Feb 20: General BMW Cruise
Printed From: Bavarian-Board.co.uk - BMW Owners Discussion Forum
Category: Regional & Specific Forums
Forum Name: East Anglia Area
Forum Discription: where East Anglian members can discuss upcoming events, etc.
URL: http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=13598
Printed Date: 16-May-2024 at 08:52
Topic: Feb 20: General BMW Cruise
Posted By: spokey
Subject: Feb 20: General BMW Cruise
Date Posted: 18-January-2005 at 17:28
In an attempt to get more people out of their lives and into their cars, I will be running a general "any BMW welcome" cruise starting at 10:00 (prompt!) from the Golden Arches at Brampton Hut services where the A1 and the A14 intersect. This will, of necessity, be a somewhat more gentle cruise than usual, as most of the attendees will be new to the fine art of following someone down a road. 
The route will be very close to the original Bunch of Hunts route, complete with the Bridge of Chavs and the stop at Holmes Fen. The cruise will again finish at the Chav Car Park (for those who were there last time) at about 17:00 Autoroute time after approximately 150 miles. If the cruise finishes too early, there will be a second phase, but since the sun will still be going down pretty early...I doubt it! 
Due to the large number of federales I have seen around lately, we won't be indulging in any straight-line lunacy, however, I hope that the route I've chosen will be sufficiently challenging to keep us all amused. Menu: This is the final menu 1 Course: £6.95 2 Course: £8.95 3 Course: £9.95 Starters: Soup of the day with crusty roll Pineapple and prawn salad with Marie Rose sauce Coronation chicken with mixed leaves Fan of melon with fruit garni and forest berries Main courses: Roast beef, lamb or loin of pork Roast crown of turkey Darne of salmon with white wine and cucumber sauce Stuffed half-roast pepper with a tomato sauce Options on main course (surcharge applies): 10 oz gammon -- add £2.00 8 oz rump -- add 2.00 8 oz sirloin -- add £3.00 Desserts: Selection of sweets available Please note that one of the comfort breaks will take place at the Flag Fen Bronze Age Museum. In order to use their facilities, they would greatly appreciate a small donation. They also have a shop where you can buy cold drinks and so on. The run should involve about 5 hours of driving and 2 hours of breaks at various places, leading to a finish time of about 17:00. However, since we will always be close to either the A1 or the A14, there should be no problems with peeling off slightly earlier if you need to! Some philosophical points: 1. This is my back yard, I do not intend to **** in it if I can help it ( nor on the forum! )! Plus, I've seen too many cops out of late.
2. I like corners, this run is not about straight line speed. I like to maintain a speed and a flowing drive. 3. Having said that: my car is 15 years old, and it copes just fine with the corners at the speeds I'll be doing. (Broad hint for slow drivers! )
4. Do not expect high quality scenery; this is the Fens...
5. Some of the roads are very poor -- please think twice about bringing a heavily slammed car! How to join in Please PM me if you are interested in attending with details of - your message board username (e.g. Zmurf) - name of driver and passenger (e.g. Tim and Irene Cullis) - model, colour and reg number (e.g. M roadster 3.2, Laguna Seca Blue, A4 TRC) - mobile phone number (e.g. 07999 999999) I will then add you to the list below of confirmed participants. I need to confirm lunch numbers in advance (veggie options available), so please don't just turn up on the day, or cancel without reasonable warning. Confirmed participants so far are: Spokey - Z1 or 635 dario - Z4 Giles - M3 CSL CTB - Z3 kazvet - Z3 roaders - 120d sjl - Z4 Alfie - Z3 Unconfirmed participants so far are: RobBruce - Z3 BartS - Z3 ------------- Ciao, Spokey 
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Replies:
Posted By: PaulS
Date Posted: 19-January-2005 at 12:50
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Sorry Spokey, Can't make it, wifes working that weekend. Paul -------------  95 E34 530i V8 Auto Maldives Blue |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 19-January-2005 at 13:23
Can't you get her fired or something?  Never mind, there'll be more ... if there's a demand! ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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e28silver528i wrote:Posted By: PaulS
Date Posted: 19-January-2005 at 13:26
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Unfortunately I can't!! Paul ------------- 95 E34 530i V8 Auto Maldives Blue |
But I will get to reap the benefits when I get hold of a set of 18" M-Parallels in a couple of months!!
