The first joint rally between several car clubs leading the way in supporting young enthusiasts has been deemed an outstanding success. TYRE Festival, the inaugural weekend event organised by the Morris Minor Owners’ Club Young Members and the TR Register Youth, was held in Ashbourne on July 12-14, and saw members young and old attend.
“It was all about bringing together members of different clubs who might not ordinarily get to know each other,” said organiser Liam Murphy, who co-ordinated the event with the TR Register’s Charlie Crawshaw. “We had attendees as young as 15 and older members in their 50s sharing their common love of cars regardless of their age.”
The event started on Friday evening with an ice-breaking game of ‘beer pong’ where club members were shuffled between two teams and invited to share a fact about themselves before attempting to bounce a ping-pong ball into the opposing team’s drinks. It’s hard to say exactly which team was the winner, but the conversations about day jobs, cars owned, dream cars and embarrassing breakdowns flowed well after Basil the dog had confiscated all the ping-pong balls for his own enjoyment!
Saturday morning saw a convoy around the finest parts of Derbyshire. TRs and Minors were joined by MGBs, Midgets, Land Rovers, the odd Metro and an MR2 as they followed a route contributed by the MG Car Club’s Shaun Nelson, a committee member of their newly-formed Young Members’ Branch.
In the spirit of collaboration, MMOC Young Members’ Treasurer Beth Fewster took a trip in a TR6, piloted by Ash Turner. “It worked really well, bringing together people from very different car clubs” she said. “I enjoyed learning about a classic car I had never previously looked at particularly, to the point where after I’m considering buying one myself now.”
The evening was rounded out by music sponsored by Lancaster Insurance in the marquee, provided by local musicians Kevin Bradley and Dorothy Ella, who serenaded the event as the sun set over rural Derbyshire.
Awards were given out on Sunday as the cars were put on display. Best in Show was awarded to Jon Dumelow’s DAF 44, while Ash Turner was recognised for travelling the furthest to attend the rally in his TR6. Finally, the weekend’s Good Sport Award was presented to Toby Carr who’d attended with his dad in their Vauxhall Cresta. Toby is a keen member of the A30/A35 Owners’ Club, and at just 15 enjoyed the weekend equally as much as some of the older members.
The event looks likely to become a regular in the calendar, with other young members’ groups praising the efforts of the MMOCYM and TR Youth and showing an interest in joining in. Both clubs can be followed on social media, and will be displaying their cars at the upcoming NEC Classic Motor Show.
