Bug Jam 28, part 2

Saturday 19 July, 2014

After just a couple of hours of sleep, I awoke to another glorious day. Jason and Len were already awake and, after a quick change and clean, I joined them in the sun.

Len and I wandered off to look at the stalls, where I was hoping to purchase some gifts for Emma and the girls, and grab a coffee. After a good look around, I managed to find some gifts, which I took back to the tent, before cracking open a can of beer. We then went off to watch the cars racing down the strip, before heading back down the pit lane, to speak to the drivers and to get a closer look at their suped up cars.

[caption id="attachment_1612" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Last minute 'tweaks' are made to the engines of many cars in the pit lane.[/caption]

We then looked around the Rat & Rust display, which consists of cars that the owners have lovingly customised, while leaving them to rust.

[caption id="attachment_1610" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This lovingly customised VW has been fully customised, which includes; a garden bench for the front seats, a pool cue for the gear stick and a fully functioning bar in the boot.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1611" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This bar, in the back of a customised VW, is fully functional.[/caption]

With the sun doing its best to cook every living thing in the vicinity, we headed back to the car, where we found some shelter by sitting in the shadow of our neighbours VW van. As on the Friday, the temperature soared to 32 c, or 89.6 f, making it very uncomfortable.

Normally, at Bug Jam, we would have been sitting atop the mound, between the dragstrip and the Live Arena, but, as there was nothing going on in the Live Arena, we chose to stay where we were. Thankfully, the cloud started to build, allowing the temperature to become more bearable, which allowed us to go and watch some more of the Jet Funny Cars.

We stopped off at the Fuelers Bar, for a seriously cold pint and a bite to eat, before settling down to watch the cars. Some of these were reaching speeds of close to 300 mph, or 480 kph, and were difficult to keep in the frame, as I videoed some of the best ones. Still, it was a great show.

With time getting on, we headed back to the tent, where I settled down to relax and read a book, before heading back out to watch the live music. Len sat in his car and caught a quick nap.

Feeling fully recharged, Jason informed us that his cousin would be arriving soon, to take David home, as he wasn't feeling too well. Sure enough his cousin, Joe, arrived and David disappeared off with him. Len and myself then headed to the live stage, where Call Me Blondie, were just taking to the stage. They belted out all the classic Blondie songs, plus a few Debbie Harry ones, too.

[caption id="attachment_1609" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Probably the best act of the entire weekend, was 'Call Me Blondie', a tribute act to 'Blondie and Debbie Harry'..[/caption]

When they had finished their set, the Cuban Brothers took to the stage. Well, I watched them for about ten minutes, before deciding that they weren't my cup-of-tea and headed back to the tent. Len decided to get some sleep, so that he was refreshed for the drive home, while I stayed up and read some more of the book, that I had brought with me.

My quite time was quickly, and rudely, interrupted by Jason and Joe. David was asleep in Joe's car, so Jason and Joe had decided to stay and enjoy the music tents and, since the music wasn't to their taste, were going to head home. So, Jason grabbed a few bits of his gear, from the back of the car and, after bidding farewell, headed off with his cousin, into the darkness that is Podington Airfield. I settled back down with my book, before turning in to sleep, at about 02:30.

Sunday 20 July, 2014

I was up so early, on the Sunday morning, that I was changed and packed before Len awoke. When he did finally arise, we headed off for a coffee and a bacon sandwich. We reached the food wagon, just as it was opening, so we sat and watched the cleaners and other early risers, meandering around the deserted funfair and stalls.

With the coffee and bacon sandwich done with, we took another look around the entire site, before heading back to the car. My tent was down in a few minutes and, with everything packed, we headed off for home.

It was not the best Bug Jam, that I have been to, but it could have been better. Hopefully next year it will be back to its best.

Bug Jam 28, part 1

Friday 18 July, 2014

As has become custom, Len and myself met with Jason and his friend David, at about 08:45, and headed for Podington Airfield, otherwise known as Santa Pod Raceway. For this was Bug Jam weekend. A chance to relax in a field, watching hot rods, dragsters, stunts, live music and much more.

The trip up the motorway saw us heading in to a thunder-storm, with the rain reducing the visibility so that Len had to concentrate a lot more. After a minor detour, thanks to Jason who convinced us that he knew a quicker route, we still arrived at Santa Pod a little after 10:30, just as the rain stopped. We were quickly through the gates and were directed to a General Camping area, which was on the far side of the dragstrip, near the music tents, pit lane, funfair, stalls and main stage.

I immediately set about setting up my tent, while David set about setting up his. A few minutes later and, with the tents up, the beer began to flow. Jason had introduced himself to our neighbours; Jason and his partner Vicki, had a camper van next to us, while on our other side were a group of northern couples, whose names escape me.

With the time just after noon, Len and I decided to go for an exploratory, leaving Jason and David to catch some rays and listen to music. As Len and I headed passed the music tents and main stage, aiming for the stalls, a Dakota, from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, made an unscheduled, but welcome, flypast.

