There is no official deadline to this, but if you want to have your say it might be a good time to do it...
In case you hadn’t noticed, we are rapidly approaching the space year 2020. Seriously, less than 100 days to go until the year when we were supposed to be living on Mars with flying cars.
Now, that prediction of the future may have not worked out, but one prediction that is coming true is that there will be another European Oppo meet. Or several! At this stage all we are looking to do is gather some ideas and an idea of possible dates to get the planning started. Nothing concrete yet, any indication that you’ll be joining now is just to gauge interest and get some suggestions of possible locations and dates.
What’s all this about then?
For those unfamiliar with how these work, we typically base ourselves in an area, and then spend the days driving some of the great roads around that area. We take the opportunity to visit various local attractions- tracks, museums, karting etc. In the evenings we spend the time sampling the local food and drink offerings, telling BRZ owners they bought the wrong gearbox, and how the MX5 RF is the obvious choice.
Previous meets have typically been in late March, June, and new for 2019 an end of October Balearic adventure. We’ve generally chosen places that are out of the tourist season, this keeps the costs down and means that the roads are quieter for responsible hooning. Not many tourists are visiting Wales in March, the Skiing areas of the Alps in June, or Mallorca in late October.
It’s not just me saying it’s good.
Hmm, this still sounds expensive.
Our general outlook on costs would make a Welsh Farmer suck through his teeth and go ‘you’re being a bit frugal there’. The accommodation cost for the upcoming Mallorca trip is around £70/€80/$90 Per Person. That’s not per night, that’s for five days. And there’s a pool!
Just because the cost is low doesn’t mean that the accommodation is lacking (I’ll ignore the Belgian caravans). We’ve had some decent hotels, but the preferred way for the last few meets has been to be to book a large AirBNB. These do vary, but the experience has been generally good. Sometimes they come with cats!
The vehicle you bring is virtually irrelevant, as we tend to organically form groups around the same speed for the enthusiastic driving bits. Indeed, for the future Mallorca trip the general agreement has been to all get roughly the same category of cars from the rental agencies. We’re solidly in group A. I doubt anyone will have more than 100HP, which looking at the roads there is plenty.
How will I get there?
For those travelling in from further afield, once you are in Europe the air fares to travel around are very cheap. Fold yourself into a Ryanair seat and a realistic return ticket from almost any two cities is under €150. Often a lot less. I’ve flown from the UK to Denmark for less than £20 return. With the rise of the low cost transatlantic flights it’s also possible to get some killer deals- currently Norwegian and American are offering return flights from New York to London in March for under $300.00
When will this be happening?
Well, that’s really to be decided. We’ve typically done a Spring and Summer meet, but this year we have an Autumn meet. It really depends on when we can make the dates work for most people. That’s what the survey is for- it’s a case of working around peoples’s leave and working arrangements. Ideally we’ll have something roughly agreed for the first half of next year fairly soon so people can arrange leave etc.
Where are we going then?
Don’t ask me- I don’t know!
Some of the previous ideas that didn’t happen include:
Transfăgărășan- Romania
Transfăgărășan and surrounding areas in Romania, which would be a new area for us- an adventure east. Often tipped as one of the best driving roads in the world, with much more publicity in recent years. There’s also a load of other less well known routes that look amazing. It is closed for a chunk of the year, so this would require some planning.
Le Mans Classic - France
We have talked about doing the Le Mans classic before, and if that is something that does happen I’ll be bringing the Ice Cream Beer Chiller Van. The dates are the 2nd-5th of July, and the ideal opportunity for a long weekend watching some great racing action. Ticket prices are reasonable.
NC500 - Scotland
The other one I can remember is to cover the Highlands of Scotland, following the well publicised NC500 route. An advantage for those outside of the UK is that the exchange rates are likely to be very favourable. The scenery around Scotland is stunning, and there is plenty to see along the route. Like the Wales trip, this is probably one to avoid in the summer due to the general tourist traffic.
That’s the three I can remember- these are merely suggestions that we haven’t done before.
If this sounds like something that you would be even slightly interested in, or you have your own idea about what we can do next year, then there’s a handy survey linked below so we can get some suggestions in. We can use this to work out some likely dates, even if the location isn’t finalised.
The Survey
https://forms.gle/uxFEgn9VAVBb34qh6
Google account is required- if you can’t fill the form then just leave a comment and I’ll add it in.