Speed Archives - Aberdeen Voice

Royal Deeside Speed Festival: 21 Aug 2016

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Aug 182016

The countdown has begun to Deeside’s first ever speed hillclimb course on Sunday at the picturesque Kincardine Castle, Kincardine O’Neil.With thanks to James Parker.

2 D Type Jag Morag Yule with Car of the Day champayne (Tony Yule) 130 hillclimb cars and bikes will take part, including the 1956 Ecurie Ecosse D-type Jaguar (which has just won Car of the Day at the Ballater Week parade) and motorcycling legend and 8 times Isle of Man TT winner Charlie Williams, on his 1974 Maxton Yamaha.

In all, 400 cars will participate.

A broad cross-section of over 60 static cars will be displayed, including a Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F50, and AC Le Mans Coupe, Colin Macrae’s MKII Ford Escort rally car, and the Charlie Bang slingshot dragster.

Tesla To Bring The Model X.

We heard from Tesla today that they will be bringing their Model X to their stand at RDSF!

The Model X will, for the first time, be north of Edinburgh and is the 1st Model X out on the road in Scotland.

Model X is the safest, fastest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history. It is, however, ludicrously fast, accelerating from zero to 60 miles per hour in as quick as 3.2 seconds. With all-wheel drive and a 90 kWh battery providing 303 miles of range, Model X has ample seating for seven adults and all of their gear.

18 car clubs with 240 cars will be attending, representing Ferrari, Ford, MG, Aston Martin and Subaru, to name a few.

Tesla will have a special display of their Model S electric luxury cars. Park’s Motor Group of Hamilton head up an enviable array of trade stands with their McLaren, Maserati and Bentley, including McRae and Dick (Honda and Ford); Murray Motor Group (Lotus); Pentland Land Rover Elgin are coming, and also Shirlaws (Kawasaki and Triumph).

Passenger rides on our off-roading courses are to be recommended. The Flowline-sponsored Landrover Experience will offer a thrilling ride tacking the ‘The Rocky Road’, ‘The Toblerone” and “Willie’s Drop”, and a scenic ‘off-road safari’ will be run by the Buchan Off-road Drivers Club.

4 charlie williams 04 charlie Norton The Clan BMX Stunt Team will be there to take centre stage with their death-defying stunt shows throughout the day, and our Festival Marketplace in the walled garden will showcase food, drink, crafts, beauty products and local businesses.

Kids can enjoy a climbing tower, carousels and bouncy castles.

The finale of our event will be the Westburn Finance Soapbox Derby allowing gravity (along with a few twists and jumps) to prove the thrilling does not necessarily mean engine-powered!

The Event supports the charities Children 1st and Help for Heroes.

Royal Deeside Speed Festival,
Sun 21 August 2016: 09:45am- 5:15pm
Kincardine Castle, Kincardine O’Neil,
Aboyne, Aberdeenshire AB34 5AE

Adult £15, Child £12.50, Family £50 (up to 3 children).

Advance sales via website or cash only tickets on the gate. Free parking.

For further information please visit our website www.rdsf.co.uk or follow us on Facebook (royaldeesidespeedfestival)

Royal Deeside Speed Festival, Sun 21 Aug 2016

Aberdeenshire, Information No Responses »

May 192016

Enthusiasts will be heading to Aberdeenshire this August for the inaugural Royal Deeside Speed Festival, to be thrilled by the largest gathering of rare supercars, exciting performance cars, motorbikes, and historic racing cars in the north east of Scotland.

Kincardine Castle. Venue of the inaugural Royal Deeside Speed Festival

The Royal Deeside Speed Festival will take place at Kincardine Castle, 20 miles to the west of Aberdeen.
The event will be based around a demonstration speed hillclimb, and complemented by a range of high quality trade stands and motoring attractions. The Royal Deeside Speed Festival will follow the ethos of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.

The venue, an iconic Scottish castle in the heart of Royal Deeside, is home to Andrew and Nicky Bradford.

Situated in the pretty conservation village of Kincardine O’Neil and overlooking the banks of the River Dee, it is only 10mins from Banchory on the A93. The picturesque castle grounds will also play host to car clubs along with a local food, drink and craft festival.

As well as the motorsports action we will have family attractions, a climbing tower and kids’ funfair. We will be supporting the charities Mission Motorsport, Help for Heroes and Children 1st.

However, the main focus of the day will be the fabulous and fast ‘West Drive’ – which will be converted into Deeside’s first speed hillclimb course, designed by Scottish hillclimb champion Roy Napier, and featuring a series of demonstration class runs throughout the day. And in another new twist, the West Drive will also play host to a Soap Box Derby – an event open to teams who wish to build their own Soap Box and race down the hill for glory!

