Standard International 2010 - Friday's Events

Glorious line-up of all ages of Standard Cars at Grafham Water Sailing Club

After some months of planning and liaison with the Robinson Executive Centre at Wyboston Lakes, the rally formally opened at 3.00pm on 25th June. The guests first checked into their Executive bedrooms at reception and then moved on to Rally Reception in one of the public rooms of the Conference Centre.

Everyone (well almost everyone!) had a delegate's lapel badge with their name, car registration and photo, so everyone knew who everyone else was. The rally packs started to be handed out at this point and would continue to be so as the entrants arrived all over the weekend. As well as the usual contents of Rally Plaque, Roadrun Routes and Boards for the cars, entrants were pleased (?) to find a yellow duster embroidered with "Standard" on it. So there could be no doubt that the recently arrived cars needed cleaning before the concours! These are strictly a limited edition duster, and mark my words, they will become collectable memorabilia in years to come!

Arriving guests were able to relax in this lounge area and avail themselves of the  complimentary tea. coffee, soft drinks or bottled water, a facility that just kept on coming all weekend. There was soon a hub-bub of friends greeting old friends and new acquaintances being made. How good it is to put a face to a name or to someone you have only spoken to on the telephone previously.

You can click on any of these thumbprints to see an enlargement:

By 6pm, most of the expected arrivals were there, though a few had failed to materialise, due to breakdowns on route or by cars not being quite ready. We were pleased to see the owners anyway, in what ever transport they turned up in. Dave and Ann Bagot set off from Fleetwood in their Aussie Pickup but arrived in a Ford Ka, courtesy of the RAC. Steve and Marcia Collins were in a 4x4 as the Salmsons- bodied Fling 10 Tourer was not quite ready. Unable to make it was the expected Railton Little Fairmaile ( featured in the August Triumph World) as the owner had other short notice commitments. Dennis Brown had magneto problems with the 1929 Selby so came instead in his "reserve" car the 1938 Flying 12 Saloon

So the cars loaded up and set off on their 15 mile country trip to Grafham Water. Our special guests, Tony and Joan Lee, had their pick of Standards to ride in and chose the aforementioned Flying 12. Grafham is a spectacular spot in otherwise flat Cambridgeshire countryside. Our destination was the Grafham Water Sailing Club, chosen because they could cater for our 100 strong party for a buffet, because they had real ale on tap and because they had a sufficiently large carpark. You may change the order of importance of those items to suit your preference! 

Our buffet was served in their 2nd floor bar with views over the water as the sun started to set. Judging by the noise of conversation everyone was having a whale of a time.. Soon however, the cars started to drift back to Wybosto, this being by the shortest route, about 10 miles.  All cars completed the tour successfully, though Len Barr had to resort to cleaning out his carburettor on the 1913 Rhyl, the oldest car present.

Words and photos by Phil Homer

(July 2010)