Straight Outta Kempton 2017
Launching a new German car show in an already jam-packed season is brave, but with so many new events popping up each year, it just goes to show that there are still gaps to fill. We’re always keen to check out new events whenever they’re not clashing with our regulars. Straight Outta Kempton (SOK) set the bar high from the get-go, promoting the tagline “A car show like no other” ….That has a lot to live up to, but I have to say they definitely got it right with the location – the historic Kempton Park racecourse in Middlesex. A great location for anyone near London and the surrounding areas. So, what was really different about this show? I hear you asking… Well, SOK changed up the timetable from the usual car shows, opening their gates to the public at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, with the notion of carrying it on until late that night (Show & Shine trophies were held at 7:30pm!). “No one likes getting up at 5am to go to car shows!” they stated, and we agree – it definitely set a much more chilled atmosphere for the afternoon and early evening. Okay, so a late start… But what were the cars like? SOK made the wise move of gathering numerous car clubs from across the UK – this ensured a high turnout and a strong mix of all sorts of German cars. Combined with pre-selected show cars, as well as Show & Shine area for cars that simply turned up on the day, there was plenty to look at – just check out our highlights…
Dave Smith’s BMW 2002
Charlie Dunn’s Audi B7 RS4 on Air Lift / AccuAir suspension & Rotiform IND-T centrelocks
Alex Collins’ Audi S1 on Air Lift suspension & Fifteen52 Turbomac’s
Eloise Saunders’ Audi Mk3 TT on Air Lift suspension & Rotiform RSE‘s
Sandeep Gill’s BMW E30 325i cabriolet on Air Lift suspension & Schmidt TH-Line’s
Tipu’s Mk2 Golf on BBS RS’
Gordon Milne’s Mk4 Golf R32 on Air Lift suspension & Rotiform LSR‘s
Hope Carter’s S54-swapped BMW E30 cab on ACS Type 1’s
Matt Clifford’s widebody Mitsubishi Evo X on Air Lift suspension
Dips Amin’s BMW E46 M3 ‘vert on Air Lift suspension
Bryan Butler’s Beetle-panned Austin Allegro
Troy Lawrence’s VW UP! on Air Lift suspension
Az Riz’s BMW E92 330d on Air Lift / AccuAir suspension & WORK VS-XX’s
Tony Cousins’ VW Scirocco R on Air Lift / AccuAir suspension & Rotiform SCN’s
HTS Motorsport’s M52-swapped BMW E30 Touring on Air Lift suspension & Schmidt TH-Line’s
Connor Hollamby’s Mercedes-Benz W201 190E on Air Lift suspension & BBS RF’s
(Click here to check out our feature on Connor’s 190E)
Matt Hollands’ bagged BMW E38 on Style297’s
Faye Lingard’s Mk2 Golf 16v ABF on Gotti’s
Simeon Williams’ BMW E46 cab on Air Lift suspension & custom built Style4 splits
Stewart Davis’ BMW E30 Touring on Air Lift suspension & Rotiform RSE‘s
Amar Flora’s VW Polo 6n2 on hydraulic suspension & CCW Classics
James Wade’s bagged Audi 80 B2 on BBS RF’s
Sam Sandhu’s BMW E63 M6 on AirREX / AccuAir suspension & Art In Motion MA6’s
Andy Guyett’s BMW E36 Touring on Air Lift suspension & Racing Dynamics RRS’
Tom Healey’s Mk2 Golf on Air Lift suspension & BBS RS’s
James Aveil’s bagged Mercedes-Benz W114
The Slam Sanctuary Audi C5 A6 Avant on Air Lift / AccuAir / BAGS by OCD suspension & Rotiform KPS‘
On the whole, the quality of cars was fairly mixed, which isn’t surprising when the majority of cars were on club stands, but it did make for a welcomed change, allowing us to see some stuff we don’t often see (not always slammed – but cool nonetheless). The organisers did a terrific job, considering it was the first ever Straight Outta Kempton. Putting on an event of this size is no simple task, so naturally, there were a few teething issues which are worth mentioning. By no means do we want to bring the show down, more so that we attend an automotive event nearly every weekend and we want to help them all prosper. In future SOK’s, we’d love to see better organisation and placement of pre-selected and show & shine cars – maybe bring them all together as one – they seemed really separated and the only activity was happening near the stage area.
We’d also like to see more traders – understandably it’s not easy to gain support of trade in ‘year one’, but the venue is perfectlysuited for a large trade village, considering they hold a market there anyway. Food (one of our problems with a lot of car shows)…. just one food vendor for the size of the venue was not ideal, and we heard endless comments from people complaining about the price of food. Lastly, perhaps some tweaking of the schedule is still needed… we’re all for a later start, but perhaps Midday would be a more realistic start time, running until around 6pm. You’ve got to remember, people get bored extremely easily. There’s plenty to take on board, but overall, Straight Outta Kempton was a big success. They attracted a HUGE amount of people which was super impressive. Having the stage and inviting cars up, talking with owners throughout the day was a nice touch. We’re looking forward to watching this event grow – there’s no doubt that it will get better and better each year. Thanks for having us, we’ll be back in 2018!
BONUS GALLERY