Key attractions this year include Aberdeenshire’s charismatic race driver Chris Chilcott who will be bringing his 1962 Brabham BT2. It raced in 1962 at Goodwood and Monaco, driven by Jack Brabham and Frank Gardner, and took the class Silverstone lap record at 103mph. Also Charlie Williams, multiple TT-winning motorbike racing legend. With 21 TT podium finishes to his name, Charlie is bringing bikes.

Onsite, there will also be an adventurous off-road 4×4 course including the fearsom ‘Willie’s Drop’, courtesy of Land Rover Experience Scotland, offering passenger rides throughout the day, and The Clan BMX stunt team will entertain with their crazy extreme cycling show.

We have a large club stand field, along with a separate concours d’elegance area, both will surely delight the public and the owners alike. A broad cross-section of fantastic cars, ranging from the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F50, and Lamborghini Diablo through to the Shelby Cobra 286, 1969 wide-dash body Opal GT and Jaguar E-type Series 1 Roadster will be on show. In total there will be over 50 static exhibits to marvel over.

Additionally, the Ferrari Owners’ Club, Ford Modern & Classic Scotland, Aberdeen MG Owners’ Club, Aston Martin OC, and the Scottish Subaru OC are just some of the clubs that have confirmed their attendance – with over 170 club cars now confirmed to be on display.

This could quite possibly be the most unique and exciting collection of vehicles ever brought together in Aberdeenshire, highlighting the diversity of classic, contemporary and interesting cars, street-legal or competition, which we have here in the north east of Scotland.

Amongst the many dealerships and trade-stands that we are excited to have attending the event, we are delighted to welcome back Park’s Motor Group of Hamilton who will be showcasing a collection of luxury and sports cars from McLaren, Maserati and Bentley.

Murray Motor Group will be displaying the Lotus range. We also welcome Pentland Land Rover Elgin who are excited to show off some fantastic Land Rovers, and Shirlaws of Aberdeen will provide two-wheel excitement from Kawasaki and Triumph.

Finally, in addition to the car related exhibitors, we are delighted to be able to use the event as a showcase for local producers of food, drink and crafts. Deeside Brewery will be hosting a mini beer festival on the castle terrace alongside the castle’s own pop-up café, and the picturesque wall garden is the setting for a market of local produce.

Castle owner, Andrew Bradford writes:

“I first did ‘a ton’ on the drive when I was 15 in a friend’s MGC. A couple of years later I was the passenger in a V8 AC Cobra and clocked 115mph on the drive. For over 40 years that has been the unofficial speed record for our drive and I look forward to it being well-and-truly broken in August.

“We’re excited to be part of this major event which, quite possibly, will be the biggest crowd in Kincardine O’Neil since King Edward I of England arrived here on 2 August 1296 with 30,000 men-at-arms and 5,000 mail-clad knights”.

Royal Deeside Speed Festival,
Sun 21 August 2016:
09:45am- 5:15pm

Venue:
Kincardine Castle,
Kincardine O’Neil,
Aboyne,
Aberdeenshire AB34 5AE

Tickets:
Adult £15, Child £12.50, Family £50 (up to 3 children).
Advance sales via website or cash only tickets on the gate.
Free parking.

For further information please visit our website rdsf.co.uk or follow us on Facebook.

Nestrans States The Case To UK Government

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Articles, Information, News No Responses »

Nov 082011

Issued on behalf of Nestrans by The BIG Partnership. With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

Nestrans, the statutory regional transport partnership for the North-east of Scotland, has written to the Department of Transport (DfT) as part of the UK Government’s aviation consultation and in response to questions posed by the DfT in its scoping document looking to develop a sustainable framework for UK aviation.

Chair of Nestrans Ian Yuill believes any future air travel policy implemented by the European Union, which is currently considering changes to the landing slot rules, has the potential to make a hugely significant impact, both positive and negative.

“In what was a fairly detailed response, we have highlighted the impact aviation has on our economy and the impact of our economy in the north east on the UK economy as well as the different impacts of aviation for the peripheral regions of the UK compared to the more central areas where surface transport is a viable option.

“While we welcome the proposed introduction of High Speed Rail to central Scotland, it is not, and never will be, viable to extend it to the North east and therefore it is absolutely crucial that existing air links between ourselves and Heathrow are protected. As a region, our economy is dependent on international travel and the logical hub to achieve this is Heathrow.

“Within our submission, we have included many key statistics including the fact the percentage of Scotland’s air traffic through Aberdeen is 13.3% for a population catchment of 8.9% while the proportion of business travellers is 56% compared to 30% for Edinburgh and Glasgow.

