Season Preview

Season Preview

Well, hopefully you all had a great off-season and got all those jobs done around the house that you said you’d do once racing was finished? With just four weeks to go until our opening event at Spring Live! we are literally just two weeks away from that point in the season where racers retreat to their sanctum sanctorum for the annual panic attack over how little they have done to their machines in the last five and a half months. This is followed by the usual five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and putting it off for another week. So, to whet the appetite, here’s a quick preview of our 2025 season:

As I’ve already mentioned, the lights will go out for the first time on 26th-27th April at Spring Live! at the South of England showground in Ardingly. Experience shows us that this is entirely weather dependant, as the Weald clay does hold water rather well – so with spring already teasing us with some sun, let’s hope for a few more dry weeks. Regardless, it’s a good little show and, if you have kids, a good way to exercise the pockets before some of the larger shows later on in the season!

Two weeks after Ardingly, on the 10th-11th May, we take a brief break from sprint racing for our ‘Double 4 Hour’ endurance event, which once again takes place at Matterley Basin near Winchester: our fifth visit to this venue, the fourth for the Double 4, this always delivers thrills and spills. Last year it also delivered the Aurora Borealis – we can’t promise that again, though I do wager that the wind will be blowing, and mud flaps will be required due to the high risk of airborne flint!

As much as we hate to change dates after announcing the calendar, due to a much better offer, instead of Alfold as published, we will instead be attending The British Country Show in Sevenoaks on the 25th-26th May (note that this meeting is Sunday-Monday). In short, Alfold is one of our more flexible (and bumpy!) venues and the offer of a show over the bank holiday, which is cheaper to run and allows us to use Alfold, later on in the season, was just too much to resist. They promise to be “the show with something for everyone” and it certainly looks like there is plenty to entertain the families.

After a three week breather, we then have back to back shows, firstly Motorfest near Chelmsford over the father’s day weekend, 14th-15th June, which this year will host our World Championships. This is usually a fantastic show for us petrolheads – though less good for the ponies that they keep putting us next to! Last year, we had a little precipitation which certainly mixed things up as people found themselves a lot closer to the hedge than they had anticipated, owing to the relatively hard surface.

Hot on Motorfest’s heels is West’s Wood Fair on the 21st-22nd June – a new venue for us last season, it proved to be a good one for those of us that didn’t get run over... This year we’re hoping not to be stationed over the hill and far away, but to be a little more front and centre in this excellent little show. Either way, there is a very high chance of another hilly track with extremely challenging off-camber bends!

Something of a pleasant surprise to those of us that have been racing a while, we will return to Blake House Craft Centre near Braintree on the 12th-13th July– a venue that we’d visited almost every September since 2003, until our 2020 event had to be cancelled because of some bats, and the owner had a change of heart thereafter. The history books show us that this venue is rock hard and come rain or shine will deliver some very fast racing.

In another change from our hitherto published calendar; on the 26th-27th July we will be at Alfold rather than The Dip. This will be the final opportunity for racers to give their 12 Hour machines a shakedown – shake being the operative word as this venue has been known to be a touch bumpy! It is however a large field that always delivers the goods, and with a separate camping field it’s ideal for those poor wives and girlfriends who are just after some peace and quiet (and potentially a small glass of vino?).

The Union Jack will drop on our flagship 12 Hour endurance event on the 16th-17th August. This year it will be returning to West Sussex and the same field we used in 2019, which was extremely well received. Hopefully this should prove easier on everyone than last year’s venue, but with all we’ve trialled and learned in the last couple of years, it should be bigger and better than ever!

With no other events in August, the sprint season recommences on the 6th-7th September at another new venue, and something a little different: we will be joining the Romney Marsh Ploughing and Cultivations Society for their Ploughing Match Near Brenzett (just down the road from the former venue of Hamstreet show, for those that have been with us for at least a decade!). Unusually, there will be no grass, with the field having been used instead for Winter Linseed – which should be interesting!

A venue not confirmed when we hosted the AGM; on 20th-21st September we will be attending Newbury show – another new venue and our most Westerly this year. It’s fantastic to see yet another show so late in our season, and hopefully it’ll be a good one.

Finally, we are looking to round out our season at Reservoir Dip on 4th-5th October, though this is extremely weather dependant, as we’ve been mud bogging there and don’t really fancy a repeat. Needless to say, it will either be dusty or muddy and probably a smidge bumpy. All being well, we also plan to hold the Awards presentation & end of season BBQ here but this is highly weather dependant and very much still to be confirmed. Either way, start thinking about fancy dress themes now and let us know…

So, I hope that helps kindle a little enthusiasm and hope to see you all at Spring Live! in four weeks. Not long now!

Race entry opens Saturday the 29th March @ 09:00