June 2005 - Motorplus, Kings' Hall, Belfast. Thanks to an invitation from the Association of Old Vehicles CLubs, the UKCC were invited to join the NTL Cavalcade from Chimney Corner, Newtownabbey to the King's Hall to display our cars at Motorplus.
May 2005 - Lisburn Mayor's show. Once again Lisburn Borough Council arranged outstanding weather for this annual event.
April 2005 - Classic Car show at Cultra. An interesting array of vehicles were on display with the added benefit of the Cultra Transport Museuem and Folk Museum.
February 2005 - at an Extraordinary General meeting, a new team stepped forward to manage the club.
September 2004 - Club AGM. The club is now looking for a new Secretary to take care of the run-of-the-mill work which keeps the club rolling along. Mailings and activities will be thin on the ground until then. Hopefully normal service can be resumed a.s.a.p.
August 2004
- CLub Open Day. Once again, all kitcars and owners were invited to our
Open Day at Carrickfergus Castle Green, with a good turn-out of all types
and models.
July 2004 - Sunday run on the Ards Peninsula. A few members braved the
weather for a run from Newtownards to Portaferry.
May 2004
- Lisburn Mayor's Cavalcade and Family Fun Day, Wallace Park. A familiar event
for us in recent years, but always a busy one, with seemingly all of Lisburn
in the Park.
First issue of the TOTALKITCAR magazine, launched at Stoneleigh show features
the UKCC in the Club Foxus feature.
April 2004 - Classic Car Show, Cultra. It's been a while since we've been to North Down, but it's good to put on a show in this area again.
January 2004
- slot-car racing coutesy of the Crawfordsburn Scouts.
Belfast Sportscar Show, King's Hall - The UKCC put on a combined stand with
the Irish Kit Car Club to promote kitcars in Ireland. Big news for us was
the attendance of Quantum Sportscars, Piligrim Cars and Steve Hole and Carol
Hardy of totalkitcar.com.
August 2003
- visit the Nutt's Corner stock car race meeting, with a Caravan Demolition
Derby to finish. Crazy!
Club Open Day at Carrickfergus Castle, with a display of around 35 cars.
July 2003 - Ballymena Steam Traction Rally - am event focusing a bit more on agricultural and steam equipment, but a fair display of cars including a few kits from the club.
June 2003 - Glenavy & District Vintage 5th Rally and our 5th year supporting the event. First showing of Paul Ayton's Xtremely nice Quantum Xtreme.
May 2003 - Lisburn Mayor's Family Fun Day, Wallace Park. A familiar event in the calendar, with plenty of punters in Wallace Park enjoying the fun fair and attractions.
April 2003 - Bloomfield Shopping Centre - the club returned to Bangor after a long absence to display alongside various classics.
January 2003
- Slot-car racing in Crawfordsburn
Sportscar Show, King's Hall, Belfast. A new show taking place in Northern
Ireland, with all sorts of sports car displays, including a number of local
clubs. The UKCC displayed 6 cars, from Sylva Jester to GT40 replica, opening
us up to a new audience. A number of members were on hand throughout the weekend
to offer advise and info to interested show-goers. Chuck even managed to attract
several young ladeez to the stand to pose for photographs.
December 2002 - introduction of STATUTORY OFF ROAD NOTIFICATION in Northern Ireland. If your car is off the road (i.e. for the winter or for rebuild) and untaxed, you must now inform the DVLNI. Hefty fines may apply if you do not. See the SORN page on the DVLNI's own website.
October 2002 - Glenn Paston from Autoglym gave us an interesting talk on the range of products offered by Autoglym. And you thought it just made your car shiny!
September
2002 - The club was pleased to be able to welcome the Scottish
Kit Car Club to Ireland for their weekend tour of the North Coast. Our
Scottish visitors were kind enough to invite us to join them to tour the familiar
attractions of the Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede and Portrush. A combined
16 cars travelled together on the Saturday, and a few of us joined the Scottish
club for their evening meal at the night's stop-off point.
We also took part in the
Red Bull Soapbox Race at Barnett's
Demesne in Belfast. Well, how could a kitcar club fail to enter! Around 100
teams from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England raced down
the steep and twisty 400 metre course in front of 30,000 people. See our soapbox
race page for more words and pics.