“The link between Aberdeen Airport and Heathrow is particularly important in several ways, including access to other parts of organisations, particularly headquarters functions, for inward investors; access to markets for indigenous companies and for inward investors seeking to use a region as a base of operations within a world area; access to suppliers of goods and services from around the world and access to knowledge partners and complementary businesses.

“The recent news that BA is set to purchase BMI, and the likely resultant consolidation of services only highlights the need to be able to protect the current BA service of six rotations each weekday between Aberdeen and Heathrow and we are sincerely hoping this is given due and proper consideration by the Government as part of this consultation which will impact future air policy.”

The EU is currently considering the European regulations separately from the UK policy consultation and any UK policy developed will have to suit any amended EU rule.

Campaign To Protect Landing Slots Launched

Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Information, News No Responses »

Oct 212011

Individuals and organisations throughout the North of Scotland are being encouraged to get behind a campaign to ensure current connectivity to and from London and the rest of the world is maintained in future years. In this piece issued on behalf of Nestrans & HITRANS by The BIG Partnership, Nestrans sets out its position.

Nestrans and HITRANS, the statutory regional transport partnerships for the North-east and Highlands and Islands respectively, are hoping to persuade the European Union to exert powers to protect the current slots enjoyed by Aberdeen and Inverness, particularly in light of the proposed development of High Speed Rail to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Chair of Nestrans Ian Yuill explains the rationale behind the move:

“The business case for High Speed Rail being extended to Edinburgh and Glasgow is significantly stronger than the case for London to Birmingham and supporting such an extension would provide significant benefits to London and England. This will not only come from increased connectivity between the central belt of Scotland and the North and Midlands of England benefiting both sides of the border but will also reduce very substantially the numbers of flights between the major cities of the UK and London. This reduction in flights will free up slots at London airports that can be used for other destinations.

“Nestrans and HITRANS have argued that for the small proportion of the country’s population not directly benefiting from this huge national investment, that proportion whose surface journey time to London would be over the recognised three hours cut off time, which would include Aberdeen, Inverness, Belfast, Newquay, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, alternative arrangements should be made to secure the connectivity required.

“This would mean securing access for existing landing slots at south east airports for these peripheral regions and, speaking on behalf of the North-east of Scotland, it cannot be overemphasised how important an issue this is. This is not about improving the level of service and through it access to our key markets but maintaining it at a time when the critical south east airports are full and pressure is on regional services to give way to long haul routes. “

In addition to collating the views of businesses and individuals, Nestrans and HITRANS are currently looking for politicians to add their weight to the debate in advance of the UK Government’s aviation consultation, from which the EU will consider options for aviation policy going forward.

HITRANS chairman Duncan MacIntyre said:

“The whole country can benefit from the massive investment in High Speed Rail and the bright economic future of the North of Scotland can be achieved to the benefit of the UK economy as well as locally if our air connectivity is not compromised.

“Our global businesses are making it clear that they wish to anchor in the North but that this is a decision that will be influenced greatly by their ability to do business from their current location.”

A Box On Fower Wheels

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Articles, Community, Environment, Information, Opinion, Satire and Humour No Responses »

Sep 092011

By Bob Smith.

Noo the AWPR,
Jist a ribbon o tar
Is bein built so fowk can gyang faister
Fae Stoney ti Dyce,
27 minutes they’ll slice
Aff the time on the clock fit’s oor maister

We maun get there quick,
Some spoot oot real slick
Time is money ye surely can see
Some steerin wheel huggers,
Are aa silly buggers
Fleein aroon fae the Don ti the Dee

We’ve aa heard the notion,
Aboot time an motion
Far fowk staun an peer at watch face
Ti see fit wye’s quicker,
Ti damage yer ticker
As fowk jine the bliddy rat race

The warld his geen mad,
Iss is affa sad
In a car some growe horns an a tail
Wi great bulgin een,
Rude signs ti be gien
Feenished aff wi a rant an a rail

Time ti slow doon,
Dee awa wi the froon
Live life at a less frantic pace
If ye maun drive yer car,
Ower iss ribbon o tar
Hae an attitude fit’s less “in yer face”

Een o life’s sins ,
Nae hae use fer yer pins
Can ye think o onything sadder
So git on yer bike,
Or gyang fer a hike
Or ye micht slither aboot like an adder

Some tak things ower far,
An worship the car
Car showrooms are noo the new kirks
Div the salesmen aa kneel,
At the eyn o each deal
Syne waak aboot wi satisfied smirks

A micht tak the piss,
Bit jist think o iss
A car’s only a box on fower wheels
We’re layin doon a tar bed,
Ti tak a muckle tyre tread
Costin millions o poonds-we’re aa feels