and who although initially a little sceptical, had thoroughly enjoyed the experience.