Announcing! The first! The fabulous! The frightening! RealClassic Rally...

The clamour started early this year for a proper RC Rally. Seems that quite a few of you would like to do more than just meet up at a show - you've been pestering for an overnight get-together with camping and all that jazz.

And indeed, we've long schemed of plans for something a little bit special, which would introduce RealClassic readers to the delights of the West Country - maybe even a BBQ at the Big Shed...

That would need quite a bit of organisation, however and, as many of you will know or suspect, we're generally a bit run off our trotters at RCHQ Bude.

So we didn't hold out a lot of hope for organising our own stand-alone event this year - especially as RH is gadding off around the country for a fortnight in May, thoughtlessly holding up the magazine schedule and leaving FW to man the phones, make the magazine and feed the cats all on his ownsome. Poor fella.

Happily, however, the ever-efficient Emm has leaped into the breach (ouch... sounds painful!) and suggested combining the delights of the RC Rally and the autumn Stinkwheel Show. What a fabulously clever idea. Sorted!

So grab your diary and write this down:

The very first RealClassic Rally will take place on September 17th and 18th 2005, at the fourth (doesn't time fly?) Stinkwheel Show. Both Rally and Show will be at Beaumanor Hall near Loughborough in Leicestershire.

You can expect all the usual Stinkwheel excitement on the 18th: vintage, veteran and classic two- and three-wheelers, club stands, autojumble, arena antics, concours awards in about 15 classes, plus refreshments -- all arranged in Beaumanor's superb setting.

The Stinkwheel Show has also sprouted a new offshoot for this year - ClassicItalia, the show within a show which will shine the spotlight on (yes, you guessed...) Italian classics. The Moto Guzzi, Ducati and Italian Motorcycle Owners' Clubs have already booked, and private entries from Italian owners are very welcome. Our own Morini-riding RealMart will be judging the Italian concours display, and looking for the best PreWar and Best PostWar Italian Classics. (Bet it takes slightly longer to judge the second category than the first...).

If you attend the RC Rally on the Saturday evening then you'll automatically be in the right place at the right time for the Stinkwheel Show on the Sunday morning, and the admission fee to the Stinky Show is included in the price of the RC Rally ticket.

So what exactly is going to happen at the first RC Rally? Err... well... that's kind of up to you! It'll very much depend on the response we get from yrgdselves - but what we have planned so far is a ride-in to the site on the Saturday afternoon; full camping facilities including decent loos and showers; a slap-up feed on Saturday night and some suitably silly games to keep us all occupied for an evening.

If there's something else you'd like to add to the proceedings then do get in touch (Rowena@RealClassic.co.uk) but please remember -- we don't have any extra time to set things up, so don't suggest anything unless you're prepared to sort it out yourself!

Villiers Stuff on eBay.co.uk

Tickets for the first RealClassic Rally will cost £10 per person.

That includes admission to the Stinkwheel Show (normally £4), overnight camping on the night of Saturday 17th, plus whatever entertainments we devise for that evening, and some sort of scoff to stop tummies rumbling.

Tickets will ONLY be available pre-booked, and we will limit the numbers if it looks like it's getting unmanageably big. There's a wee form here which you can print off and send in. We're not taking ticket bookings by PayPal; only by cheque, to keep things simple for us people with tiny minds!

Closing date for ticket applications is August 17th (to give us a month to get things planned) and tickets will be sent out during the first week of September.

You don't have to stay at the site overnight if you'd rather B&B, or live locally, but the tickets still cost a tenner. We'd rather people came by bike, and preferably old ones at that, but as some of the RC Crew will inevitably be travelling by van then we won't throw stones at other folk who turn up in four-wheelers.

You can find out more about the Stinkwheel Show at www.oilyrag.co.uk. If you want to come and play then please send off for your ticket ASAP, because the sooner we know how many people are coming then the better an event it will be.

There will be NO rally tickets available on the gate!

Roll on September 17th...

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Click Here to get tickets.

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