May 8th

IMPORTANT NOTICE
Post January 1st 1973 Non-military Vehicles

Due to the amount of post January 1st 1973 Classic Vehicles applying to attend the event ( over 80 at the last count ) and are not eligible for Free entry to the circuit, it has been decided to create a 'Classic Car Event' where by ALL classic cars / vehicles will be eligible to attend.

This is planned for 2013 and will be in conjunction with a motor racing weekend on a date to be arranged, this will allow the Nostalgia Weekend to continue to develop with a Goodwood Revival style theme.

Military vehicles of all eras are still eligible for the Croft Nostalgia event in line with current Military Vehicle Trust policy.

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March 24th

 

"Wings, Tracks and Mythical Creatures"

Last year, we were disappointed by the cancellation of the Jet Provost display due to the poor weather. We have confirmation now that the JP will be coming to Croft for the 2012 show. 

The Northern World War Two Association are also returning to Croft and bringing their German halftrack and motorcycle combination again.

And by mythical creatures, I mean the return of the Rolls-Royce Griffon Aero Engine. Last year, the Griffon gave a number of running demonstrations across the weekend, which proved very popular.

For more details, see the Attractions page

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March 13th

"Tanks at the Track"

We've just had confirmation of attendance for the following two fantastic pieces of armour. To the left is the M18 Hellcat, Tank Destroyer, belonging to Chris and Terry Till. This will be the first time for the Hellcat visiting Croft. On the right, returning to Croft, is Kev's M24 Chaffee Tank. More details and pictures on the Attractions Page. ( Note, the M24 Chaffee is for sale. If it is sold before the event, it may not be able to attend ). 

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February 14th

"Spitfire for Croft"

With the release of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight 2012 display schedule, we can now confirm they they are bringing one of their Spitfires to display at Croft. This was great news following last years disappointment due to the cancellation by the BBMF as a result of the terrible weather. The schedule also states that the Spitfire will give a display, rather than a flypast, so all the more time to see and enjoy this classic British icon. We don't know which aircraft they will be displaying, but it will be great to have a Spitfire over Croft ( Hopefully, weather and servicability permitting! ). 

January 10th

PDF Entry Forms are now available from the links below.

Military Vehicle Entry Form  -  Re-enactors Entry Form
Trade Entry Form  -  Classic Car Entry Form

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August 8th 2011 - All over for another year

Friday 5th was busy all day with race teams, military vehicles, re-enactors and classic cars arriving and setting up camp. Mike and Maurice ( seen below ), organised all the vehicle entries. They worked hard all weekend, allocating display space, ferrying people around and trying to solve participants problems, sometimes without much help or thanks. Thanks must also go to the circuit owner and management team for providing a great venue and organising all the hidden support such as security, marshalling, toilets, food stalls etc.

Here's a small selection of pictures from Friday afternoon and evening.

Despite the weather forecast, spirits were high for an enjoyable weekend, and people were having fun meeting up with old friends. The beautiful evening sunset disguised the weather to come the following day.
Blue skies, sunny, warm, were all words that would evaporate away on Friday evening and be long forgotten on Saturday morning. As with any out door event in the UK, we were at the mercy of the weather, and unfortunately, the thunder storm that made a number of passes over Croft for several hours, messed up several aspects of the planned programme. 

So to start with, apologies. The low cloud ceiling and heavy rain meant that we unfortunately missed out on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hurricane and Spitfire. The organising team were thrilled to have the BBMF confirm attendance several months ago, and were very disappointed that the plans were being washed away minute by minute. Understandably, the RAF take great care to protect these national treasures, and the conditions at Croft and around the rest of the country made it impossible to safely bring the aircraft to display.
While the rain cleared up on Sunday, the volume of water and ground conditions still continued to cause problems. On Saturday evening, it looked like the parade laps would have to be cancelled because of the risk of vehicles carrying large quantities of mud onto the track. The ground and track had dried out to some degree on Sunday morning, allowing the parade laps to go ahead. However the circuit manager considered it too risky to have the halftrack and Chaffee tank churning up mud in the start/finish field and bringing it back across the track at the fast corner at the end of the straight. So sadly, we didn't get our rolling armour or firing displays.

Yet another casualty was the Jet Provost flying display. By the time the weather cleared enough for take off, there wasn't sufficient time to transit to Croft and perform the display before racing began, and there is a no flying rule while racing is under way for safely reasons.
It wasn't just the flying that suffered. Racing was stopped for several hours for safety reasons, and once the rain did stop, the qualifying continued into the evening, trying to make up for lost time.
One shot taken during the parade lap. There were one or two people who didn't understand the word parade, and instead thought it meant race. They were quickly reprimanded for their actions. We are all guests of the circuit owner, and a little consideration shouldn't be too much to ask from those taking part in the event. It is only the second event of its kind at Croft, and we are still in a learning curve. The event will be studied over the following months to hopefully enable it to grow and become a better experience for participants and public alike.
 Sunday was by far the better day. While it wasn't tropical temperatures, it was dry and we even saw blue sky at times. The military display line stretched the length of the runway and the classic car field was virtually full. The damp track also provided plenty of thrills for the drivers and spectators alike, with several cars needing a little more work than a bit of buffing to remove the bumps and scratches. 
 One of the displays which didn't suffer as a result of the rain was the Griffon Aero Engine. This was run a number of times across the weekend, attracting large crowds, and between engine runs, the safety rope was lowered allowing people a close look at this amazing piece of engineering.
Croft Nostalgia 2011, despite the weather, was a great event. The rain undoubtedly will have affected gate numbers, although on Sunday, there were still large numbers of people to be seen around the site. There will always be ways to improve the experience, and we are open to genuine constructive critisism. It seems common for people to complain anonymously via forums and Facebook etc, but if the organising team aren't told of issues, they can't be addressed.

If you have suggestions for attractions or ways to improve the show for 2012, then please do contact us at the following email address, and we will do our best. If you work in the MET office, we would consider setting aside a budget to guarantee good weather for 2012!!

Mike@croftmilitary.co.uk

Thanks for your support.

August 18th 2011
During the Event, the various Help for Heroes Teams Raised

£2614.11

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