Since hooking up with the organisers of the Thundersprint to stage our 5th Birthday Party at their 2008 event in Northwich, Cheshire, the exhibitions staff here at American-V have been brainstorming with our marketing division to see how best we could deliver the party of the century at this massive celebration of motorcycling.
Plans included seeing if there were any top name bands touring who fancied a break in an exhausting schedule to come and do a more intimate gig; busing people to and from a major venue; taking over the biggest hall in town to stage a huge review show that would have people talking right up until our tenth anniversary party in ... hang on a sec ... 6,7,8,9 ... another five years time.
Then, sadly, I woke up to the realisation that we haven't got an exhibition staff or a marketing division, and that the year has flown past at an unprecedented speed this year and we're less than a week away from the gig. Piss-ups and breweries spring to mind.
What we're actually arranging to round off the day of the American-V ride-in bike show and Bobber Build-Off public vote, is the use of the Rugby Club bar with regular licencing hours, Andy the mad Ad Manager's band, "The Beef", playing on the Saturday night, and we'll be screening highlights of One World's ChopperTown and BritTown movies, as well as the full resolution versions of our timelapse videos.
So, to details:
FRIDAY
The campsite at Winnington Park Rugby Club will be open from 5pm until 9pm for new arrivals. There can be no entry after that time because of the Health and Safety people: apparently it's not safe to pitch tents in the dark (Before you start ranting, as I would usually do at such times, here's a note about Health & Safety). There are various sections to the campsite, depending on whether you're bringing animals with you, or want a quet corner. We'll have a cordoned off area for AmV folk, which will be predominently Harleys, Buells and Victorys, but we're not that strict: if you're bringing a mate or two on non-American kit, they won't be forced to park outside.
The town centre is about three miles away from the site and unsurprisingly will be open for food and beer, but the Rugby Club bar will also be open from 5:30 to 10:30 on Friday night if you just want to park-up, set-up and then kick-back and relax, so you don't necessarily need to leave the site.
SATURDAY
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American-V free to enter ride-in show with voting by the public. Because there will be a lot of people milling about, we want to get all bikes in place for judging to start at 10am - which will coincide with when that part of the site will be sealed by the H&S people. We'll have a trestle table set up up somewhere with judging forms and a box to post completed ones. Judging entirely by the viewing public: then it's not our fault. There will only be a few tophies otherwise the prize-giving will last all day, and there will be no runner's up trophies because "Second Best ..." doesn't sound as cool as "Best". There will be no prize money because we're permanently skint: it's just for the kudos. Rules: The bikes must be in place for 9:45 for the start of judging at 10am. It must be an American bike, by which we mean from an American manufacturer. We will stretch the rules to accommodate Aermacchi singles, and even the 2-stroke singles if anyone's brave enough to drag one out, likewise custom bikes based round clone motors, which technically could be less American than a lot of American-made Japanese cruisers, but don't try to sneak a Gold Wing past on a point of principle. An Indian Dakota4 (Scandavian-build and Scottish rebranded with an American badge) would really stretch the point, but we'd be so pleased to see one that we'd allow it. Classes
will be: |
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"Best
Custom"
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chopper,
bobber or whatever: it saves us (or you for that matter) trying to
work out what's what. |
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"Best
Street"
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Practical
street bike: it could be a well maintained stocker, lightly modified,
one-off paint, more chrome but ridden and rideable |
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"Best
Classic"
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pre-Evo,
but otherwise any age, condition, even sympathetic /contemporary modifications:
we're not looking for concours |
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"Best
in Show"
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visitor's
choice: the best of the best for whatever reason you have in your
head at the time. |
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"The
bike that I'd want to take home"
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a
very different decision to any of the above: there are many things
that I covet, but very few I'd want to actually own: what's yours? |
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And, of course, the public vote for "The Great British Budget Bobber Build-Off" You don't need to specify the class you want to be considered for, as we'd hope that those people who put a 96-inch Twin Cam into Best Classic will be so few as to not swing the judging too far. Prizegiving will be at 4PM, and if we've got our act together in time there'll be a birthday cake for those who are quick enough. Please note, The Thundersprint will also have a ride-in show, but it is purely to show bikes rather than for any competition. |
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Other stuff going on on Saturday:
The bar will be open all from mid-day and there will be quality food concessions on site, and there will be Harley-Davidson and Buell test rides available. If you want to take a test ride, make sure you bring two forms of ID, including one photographic, and your driving licence (to avoid disappointment, treat both parts of your driving license as one form of ID). There will be other bikes to take out too, including Ducatis, but there will be a lot of people and far fewer bikes so get those booked early.
We're hoping to organise a ride-out through Cheshire's leafy lanes, stopping off at the Anderton Boat Lift for a brew on the way back. It will be a fairly informal affair and is dependent on finding some experienced Road Marshalls, and sortting oiut the dreaded public liability insurance. Keep checking this page for confirmation, or come and see us at our trestle table at the show. At worst, we'll give you a map with some interesting routes marked out on it that you are at liberty to follow or ignore ... which will get us off that particular hook.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Come and
have a beer with us at the Rugby Club, watch the band and relax: realistically,
that's what most smaller rallies actually end up being anyway. Think of
it more as an informal night down the pub with your mates, just a different
pub, different town and different mates with
a band to add to the mix - and the chance to see enough of a couple of
iconic documentary films to get an idea of what everyone's going on about.
