This year our Annual Dinner was going to be different - we were having a go-karting session before the Dinner with a super engraved Irish glass trophy being presented to the winner courtesy of Rosemary Smith. This meant an early start to enable us to arrive at G.P.Karting in Northampton at about 2.30pm ready to take part in a series of six heats to determine our grid positions in the semi-finals. Just about everyone arrived on time - some in Tigers and Steve Smith plus three frozen passengers in a rare newly renovated Fiat Abarth with the roof down!
The heats proved to be fast and furious with repeated warnings and rebukes being issued by the owner of the venue. Karts were getting crashed on a regular basis and several received an unfortunate amount of damage. We all blamed the track for its limited overtaking opportunities which necessitated physical contact to make satisfactory progress. It would be a major understatement to say that this was NOT a view shared by the owner!
Eventually the heats were completed and the results posted. We had no less than 28 competitors of which the top 16 went forward to the two semi-finals. The top four in each Semi went on to the ten lap Grand Final. It was at this point that all the remaining competitors were taken to one side and given a severe dressing down regarding the quality (rather lack of quality) of their driving. We were compared with, and apparently beat, all other groups to win the worst ever booking G.P.Karting had ever been foolish enough to accept.
The final started cleanly and continued that way right until the last lap when a terrible thing happened. A tailender spun just round a kink after the start-finish line; the three karts in the leading pack thundered past the chequered flag (totally ignoring the yellow caution flag being frantically waved at the same time) and ploughed into the poor tailender's kart. The marshalls leapt over the barrier in a vain attempt to clear up the mess but were immediately forced to retreat as the next batch of three karts crossed the finish line, came round the kink and repeated the exercise, adding considerably to a scene of mayhem and destruction. The owner of the Karting Centre was not very happy!
The winner was Mark Pollard's brother Gwyn but unfortuately his podium presentation was a low key affair as most of those involved scarpered it in an attempt to prevent the possibility of being locked up for several hours in a cold dark room as the owner of the venue worked out how he could extract his revenge.
The various hickups during the afternoon meant we were now running very late for the dinner. The speed at which those of us not spending the night at the hotel could have showers and get ready was considerably hampered as ten of us attempted to change all in one spare room. It was an interesting half hour in which "sharing" took on a whole new meaning and we all saw more of each other than we had in the previous 10 years!
At last the meal started, served by the very understanding staff. Their duties were considerably aggravated by the various streamers, balloons and unidentified missiles traversing the dining room. After the main course someone (I can't imagine who!) came up with the idea of mounting an attack on a party going on in one of the other hotel function rooms. Resulting from the now somewhat drunken state of the gathering the idea was taken up with considerable enthusiasm. No less than 30 people, armed with anything up to 4 aeroplane balloons each, crept down the corridor to the main function room. You can only start to imagine the expressions on the faces of the dinner jacketed, unsuspecting guests of the other party as close to 100 aeroplane balloons were released in the middle of a speech. The event gatecrashed turned out to be the annual local Masonic Ladies Night. Whoops!
After the natural break resulting from this entertaining interlude I managed to regain some sort of order and allow our guest speaker to get started. This year we were honoured to have the famous Touring Car Driver Patrick Watts. Patrick is a Tiger owner of several years - his car has been totally stripped, shot blasted and dipped in molten zinc to achieve a fully galvanised coating. The thought of no more rust made us all very jealous.
Patrick gave us a most entertaining talk, interspersed with the usual humorous quips made by various members of the audience. It was really nice to see Patrick feeling sufficiently relaxed to reply to the quips in a very direct manner!
Next on the agenda was the prize-giving
during which the following awards were made:
| Most Improved Newcomer | Simon James | ||
| Best Newcomer | Norman Dawson | ||
| Clubman | Graham Vickery | ||
| Club All-rounder | Tristan Bradfield | ||
| Best Rebuild | Phil Blay | ||
| Best Tiger | Martin Chowne | ||
| Piston Broke Trophy | Peter Rowsbottom |
Following the raffle (for which there was a fabulous array of prizes - a big thankyou to all those who donated) the night continued with a totally impromptu auction in aid of "Save the Children". This great idea was thought up by Alison Smith, Steve's much better half, and developed into a tremendous success raising over $450.00 thanks to David Duncanson's not inconsiderable auctioneering skills. Patrick was again the star of the show as he rushed out in the freezing cold to fetch the overalls he had used in the 1997 Touring Car Championship. These were duly offered up for auction and raised the sum of over £300. The new owner is Mike "Grandad" Windebank, ever keen to enhance his performance in whatever way possible!
The auction proved to be the climax of the evening as gradually the event started to wind down. People started to fade away, the last going to bed at about 4.30am while I faced a foggy trip down the M1, my head still thumping as my system fought an alcohol overload. How we were going to face an early morning call in order to reach our RAC Rally viewing spot I couldn't imagine!
If you have never been to an Annual Dinner, please don't let the above put you off! Why not mark your diary now for this years event - 17th November 2001.