Posted By: Stone-IslandV8
Date Posted: 19-January-2005 at 18:19
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Spokey
Cannot get to this but shorter term mini-meets would be an option to run in conjunction to the cruises too? Joohn ------------- Gentlemen I may not have a brain but I do have an idea Past; E39 540T/E46 328CI/ E39 535/ E39 520/ E36 M3/ E36 318iS jet black Mtech/ E46 320d/ E36 318iS diamond black/ E36 318iS blue Mtech kit |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 19-January-2005 at 18:20
That depends: what is a shorter term mini meet, and what does it constitute?  ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Stone-IslandV8
Date Posted: 19-January-2005 at 18:24
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Pub meets, informal, couple of hours, that sort of thing. ------------- Gentlemen I may not have a brain but I do have an idea Past; E39 540T/E46 328CI/ E39 535/ E39 520/ E36 M3/ E36 318iS jet black Mtech/ E46 320d/ E36 318iS diamond black/ E36 318iS blue Mtech kit |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 19-January-2005 at 18:32
Oh right! Well, sure ... go for it!  ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 21-January-2005 at 05:14
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Sorry Nigel, just noticed your edit. I cut and pasted this from a post I made on 3 other sites, forgot to check for naughty words. I must admit, I still find the strictness of the swearbox a little disturbing, but a mod's got to do what a mod's got to do. ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 23-January-2005 at 11:37
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Menu has been added to main post. Still no takers from the East Angular region? ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Nigel
Date Posted: 23-January-2005 at 15:03
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Just a thought, and please say no if it offends you, but, would you like me to send you some IAM handouts for the people attending your driving events ? ------------- Best Wishes Nigel |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 23-January-2005 at 15:13
Wouldn't offend me at all???  ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Nigel
Date Posted: 23-January-2005 at 18:26
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Cheers matey, not everyone likes the IAM, I have my "days" with them at times. PM me your address, and I'll get some stuff sent to you. ------------- Best Wishes Nigel |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 28-January-2005 at 05:48
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Still haven't received anything, Niggles. ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 28-January-2005 at 19:36
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Time for a bump.
And a grump: what happened to all the enthusiasm for an East Anglia meeting? So far I have exactly 0 people from East Angular confirmed as attendees... ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Nigel
Date Posted: 28-January-2005 at 19:42
Thats because I havent sent it yet, all my stuff is in my workshop, and I've been at customers sites all week, I'll pop out in the morning and sort it. Your not going until Feb 20th, worse than the missus you are
------------- Best Wishes Nigel |
Posted By: Nigel
Date Posted: 28-January-2005 at 20:28
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On a slightly different note, as you seem to be in organising mode, I attended a fantastic East Anglian event a while back, couple of years probably. We all met at the channel tunnel entrance, went over to frogland, drove down to the chateau Tilques, had lunch, some went off to the V bomb site, although "she" didnt allow me to attend that, then we all came back again, after wifeys had done a little shopping at Calais. Any chance of re-running that ? ------------- Best Wishes Nigel |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 29-January-2005 at 05:39
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It's not really my "bag", that kind of thing. But maybe some other kind souls will volunteer?
In the meantime, I still don't have a single Anglian on this run. ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Stone-IslandV8
Date Posted: 29-January-2005 at 06:42
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Might be time of year Spokey. Would a pub meet be more popular?
------------- Gentlemen I may not have a brain but I do have an idea Past; E39 540T/E46 328CI/ E39 535/ E39 520/ E36 M3/ E36 318iS jet black Mtech/ E46 320d/ E36 318iS diamond black/ E36 318iS blue Mtech kit |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 29-January-2005 at 07:16
Time of year? All the people who are going to be there won't even have a roof over their heads!
And we'll be having lunch at a pub, doesn't that count? ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Horsetan
Date Posted: 29-January-2005 at 10:31
I think, therefore IAM... *groan* -------------   
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 29-January-2005 at 11:44
 ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 01-February-2005 at 04:16
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I think I'm going to cancel this one due to the lack of interest.
------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 01-February-2005 at 10:48
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As I now have another confirmed attendee, the event will be happening. Very disappointed to see no other Bimmers there, though. ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 01-February-2005 at 12:08
I spoke too soon -- I have an M3 CSL along for the ride.  Still no-one from East Angular, though. ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Biff
Date Posted: 04-February-2005 at 15:46
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Sorry but some of us east anglian members are on duty. A1 /A14 Brampton Hut eh, might just take a cruise by in the old unmarked motor! Only joking and would never be able to keep up, being a traffic cop was never my scene. Hope you all have a really great day out and watch out for those really annoying mobile camera vans (Yellow Mercs) and the very quick Skoda Octavia's
------------- BMW 318is No Mods whatsoever! |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 04-February-2005 at 16:12
Keep up? It's not a race, I promise, ossifer! Seriously, I do stick very firmly to speed limits in villages / towns, and on the rest of the route, you're lucky if you can get to the speed limit.