The Beef are promising a good and lively cross-section of covers to get a good party atmosphere: sixties to the present, guitar-based proper music ... and there's a chance that Rich will drag his bass out of semi-retirement for a bit of a jam. If you play, and you can carry your instrument safely, drop us a line and I'll put you on to Andy. Be aware that it's not going to be loud late, because there's an awful lot happening early Sunday morning.
The emphasis really is on informal: no pressure, no attitude, just a chance to relax in good company after a day's overdosing on motorcycling. Come and join us for a beer ... well, I've got an early, and relatively sober night because I've got to get the Shovelhead through scrutineering by 8am on Sunday morning to be able to 'race', but I'm sure that Rich and t'other Andy, Amanda and Mandie will make up for my temperance.
If you want wall-to-wall entertainment, masses of music and an Adult Tent you will be better off at "You've been NABBED 17" 12 miles east at Astle Park, Chelford. Incidentally, Nabbed 17 visitors are welcome to enter the ride-in show if they can get to Winnington Park by 9:45, and they'll easily be home for 5:00 if they're in a hurry to get back for the evening's entertainment.
The outdoor stuff at Winnington Park itself will start to wind down in the late afternoon, as the main traders decamp and head to Northwich proper for the main event on Sunday.
SUNDAY
Dunno about you, but I'll be queuing in the small hours of Sunday morning with my Shovelhead (unless I can scrounge an 1125R, and I am trying): the paddock area in Northwich opens at 6:15 with the likes of the legendary Ago Agostini and Jet from Gladiators, as well as Thundersprint's organiser himself: there's no special treatment. Sadly, Top Gear's James May has been despatched to the other side of the world, so he won't be competing this year. If you've got a teenage daughter, you can use them as your alarm clock because someone called Russ from something called Hollyoaks will be there too. If racing is your bag, the paddock area is open to spectators and you've got a unique opportunity chance to meet the riders and see their machines close up.
Race practice
starts at 8:30, the Cavalcade of Bikes (old and new, race and road) at
12:00 
(participants
need to be lining up at 11:30).
The Thundersprint itself starts at 1:30pm, immediately after an aerobatic display by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Spitfire. Get in position early if you're there to watch the racing, and it's worth checking out the practice just to work out where the best viewing points are.
And while all of that is going on, on what is usually a supermarket car park, the whole of Northwich town centre will be alive with motorcycles and motorcyclists - we're talking about a six-figure crowd here, so it spreads out. Victory will be lining up somewhere near to Harley-Davidson for those who haven't yet had chance to look at one properly. All of which taking place in the midst of a huge temporary town created by a mile of bike related stalls, a fun-fair and a brilliant carnival atmosphere thoughout.
See you there.
Andy
H&S NOTE: Yes, the compensation culture is here and while it's all very irritating, there's not a lot we can do about it. That's partly because The Thundersprint is run with the full co-operation of Vale Royal Council, and there's no easier target for compensation claims than a council, and partly that the Thundersprint's organisers are safeguarding the event. There isn't a huge corporation behind Thundersprint, but a small, professional and very enthusiastic team committed to putting on an excellent, relaxed and mind-blowing show: it only takes one lapse of common sense and a subsequent lawsuit prompted by a "No Win, No Fee" vulture ... sorry, the worst kind of solicitor*, to shut the whole lot down and land them in chokey.
The solution is public liability insurance, and the insurance companies' risk assessors are shit-hot on Health and Safety. Public liability insurance is there to cover genuine claims - and avoidable accidents do happen - but everyone will be trying very hard to minimise claims from those people who are too stupid to think (who need protecting from themselves), or others who see insurance as a huge sack of free money with their name on it (who everybody needs protecting from).
If you drive a tent-peg through your foot because you're erecting a tent in the dark, or if someone runs over your foot while they're lining up their bike for showing, I'm sure you might raise your voice, perhaps an expletive might pass your lips, but you would ultimately accept responsibility for not taking more care or for not being more aware of what's going on. Sadly, the rest of the world isn't like you and a few opportunists would have the appropriate form in their back pocket, already half filled-in, ready to make their claim.
It's a slippery slope, and while H&S will be tighter here than at most events you'll go to, don't believe for a second that it won't spread to all rallies over the next few years as their organisers seek to protect themselves from the numbnuts - quite apart from the increasingly draconian preconditions of public event licences. The only real alternative is to sign a waiver to absolve the organisers of any responsibility for anything if you do something stupid, but even that could face legal challenges, so we're stuck between a rock and a hard place.
*carefully phrased in case a solicitor decides I'm casting aspertions upon their professional integrity: I think I'd actually enjoy facing one in court who's prepared to admit that they were the worst kind of solicitor in order to sue me for calling them a vulture.