MEET Report: Dunsfold Wings & Wheels 2014
Meet report by Andy Sharp
DUNSFOLD WINGS AND WHEELS – 24th AUGUST 2014
Dunsfold Park is where Top Gear is filmed. Each year on the August Bank Holiday weekend they have their popular Wings and Wheels event. Last year S2KUK had a stand in the Wheels Section and it was such a great day we decided to do the same this year.
We had 10 cars on the stand, which attracted a lot of interest from the crowd. We spent the day chatting to previous owners, many of who regretted parting company with their S2000. We also had a lot of people asking for advice on buying one – so maybe some prospective new club members 
The club stand
The weather was kind to us and S2000 events can be quite posh when it comes to picnics and this proved to be no exception, smoked salmon, rose wine, tarte-au-citroen (citron?) were all on the menu. Next year we hope to bring the full dining set and candelabras!
This year we were lucky enough to secure a drive in the morning and afternoon motoring displays on the airfield runway. This is organised each year by the Brooklands Museum Trust. Carrie (Vixen) and Andy (S2K_Tuning) rose to the challenge. The instruction went out in the morning briefing to ‘go for it’ – does an S2000 owner need a second invitation?
Carrie went first in the morning run. Paul (PaulF) as her passenger achieving a very respectable 131 mph. Not bad for roof down, 150K miles on the clock and a passenger – although to be fair we had noticed Paul was looking very slim so had clearly been in training for this.! We heard afterwards that Carrie had been particularly enthusiastic and Paul had had to shout “brake, brake, brake !” as the breaking zone marker board flashed past in a blur.
Carrie about to be passed..
The afternoon run saw Andy rising the challenge. He opted for roof up to improve the streamlining and no passenger and managed to hit 134 mph before he ran out of tarmac. I believe he has challenged a rematch at Santa Pod....watch this space. Next year we’ll try and get a few more S2000s on the runway to see if we can break this record.
Andy at full throttle
For the rest of us it was a far more leisurely cruise along the crowd line waving at the thousands of spectators. Although the commentator did not do anything to endear himself to us. “....and now for a gaggle of MX5s with their little 4 cylinder high revving engines”. An official complaint has been logged. ;-)
There was amazing action in the air too. The show opened with the amazing Chinook Helicopter display. In the words of the commentary – “ you wont believe that a shipping container can do these kind of manoeuvres”.
WW2 Flypast
Other highlights included:
- The ear-splitting noise of the Vulcan – if you’ve never seen this awesome delta wing bomber then you are missing a fantastic sight.
- The RAFs Red Arrows aerobatic team. Precision flying at its best (and British of course!)
- The sound of 10 Merlin engines in the form of 2 Lancasters, a Hurricane and a Spitfire. One of the “Lancs” had flown over from Canada and this was the first time two had been seen together since the 1960s. A sight unlikely to be repeated again.
Getting 25,000 cars out of the car park at the end proved to be a logistical challenge for the organisers, but it was well worth it – a fabulous day for all.
The day was concluded by a BBQ courtesy of Carrie, which involved huge amounts of food and plenty of fire. We’ll be back at Dunsfold again next year for sure..
Comments
Currently no comments for this article.
Post a comment
You must sign in before you can post a comment.
