Latest News From the UK S2000 Owners Club

As the UK S2000 Owners Club, we are creating a GT100 Edition Register, trying to establish how many Edition 100  cars are still in circulation, and hopefully on the road too. 

If you own an Edition 100 and we've not already been in touch, please comment below or email gt100register@s2kuk.com with your car’s plaque number. You will receive further contact outlining what we need to include you in the GT100 Register.

Thank you! 

It's taken a while for us to sort out this write up, but most definitely worth the wait and the read!  We cannot wait until the next Treasure hunt and nor can many of our members.  If anyone else fancies setting something up like this, let us put you in touch with Simon!

Words by Simon Penn:

Some people are lucky where they live. I count myself as one of these people having the glorious peak district right on my doorstep.

For quite a few years I’ve organised various runs through the peak district on the behalf of S2KUK, so other people can experience a small part of what I get to enjoy all the time. From the outset the numbers of attendees were quite high, with over 20 cars in attendance for every run.  People would travel from far and wide to take part.

Each year would come, and we’d have a successful run, but every year I thought about trying something new. I wanted to move things on a little so people could have their own unique experience rather than following others in convoy around a set route. I thought it might be nice to try and raise some money for charity in the process.

This is where the idea of the Treasure hunt came from.

In the autumn of 2022, I decided it was time to put my idea into action, but I’d need to think about the mechanics of how this could work as a leisurely treasure hunt and not a race around the peaks. Over the next few months, I would jot down ideas, locations & clues, and plan various clue delivery methods.

The locations were the easy part with so many places to visit in the Peak District, at one point the list was well over 70. I decided to thin out the more obscure locations so people not from the area could compete on a level playing field with the locals. I then wrote clues for each location, some of which were about the place itself and some a play on the words in the name, just to mix it up a little.

Then would come the routes themselves. After much head scratching and revisiting of ideas, I opted to go for the simplest method of issuing a map with over 50 locations marked. This then meant I could plan various offline unique ‘routes’ around the locations, ensuring each had a similar distance of travel. Then using mobile technology, I could drip feed the clues to the participants as they successfully identified and arrived at each point on their route of 10 locations. It would mean a lot of work for me acting as a central hub directing all the participants, but this system would ensure everyone travelled on their own and I could react if there were any major issues around the Peak District area. Just in case technology let us down, each team would be given a sealed envelope with all their pre-planned locations so they could still stay on the move without needing to contact me.

In addition, each team would get a list of bonus point items, they could take a picture of, to boost their final points tally.

The charity selection for the event was easy.  Prostate Cancer UK were the ideal candidates, having had links to the disease both with close family members and through members in the club. They were excellent in offering advice on ways to boost fundraising methods and maximise the uptake of people taking part.

Once I had a charity on board, it was then time to put together a prize package for the winners. Many local businesses were approached and we got some very generous donations from the likes of Peak Ales Brewery and Denby potteries.

The final piece of the puzzle would be somewhere we could use as base, for me to set up camp for the day and somewhere for us to assemble before and after the hunt. Another local club member suggested the Old Dog at Thorpe as a viable venue as they had personal links to the owner, and we hold our monthly Derbyshire meet ups there. Ross at the Old Dog couldn’t have been any more accommodating opening up early for us to offer use of the facilities and to provide bacon cobs and hot drinks.

As the date grew nearer, I got all the plans finalised, drew up maps and paperwork printed, and I even had time to knock up a batch of stickers for participants to put on their cars to mark the occasion. Well, everyone loves a sticker, don’t they?

So came the big day, on June 3^rd. I arrived early doors to get set up and organised, to wait for people to arrive. With all the planning and advertising taking part through club channels and social media, the exact number of attendees was unknown. I was hoping for 20 cars, and I was not disappointed with 24 in total arriving to take part. The drawer of a drive in the Peak District obviously proved strong with people travelling from as far afield as Hartlepool and Preston to take part.

I suggested a £5 charity donation to take part in the event and every single person surpassed this showing great generosity with much large offerings to the good cause.

Everyone had their pre-hunt food and I handed out all the packs, and after a slight delay everyone went off into the wild on the treasure hunt at 11am.

Over the following hour successful (and some unsuccessful) pictures were sent to me as each team reached their first destinations and I then fed them with the next clue on their route.

As the day went on, some teams moved at a more spritely pace around their route while others preferred to take their time taking in the wonderful scenery as they went, with communication with myself flying backwards and forwards as I directed them around. To say it got a little stressful at times was an understatement, trying to direct the right team to the next correct location was tricky.

After 3 hours the first people started to return back to base after completing their 10 clue destinations successfully. This continued for the next hour, until it got to the point where I had to instruct people to return to the Old Dog in order to meet the preassigned curfew. In all 7 teams finished the full route with the remainder completing between 7 and 9 clues.