Thanks, I will be careful. PM me if you'd like to tag along for a dry run (or subsequent events). ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 05-February-2005 at 14:21
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The menu has been finalised -- feel free to ship your orders in anytime, but definitely before Thursday 17 Feb, please! ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 07-February-2005 at 18:32
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And I've had some interest from a 1er owner ... in Glasvegas! So all you people who say it's too far away... ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 08-February-2005 at 05:26
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And my Glaswegian has confirmed -- come on you Angulars! ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 14-February-2005 at 13:22
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Any last minute takers? And I need the food orders by midnight on Thursday, please! ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 20-February-2005 at 15:55
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Wow!
What a drive! I got home quite early and still collapsed on the sofa straight away! But to rewind a little... I woke up to the melodious alarm in my phone and bright sunlight filling my room. Glancing out of the window, I saw clear blues skies and golden sun. I thought it looked quite promising, myself. However, in the 20 minutes it took me to shower and get dressed, it got remarkably cloudier and greyer. As I got into my car, I saw three snowflakes gently caress it. But I soldiered on! I was faced with an unusual dilemma -- which car should I take? Cruises generally mean the Z1, but since this was meant to be a beginners' cruise, I thought something a little slower and more civilised would be appropriate, so I jumped in the 635 CSi and headed out to the starting point. Everybody was there bright and early, with the small exception of one furrowed-browed regular, who arrived as we were about to take off, looking suspiciously like he'd had a couple the night before! 
It was a delightfully motley crew that left the Golden Arches 15 minutes late (despite my best efforts!): 1 Zinnobar 635 CSi (spokey), 1 Pistachio Z3(kazvet), 1 Topaz Z3(alfie), 1 Sterling Z4 (dario), a Quartz 120d (Roaders) and a rather well mud-camouflaged M3 CSL (Giles). Since I'd run my 635 CSi through the carwash the night before, I did feel others could have made more of an effort. 
Anyway, we sallied forth through the countryside, encountering only minimal traffic and one or two rather attractive snowshowers. I knew it was bad, because neither kazvet nor dario had their roof down! Still, we managed to keep our cars on the road, even though dario had switched off his DTC so that he did lots of slidey-slidey stuff. The naughty boy! He's going to be really pleased with me when I tell him that the first stretch of video footage didn't come out at all because the camera was aimed too high! 
Still, I did manage to get a couple of minutes showing how much dario struggled to keep up with me before we got to Flag Fen! We had a cup of coffee while discussing with Roaders how well his beautifully-handling 120d was keeping up with the more experienced regulars. 
Because the weather was really tough, and the roads were covered with ice and so forth, I decided after our first stop to head directly to the pub for lunch and forego the pleasure of the bridge of Chavs. We lost dario at this point, due to family commitments! None of that gastro-pub malarkey in the Fens, I'm afraid -- just good, simple food in generous quantities. Mine was lovely, and everyone else was far too polite to complain!  Dessert was good for a chuckle: we'd all decided to abstain, except for Giles. However, once we'd encouraged him to place an order, I decided it would be rude to let him suffer on his own, and Roaders suddenly turned out to be equally well-mannered!  We staggered out to the cars and decided to give Holmes Fen a miss too, as it was snowing again.
So we spent most of the afternoon driving away from the snow, and actually wound up finding some sun and clear skies from time to time. All too soon, we were at the Chav Car Park in Sneeits, and my brief exploration of Roaders's brilliant collection of toys in the 120d was cut short by the arrival of some bracing sleet. We hurriedly exchanged farewells, and rode off in our different directions. I had fun, I really hope the rest of you did, too! I think we proved today that a little rain, sleet and snow need not stop a cruise from being successful! 
Thanks to all who came, and a special thanks to Roaders, who braved a massive journey to be part of the cruise! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it inspired you to join some more! 
It was this dirty when we started, honest! 
Oo-ar, them's one of them new One Series... 
Three decades of BMW noses ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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Posted By: Gyrock
Date Posted: 06-March-2005 at 11:00
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As the attendee in the CSL on this, yet another of Spokey's superb runs, I've only just found this thread. I now know why in the last club magazine there was an advert placed that basically said East Anglia Region has been cancelled due to lack of interest.... Good grief what the hells the matter with people!? Surely not everyone that belongs to the club only gets their car out at weekends to clean it?? I was seriously considering volenteering to help Chris out...I don't think I'll bother now!
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....the ride of your life |
Posted By: Nigel
Date Posted: 06-March-2005 at 15:48
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Nice to see it went well lads, not really my bag, the kids get bored far too easily just riding around, but good luck with any others you organise. ------------- Best Wishes Nigel |
Posted By: spokey
Date Posted: 06-March-2005 at 16:49
Heh, heh, heh. Bored. Heh, heh, heh. ------------- Ciao, Spokey
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