A great weekend at Brands Hatch with members of UKGPL for the presentation of this years Joe Shaw Memorial Trophy. Some great memories for all and serious sunburn for some individuals.
Robert Fleurk and Tommie made the long journey from Holland ( one from the North and one from the South of the country), Phil Thornton ( and son Luke) from Lancashire, Andy Livingston from deepest Devon, Billy from Eastbourne, Colin ( arf arf arf ) arrived from Epsom and myself from Bristol. Malcolm and Beverley arrived with the JSMT on Sunday and Robert was presented with the magnificent trophy overlooking Surtees Bend. There was no champagne, but we did miraculously uncover some Dutch Lager to celebrate the moment!! How lucky was that??!!
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I think that we all enjoyed meeting up with fellow GPL simracers and watching some of the real life cars that we use in GPL. Free access to all of the cars in the paddock gave Tommie the chance to get some great detail photos of dashboards and even rivets on the car panels. ( watch out for some revised car packs in the future
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The general feeling was that Brands was actually much better value than Goodwood, where we have been previously, at around 30% of the cost!) Early discussions about a possible 2017 JSMT convention included other venues ...Oulton Park, Zandvoort, Spa, Castle Coombe, Zolder, Silverstone etc were all mentioned, but it was too early to make any concrete plans. I think 2017 might be decided by the numbers of members who decide to attend, and where they live ??
Evening discussions over a few beers ranged from H-shifter v paddles, right foot braking v left foot braking, diff setups vs shock values, steering ratios vs office chairs, Dutch beer vs English beer...................and football vs Brexit.
Thanks to everyone who made the weekend such great fun, and special thanks again to Malcolm and Beverly for the Joe Shaw Trophy and for being there.
Im sure that pics of the weekend will be posted soon.
