Anglesey 2023 Review

[markwetherall]

For the 2nd year I arranged a 2 day Event at Anglesey so thought it was about time to do a proper review of the event.

This year was Bigger and Better with 24 Atoms and 1 Nomad attending along side various guests and other car owners, such as McLarens, Porsche's, Lotus's, Caterhams etc.

We had Atoms from Belgium, Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Jersey attend and massive thanks to Henry and the Ariel Team who setup camp Ariel at the Track and joined in the fun for the 2 days as well as spending time in sorting people’s cars out, offering advice and generally having a good time with everyone.

14 cars met up just by the Severn Bridge to enjoy a group drive up through Wales and stopping for some lunch on the Wednesday. Unfortunately, the Police did not like the 4 Atoms with no front no plates on them and they didn't appreciate one of us speeding so several tickets later we carried on with a stunning drive through Wales. I did like there excuse for pulling us all over, they have the highest accident rate in the UK in their area for accidents but I fail to see what no number plate does to reduce that. Poor Ben had only collected his Atom at 8:30 that morning and was the first time he had ever driven the car and within 2 hours was handed a £100.00 fine for incorrect no plate spacing and no front no plate.

We arrived at Beaumaris late on Wednesday Afternoon only to find out my 21 year old son had beached his car on a bank trying to get into a car park the wrong way so had to gather a few of us together to lift up his car over the bank. Thankfully no damage done.
We then headed to the local Pub for a meal for Ariel owners and guests so 28 of us had a decent pub meal and started on the trash talk of who will be quickest, what is fastest winged or wingless, what are the best brake pads to use and who was the better driver. After the meal I then had to track down who had left without paying for there meal, of course it was the Scottish contingent who hadn’t paid their bill.

Thursday we all met at the circuit and after signing on and having our safely briefing we then all went out on track. For me it was really special as Steve from the Factory had driven through the night to bring me my new Atom which I hadn’t even seen finished. Steve happily unloaded my new car for me so I could then get out on track and finally try my new Sequential Atom. I couldn’t have been happier for a location to try my new car, even though I had to drive slowly as it needed to be broken in.

At lunchtime we got all the Ariels (Apart from 1 who needed to get new rear tyres) on track for some photos and Drone footage. We only had 1 red flag on Thursday due to a caterham having a slight issue but that was at 4:45 and only took 5 minutes to remove him from track after his throttle cable broke. All in all, a fantastic day with incredible weather for everyone.

Thursday night was the Gala Dinner and prize giving with over 50 people attending. Several trophies were up for grabs Driver of the Day, Must Try Harder Award, Most Gentlemanly Driver award, All the Gear and No Idea and the most improved driver Award.

We had our very own Judge who dished out fines for various infractions on social media or on track and we managed to raise just under £2000.00 for a children’s charity so a massive thanks to everyone who contributed or paid up their fines.

Friday we were back on track, once again a massively successful day on track despite the 28 degree heat, but what we can say is the overheating issue is solved. We had 1 red flag due to an Atom owner playing with his dash and not looking at the corner so a quick trip into the tyre wall and thankfully no real damage to the car so all good. The driving standard was superb on both days.

Friday night was back into the pub for the people staying over.

Huge fun both on and off track. Massive thanks to Henry, Steve and Kelvin from the Factory for all their support for the event and the help they gave all of us and especially for getting my new car ready and bringing it to the track. Thanks to Sideways Si Clark for all the lessons he did for all of us and a massive thanks to everyone who joined in.

Plans for next years event are well under way and if you would like to join in and didn’t attend this year please email me at markdwetherall@gmail.com and reserve a place for next year, last year we sold out in 24 hours. Henry has already confirmed that the factory would like to be involved again next year as they had so much fun this year. It is very limited no's allowed to attend.

[markwetherall]

[8_enj]

Cracking write up Mark, and what a trip it ended up, the drive up through Wales was mind blowing.

Roll on next year!