Simply Italian - Beaulieu

[ben]

        I feel it would be unfortunate if readers of this thread were discouraged from going to Beaulieu for future events. I am not sure what Brian and Franks expectations were based on but Beaulieu is very much aimed at Joe Public and not just car nuts. Probably many of the visitors did not even know about the Italian element until they got there so I felt the commentary was pretty much what one might expect  ie fairly light-hearted and he seemed to me to be happy to be corrected where neccessary.
        I certainly enjoyed the day and the wide variety of the exhibits. (Of course it also gave me another opportunity to fit the cut-away cam cover to my Aprilia and show the valve gear in action.)
        Having two nicely contrasting Lancias in the top ten seemed a good result especially as it brought out the fact that David Wheelers Aprilia had come all the way from Carlisle!
                                                                       Ben

[frankxhv773t]

Having had time to ponder, I was expecting something like Gaydon which it wasn't. Somone has rightly pointed out that Gaydon is run by AutoItalia and is a much more high profile event. I would perhaps describe the Beaulieu event as more like an overgrown italian night at The Ace but with the museum thrown in. There is nothing wrong with that so long as you know what you are going to. Brian and I passed up going to the excellent classic car day at The Shuttleworth Collection to go to Beaulieu which I must acknowlege exacerbated our feelings of deflation. So I think our disappointment could be taken more as a reflection of our expectations than a reflection on the event.

So next year, if you are within a day trip of Beaulieu I would say take a picnic, go along and swell the numbers.  As with so much in our hobby, it is what you make it.