August 2002
- Club Open Day at Carrickfergus Castle. A superb display of 40 or so local
kitcars graced the Castle Green. Everything from a cheap'n'cheerful 2CV-based
Van Clee to a 400bhp Lamborghini Countach replica could be viewed, and the
sun certainly brought out the crowds.
Long-time club members Tony Ablett and Les Firth gave an excellent presentation
on kitcars and the club to the North Down branch of the Institute of Advanced
Motorists, of which they are also members, with projectionist duties by Graham
Appleton.
July 2002 - Ballymena Steam Traction Rally - the club made it's first showing at this event. While it wasn't quite so car orientated, it was a new area for us to show in, and it at least gave our members from the north and west a changce of a local-ish show.
June 2002
- unfortunately, due to some confusion and red tape, the club's planned
display outside the Belfast City Hall did not take place.
The Ards Airshow, planned for the following weekend was cancelled the day
before it took place, thanks to the torrent of rain which fell across the
province, flooding the airfield.
The club put on a display of cars for the Glenavy And District Fourth Rally.
As the weekend previous, the weather was changeable, with heavy showers of
rain. Undeterred, the show went ahead, and around a dozen cars (some with
no weather protection at all) put on an eyecatching display. Awards were presented
by the organisers for the best presented kitcars. 3rd went to Ken Law's Tiger
Super Six, 2nd to Douglas Toal's Sylva Jester, and 1st to Albert Hannah's
Westfield. Congratulations.
May 2002 - club members put on a display of cars for Lisburn Mayor's Family Fun Day in Wallace Park, although the public could have been forgiven for thinking it was the Westfield Sports Car Club on display! And this despite a number of members taking the opportunity to take to Kirkistown race circuit at the invitation of the local branch of the TVR Owners Club.
February
2002 - a BBC 'short' film, 'SMALL ADS : KITCARS' was aired on BBC1 Northern
Ireland. This had been filmed during our Club Open Day the previous August.
The club's new website
is launched.
January 2002 - slot-car racing night. The Crawfordsburn Scouts are fortunate to have a scout hall containing a 4 lane, 33 metre Scalextric circuit, and welcome groups along for a nominal fee. Older kids unable to resist playing with toy cars again had a ball, but risked taking themselves too seriously, especially when being beaten by an eight year old standing on a chair to see the track!
December 2001 - informal Christmas dinner in Corr's Corner.
September
2001 - after an impressive 13 years, Stephen Traynor stepped down from
his role as Club Secretary. He has taken up the more relaxing post of Club
Chairman. Darryl Webb takes over as Club Secretary.
Bowling evening in Belfast
Superbowl.
Track day at Kirkistown
by kind invitiation of the TVR Owners Club.
August 2001 - Club Open Day at Carrickfergus Castle, in conjunction with the local Goldwing Owners Club. A total of 35 kitcars and a dozen Goldwings made for an impressive display, and a very succesful day, despite the weather.
July 2001 - Track Day at Bishop's Court, organised by our own Albert Hannah. Speed freaks took the opportunity to test their car's ability without danger of oncoming traffic or policemen pointing hairdryers.
June 2001
- Belfast City Summerfest. The City Council invited us once again to put on
a display of cars in the city centre, this year in the grounds in front of
the main entrance into the City Hall. The club avoided a huge parking ticket
at the meeting up point behind the City Hall, thanks to a traffic warden who
admits he's pleasantly disposed towards specialist and classic cars. Maybe
they're not all bad after all!
Glenavy & District Vintage Tractor Club 'Third' Rally - organised by our
own Raymond McMullen, the club put on a successful display following a repeat
invitation to this rural event.
The Club go stock car racing
at Nutt's Corner (as spectators!)
SVA is introduced in Northern
Ireland - this is a new vehicle examination that applies to all kitcars (and
personal/grey imports), and which must be passed for it to be registered for
the road.
An internet group is created
at www.smartgroups.com/groups/ukcc
to enable local enthusiasts to keep in touch via e-mail, maintain a calender
of events, etc.
May 2001 - the club put on a display at Lisburn Mayor's Carnival in Wallace Park, and meet with the Mayor and Chairman of the council (that's us on the homepage!)
December 2000 - informal Christmas dinner at Corr's Corner.
November 2000 - presentation given to the club by representatives from E.A. Davies, a local insurance company who offer motor insurance to local kitcar owners.