[caption id="attachment_1599" align="aligncenter" width="300"] An unscheduled flypast from the BBMFs Dakota.[/caption]

As we meandered around the stalls we could hear the revving of motors as mechanics tweaked the engines, in the pit lane. The smell of rubber and oil filled the air as we ambled through the crowds and around to the embankment, that looks down on the dragstrip and the Live Arena.

[caption id="attachment_1600" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Caravans, flags, tents and a deserted Live Arena.[/caption]

Standing atop the embankment, with the sun reaching its zenith, Len and I took in the sights. As far as the eye could see flags fluttered in the light breeze. Vehicles of all makes and sizes covered the airfield, while tents of varying size, shape and colour filled the grass between each vehicle. Smoke rose from countless bar-be-cues, filling our nostrils and making our stomachs growl. On the dragstrip, machines cleared the surface of water and debris, from the earlier storm. It was then that we noticed something was missing. The Live Arena was empty. Not just empty, but deserted. There were no Monster Trucks or Stunt Bikes. Nor any crushed cars in the middle of the arena but, worrying of all, there was no Terry Grant! Len and I looked at each other puzzled, before we decided to head back to the tent, where we try to find some answers. On our way we headed along the pit lane, where we spoke to some of the drivers and mechanics, one of whom tried to sell us his Ford Consul hot rod, for a mere £21,500.

[caption id="attachment_1601" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yours for a mere £21,500[/caption]

A quick scan through the programme revealed that there was nothing, of any consequence, happening in the Live Arena until Sunday. Sunday?! Then it was only to be the Monster Trucks, Swamp Thing and Podzilla, the UK FMX motorcycle team and a display of Lowrider cars. That was no good for us nor, as it turned out, for a lot of the people that we spoke to. Those with families, or had a great distance to travel, needed to leave on the Sunday to make their way home. On all the previous Bug Jam weekends, that I have attended, the Live Arena has been one of the biggest crowd-pullers. There was usually a show on the Friday night, with two shows on the Saturday and a final one on the Sunday. Each of these years has had different acts perform, from Joseph Peace and his crazy fire antics to Rodrigo the Human Cannonball. From motorcycle stunts to BMX stunts. But, there has always been Terry Grant and his stunt cars. These shows would go on for over an hour, each time. This year the Live Arena would remain empty, until Sunday.

Feeling more than a little annoyed, Len and I went back to watch some of the drag racing and wait for the flypast proper. As we watched the various cars make their runs, we heard the distant rumble of aeroplane engines. Not your typical jet engines, but proper engines. Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, with propellers attached. With camera on video mode, I scanned the skies. Then they appeared, banking around from the south. A Lancaster Bomber, flanked by a Hurricane and possibly the greatest aeroplane ever to take to the skies... A Spitfire. Continuing their banking manoeuvre they then straightened up and flew down the dragstrip, banked again and did another run above the adoring crowds. The sound was deafening, but wonderful at the same time. Beginning to feel more than a little hungry, we decided to grab a bite to eat, before returning to our pitch.

[caption id="attachment_1602" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Spitfire, Lancaster and Hurricane.[/caption]

A video of the flypast.

With Jason and David busy in the music tent, listening to garage-house-techno-acid-crap, I left Len at the tent and went off to see what the Live Stage had to offer. The cover band The Hot Red Chili Peppers were belting out some classics and, although they sounded the part they didn't look the part. The clouds soon began to darken and the unmistakable smell of imminent rain filled the air. I made it back to the tent, to find Len chatting with the neighbours, Jason and Vicki. Grabbing a beer I joined them, under their canopy, which was attached to the side of their VW camper. Soon enough the rain came down, as lightning lit up the evening sky. We continued talking until Vicki discovered that it had gone 4 o'clock. 4 o'clock?! Where had the time gone? We bade goodnight to Jason and Vicki and, while Len settled in to his car, I decided that I was hungry, so off I went in search of a bacon roll and a coffee. I returned to the tent just after 05:30, with the sun rising, and climbed into my tent to sleep.

To be continued...

Bug Jam 24

I know its been a very long time since my last blog, but that will change. (The main reason is down to time.)

 

Anyway. BUG JAM 24!!!

 

On Friday, 23rd July, Swany and I went to Santa Pod, Northamptonshire, to see the Bug Jam 24. Swany has been to Santa Pod on many occasions and thought I would like it. He was wrong. I bloody loved it!!!

 

Friday: We left home in the afternoon and travelled to the Pod, after a short stop at Tesco to stock up on food and beer. We arrived just after 7 O'clock and spent 15 minutes finding a place to set up the tents, Once this was done, Swany showed me the track and we walked around the entire site, beer in hand. There was so much too see: Dragsters, Hot rods, Beetles, VW's of all shapes and sizes, Monster trucks, BMX riders, Live Music, Fun Fair, Dance tents, Stalls and lots more. We made our way back to our tents and get some things from the car. Everything was going well until Swany locked his keys in the car! D'oh! After a few minutes of 'I can't believe I did that!' and 'What do we do, now?' we decided it was best to break a window. We had to borrow a hammer from a neighbouring tent as ours was in the car, and Swany smashed a small back window in! We then covered up the broken window, had a few beers and eventually to get to sleep about 2am.

