Location: Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN.
Date: 7th April 2024 opens at 7am.
Japfest had promised speedy access with new ANPR entry and, with tickets being limited, less cars to contend with. Despite setting off early, two miles from the turn off on the A43, as the Cure once declared “Everything’s coming to a grinding halt” and we were sat in a very slow moving queue for 1.5hrs.
For one of our Admin team who has earned the moniker “Edmond Slackbladder”, 3 hrs in a car was getting dangerous. Our small convoy took a side road to find a convenience spot, rejoined the queue and within a very short time was back behind the same Skyline before the stop! Hopefully Japsfest will address this again in 2025 as it just didn’t work this year.
Silverstone can feel exposed at the best of times; it was windy, really windy. After filling out various risk assessment form to erect the club gazebo, all gazebos, club banners were prohibited in the interest of safety. The portaloos shook like Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz!
Wind aside, we mustered a small gathering of 4 ATRs. There were a couple of no shows, no doubt due to the weather. That said, we still had a great time and one of our members, Paul, impressed us all with his array ATROC Merch!
Our Dutch Type R friends were only a handful of stands down and we had lots of chat between us. They were back with the awesome NSX we first saw at Combe last year. That thing was a weapon on track and, once the driver had got a feel for the track, embarrassed every car by quite some margin.
We didn’t really see many cars or venture far – we were too busy nattering as always!