Hi all,
I have noticed quite a few comments and photos of Japfest, apparently there is a 4 hour que to try and get in (even if you have a ticket) and the police have shut the gates as its apparetly \'full\'.
I havn\'t been to a car show for a few years but has it really got this bad now with shows? Ive never had any issues before getting into any shows like JAE (back when it was in its proper location at Santapod) or Rotorstock.
Just wondering how many people are stuck trying to get into it, I havn\'t been able to get to any shows this year so far due to the FC being unmapped but I don\'t think I will worry about going to any shows for the rest of the year if they are all as badly managed as this show seems to be?
well it was pretty bad. i got to the turn off the castle combe roundabout on chippenham bypass at 7.20 and didnt get into the circuit until 8.45 its basicaly a 5 minute drive from there. because of this i missed the first track run so that was a waste of money for me :( grrrrr
Yeah we set of from MK at 7am thinking we\'d be there before 9am. Sat in traffic about 6 miles away for over an hour not moving. Saw all the comments on Facebook So we went for some brunch (and a wee!) thinking it would clear. Back on the road and back in the queue at midday - finally got in at 2pm! :eek
I then had to drive through so many people, push chairs, wheelchairs etc - nightmare. It was good once we got there and we stayed until about 6pm so no worries getting home.
They need to sort it out as I don\'t think I\'d go to an event at Castle Combe again if it\'s anything like that.
i swear i didnt see any ques!
i rocked up to combe at about 12 (M5, M4, A46) and was clear all the way. As i was entering combe i hit gate A 1st then B then C, that direction.
then when some people were crossing some dude in a mx5 started chattin to me in next lane saying he been queing since 8am. I told him i rocked straight up, no ques etc and then u can see his face turn :mad:
I left Westbury at 6.30 am parked at sound test 7.10am ! first car there first car on track for session A ......had a session D in my other dedicated track car.......took me 25 mins to park 7 and then run to tower empty my tools and get to track......i had to join mid session after some begging ! was mucho fun though! Its a big show and the roads are only country b roads it opened at 7! simple answer is get up early ! Was a good day out!
It took me all of 10 mins to get in. didn\'t get there till 14.15 coz I had work :(. Great time though.
I\'m fairly local so got near to gate C by 7:30am and maybe queued for another 20 mins to get in so not so bad. Very slow to process cars at the gate though and there were several clubs with more cars than space.
I\'m sure they simply underestimated the popularity and the decent weather meant a big turn out.
I queued for 15 minutes at 0715 in the morning, didn\'t miss anything and had a good day, it was mega crowded though.
Finally made It in on time
I was a little late so was a rush to clear out the car for the first track session... I made it though... on road wheels :( no time to swap out for track wheels.
It was horrendous moving about though... The position we where put in (considering there would effectively be 80 cars movin back and forth to the paddock) was not the best. But this I put down to organisers "knowing best" the crowds where immense
Still an awesome day. The main problem was not the tickets on the gate it was more the cars filtering down in to there various stands.
:3gears-rh:3gears-rhIt\'s probably know 2 big an event for its location .......2 day event ? I\'d be up for that !
One of the marshals said there was still queues at midday. Was mega busy. The crowds where massive all the time !
Shaun
Their Facebook pace said that the police made them close the gates as it was apparently at full capacity... then the police started turning people away.
Lots of unhappy people turned away who bought advance tickets
I\'ve not had a car in the show for a couple of years but still attended, the show gets bigger every year,and im sure this was the biggest yet!
We get parked in a field opposite the show-which is fine but its one vehicle entrance/exit! last year we were stuck for an hr and half getting out this year we left earlier about 330 and still took 30mins to get out.
I think the only way they would sort the traffic outside the track to a certain degree is to buy the fields opposite and make them dedicated parking with propper entry/exit routes and traffic lights onto the main road.
As for the routes inside the show to and from the track for the track sessions I thinks its quite well laid out but its the shear number of people you have to fight through to get there and back, creating a dedicated traffic system from a stand to the track would be impossible-look at trax at silverstone its the same thing and that place is 2 times the size!
I think the biggest problem was there are better spots to bung clubs they know have a lot of track time. Even being closer to the pits would have been good, doing probably 1/4 mile through show stands and then having to go through all the sales stands made it really hard.
Shaun
They may even have to move it to a larger track if the numbers carry on climbing. Is silverstone the only bigger track ?
Shaun