 

Saturday: We were up early for a weekend, about 8am. After a coffee we headed straight to the track to watch the action. Dragsters and supercars were doing their time trials followed by Run What You Brung. This was great! Ordinary people in their cars trying to see who could complete the 1/4 mile run in the shortest time and who could reach the fastest speed. Brilliant!

We then watched Terry Grant perform some of his stunts in the Live Arena! He drove a 'Legend' 1937 Ford Sedan, 'Mitsubishi EVO', 'TVR Tamaro', 'Ferrari F40' and a 'Herbie' VW Beetle. It was amazing to watch him doing doughnuts in the 'Legend', which he then got out of and let it carry on on its own. He then clambered back inside and did some fast laps and handbrake and J turns. He then left the car doing doughnuts on its own, again, and jumped into the 'TVR Tamaro' and started that doing doughnuts around the 'Legend'. He then got out of the 'TVR' and left both cars to their own devices. He then clambered back into the 'TVR' and parked that, ran back to the 'Legend' and parked that. He then had two young ladies stand in the Arena and proceeded to do doughnuts around each of them in turn in the 'Legend'. He was a matter of mm's from the girls toes!!!

After this he decided to put the 'Herbie' car onto two wheels. After two attempts he decided he needed more weight in the car. The two girls from earlier were more than happy to help and climbed in the back. Deciding this still was not enough, a spectator was picked from the stands. This was a set-up as the poor guys mates had already spoken to Terry about it. Turns out he was at Santa Pod for his 'Stag Do'. Ofcourse, Terry was happy to oblige, except that Terry asked the crowds if the guy should go in the back of the car with the girls or in the boot? As you can imagine the crowds voted 99-1 for the boot! Once the poor bloke was in the boot, Terry gunned the engine and drove to other end of the arena, reversed and then went for the ramp. The car went on to two wheels for the length of the arena. Just as I thought he was going to crash in to the barriers, he braked and dropped the car in to its parking place. The guy who had been in the boot was visibly shaking when he was released. Fantastic!!!

This was followed by a bit of motorcycle stunt work and some aerial action from the UK Freestyle Motor Cross team. They were achieving a height of over 50 feet above tarmac with no safety nets! MAD!

This was then followed by 'Podzilla' and 'Swamp Thing' the Monster Trucks. The sheer size of the things and the noise they make is incredible. Apparently they run on Alcohol and do 30 Gallons a mile!!!!

Once this was over, Swany and I decided to go for another walk around. (After getting more beer from the tents).

As we stood by the raceway start line, Santa Pod was visited by a Solitary Spitfire. Apparently he was just checking the route for Sundays Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. He gave a great little display in the air for a good ten minutes, before waggling his wings in a victory salute and heading home.

A bit later, as we walked back past Terry Grant, he was jump starting the Ferrari F40 with the Mitsubishi EVO. turns out he left the ignition on in the Ferrari and killed the battery. So, Swany and I decided that he deserved a 'Special' award, we which we promptly gave him!

We went in to the pits and saw the cars up close. We wandered past the BMX free-stylers and saw some great stunts.We also saw some of them stacking it, BIG TIME!!! One decided to land his back tyre on the upper handrail, bounce off, go up the other side and repeat. All was going well until he tried to put his rear tyre on the second handrail. He hit the floor and his bike disappeared over the back and dented a van! Brilliant! He got up and nearly stacked it again, but finally, after a number of attempts, managed to do the stunt to massive round of applause.

We then went to the Live stage and watched 'Blings of Leon' followed by 'Kasabian UK'. Both were brilliant! 'Blings' were probably better, though!

We then took a slow walk back through the all the stalls and made our way to the tents. We then cooked a nice, HOT Chilli, which we ate with Doritos and a Tiger Baguette. Then we grabbed some beers and headed back out to see what else was going on.

One of the signs that we had seen on the way in to Santa Pod said, 'NO CHINESE LANTERNS'! Well, as most people know, Swany and I love setting these things off so we weren't impressed as we had taken some with us! Turns out a lot of people had taken Chinese Lanterns with them, too! So at around 11 O'clock the sky around Santa Pod was filled with them. All of them were the same. White Lanterns with their little flame below, lighting up the night sky. That is until our last one! Our last one was Green and had an Aliens face on it!

We retired to our tents at about 2am, again.

 

Sunday: We had a lie-in and didn't surface until 9am.

Once we were up and ready we dismantled the tents and put everything back in the car. We then set off for a last look around the Pod and buy a coffee. Once we had seen everything we headed back to the car and headed home.

 

I can not wait until next year. I am already looking forward to Bug Jam 25!

 

Well, until my next blog, which hopefully will be very soon, May it be well with you.