Sunbeam Alpine Owners Club East Anglia Area
The SAOC is the club for owners & enthusiasts of the Sunbeam Alpine, the classic British sports car from the 1960s.
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WHAT ARE WE DOING IN 2010?
After three successful events in 2009 we are giving ourselves a break in 2010. So, there will be no hosted events this year from the East Anglia Area group, but we will be attending a variety of other events and shows around the region, both classic cars events and other type of event.
THE LAON TRIP
In June several of our local members went on the Continental Car Tours classic car weekend to Laon in the Picardy region of France, about 130 miles south of Calais. Its a great fun event attracting cars from all over Europe.
We arrived at our hotel in Laon via a Dover to Calais ferry on the Friday evening and enjoyed getting to know the other entrants.
Saturday morning was taken up with registration in the upper town - very picturesque with high city walls. In the afternoon we all went off on scheduled runs around the local area, aided by a Tulip Road book which was accurate most of the time, but not always, which led to some interesting detours! The locals are clearly used to the event as they stand in their gardens and by the roadside waving the cars past. Very entertaining! Lunch was provided at our mid-run stop in XXXXXXX. The town car park was packed with classic cars of all kinds & ages - much enjoyed by all.
Sunday was the highlight of the Tour. The upper town and a route around it were closed to all but classic cars which lined up in their hundreds to lap the town as many times as you wanted in convoy. Thousands of people turned out to wave the cars past and you could stop at several key locations to enjoy the view of the area and share the experience with other crews.
There was a further run around the region on Monday morning, but we chose to head back to Dover via the Great War trenches and memorial at Vimy Ridge. The Canadians fought a fierce battle here in 1917. The trenches and tunnels - just 100 yards apart in places were created by the British Royal Engineers and have been preserved for posterity, supported actively by Canada. Fascinating, very moving and well worth a visit if you are in the Region. Some of us also visited a British WW 1 cemetery. Beautifully kept, very peaceful, very moving and hard to believe those young men have been interred there for nearly 100 years.
All in all a great fun weekend - very relaxed and very competitively priced. Immense fun, very good value and highly recommended.
Go here for the Continental Car Tours web site.... www.continentalcartours.co.uk
Click the picture for our Laon photo gallery.
Cannes 2009/2010