As people returned they had food and drinks and regaled about the day's antics out on the roads, while I did the number count for peoples scores. People seemed less bothered by the scores, they seemed to have just enjoyed the event for being so different to things they’d done before.

The eventual winner was Steven Doran with his co-pilot daughter Lauren, who were worthy winners for the effort they put into all the pictures they returned back to me.

Once the dust had settled and everyone had gone on their merry ways home, I did a final number count for monies raised through the event and in total we managed to raise a staggering £280 on the day. Which was kindly topped up to £300 by S2kUK. Then with two more separate donations online, the grand total was £320.

The day although stressful for me, surpassed all my expectations for both numbers attending and blowing away my £250 target for funds raised. All the planning was more than worth it.

I’m pleased to say it will return in 2024 but in a slightly different format again, this will hopefully go some way to answer the question from people asking if it will return.

On Saturday 12th August  one of our cars was in the the Display Car section at  Pistonheads 25th Celebration Event at Bicester Heritage.  The car, owned by Alastair Hume, will be 19 years old in October 23.    Alastair noticed that Pistonheads were looking for a standard S2000 and entered his car.    The car was placed next to a shed but Alastair was assured it was not a reflection of  suitability !   The accompanying picture of three magnificent cars gives an idea of the display area.  The variety of cars both in the  display area itself and the public car park was amazing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

The Cranleigh Lions Classic Car Show is one of the most enjoyable car meets in Surrey.  5 of our S2000s on display which generated a great deal of interest from other attendees.     

What other club gets you discount on CAKE? YES! CAKE! 🍰

Delighted to say we now do! 15 % off for members at Punk Cake! 

See full details with all discounts at s2kuk.com/member-discounts.php

 😋

What a wonderful May bank holiday weekend!  The sun came out and our tops were down for some serious action in the S2000s!  Here's a couple of things we were up to - let us know if you did anything?  Go to a show that we should attend next year? Let us know!

Despite the weather keeping a lot of people at home BBQing, we had a great time at Ace Café on Sunday night, prizes were given out for most clean & shiny, dirtiest car (tough to beat this winner!), best build (which went to a car built to work, competing in sprints an hillclimbs) and car of the show (which was won by a pristine 12,000 miler).  We also had visits from NSX and a beautiful S660 Kei car!  Plenty to see and the food was awesome as always.  Date for your diary - 13th August for the next one - stay tuned for tickets.

 In the West, the Bristol area crew met up for breakfast then had areat drive from Lillypool Cafe, through Cheddar Gorge and finishing off with a pint at Congresbury.

 Some members of the Northern Ireland cell met for the May driving meet. With 6 cars attending. A great word of thanks to all those who made it, Clive it was great to have you join us on your 1st S2000 meet. Nice to see a GT100 being properly driven.

We were blessed with some great roads in the Antrim Hills and surrounding areas, and with fantastic weather to enjoy them. We like to have a driving meet once a month in the summer time. Keep your eyes peeled for the next one!

 

 A few members got together for a Yorkshire meet - at the Thornton le Dale Classic Car Show, great cars there Ian Pomfret, Adrian Mudd and Ian McAuslane

A lone S2000 at the Crathes Rotary Wheels Rally, thanks to Allan Duncan.

COMING UP THIS WEEK:

From 6pm this Wednesday 31st May  at the Royalty, Otley. https://www.facebook.com/100064508029617/posts/622852163208379/

Peak District Treasure Hunt - Simon has meticulously organised what promises to be a lot of fun! In aid of Prostate Cancer UK  https://www.facebook.com/events/1200996793843779

Dorking Cars and Coffee at Denbies Wine Yard on Sunday - we're getting ever more S2000s at this, let's see if we can make it a record! https://www.facebook.com/events/5304653342944882 

Don't forget for all Events check out the Events pages: https://s2kuk.com/s2kuk-meets.php 

Last Sunday saw the first get together for our Scottish S2KUK contingent, with a nice selection of cars on display at Inverness Performance Car Show.  We managed to find and adopt a local owner, Matty who owns the stunning Platinum White Pearl! Also brightening up the display was Neil's Monza Red (he likes to call it lipstick pink).   Thanks to Bob (and Yoda) for making the arrangements.

With event season in full swing we look forward to great attendance at our next 2 Scottish shows, The Scottish Festival of Motoring in Edinburgh (16th July) and Aberdeen Performance Car Show (6th August).  To join our stand with discounted tickets from only £7, members should head to our store: https://s2kuk.com/store.php#!/Event-Stand-Tickets/c/32916506

Here are our Facebook event links:

Scottish Festival of Motoring: https://www.facebook.com/events/3363158733902131

Aberdeen Performance Car Show: https://www.facebook.com/events/575490857333346/