past_events_growl

153 Griffs can’t be wrong...

Despite the forebodings about poor weather, we were blessed over the weekend of 17th – 19th August this year with record numbers for the 5th annual Griff Growl . Add to this number the 37 ‘other’ TVRs who turned up and the whole weekend became a record. In 2006 we were happy with 127 Griffs but to get 153 in the rain...we were overwhelmed! Notwithstanding that we still need to speak with Jeremy and Nick about giving up our traditional Growl weekend for Rockingham...look at the weather there!! That should have been ours...

By Friday evening in excess of 20 Griffs had arrived prior to the now traditional curry run into Stratford. 40 Griffters enjoyed a very pleasant meal at Chutneys restaurant with great food and good company.







Saturday started early - rather than bright and early - as the warned of clouds were well gathered over the venue. A steady stream of beautiful cars started to come through the gates and it soon became apparent that we were onto something special. By 10.30 we had over 50 Griffiths and the 100 mark was passed around lunchtime with the arrival of Martin Cliffe’s very special 1965 Griffith 200. We passed the old record of 127 Griffiths by mid afternoon and ended the first day with 134 Griffiths.





In terms of vendor activity we were blessed this year with the biggest and best turnout of vendors that we had ever mustered – in excess of 20 companies were represented and without any exceptions ALL were exceptionally generous in their donations to the raffle, charity auction and to our nominated charity – The Air Ambulance. This was chosen by way of thanks for saving the life of Jackie van Loock who, along with her husband Paul, crashed en route to the Growl 2006; the Air Ambulance saved Jackie’s life so we all felt we owed them something. After last years failed attempt, we managed to get a Rolling Road up and running which ran until around 2.00pm on Saturday until the heavy rain came. Whilst there was no competition in place for this, the biggest bhp figures came out for jeffsy’s modified 500 which were only topped by a 346bhp Tuscan S on Sunday.




Saturday nights saw the traditional BBQ at the White Horse in Ettington for in excess of 145 brave souls. The weather we had hoped wouldn’t arrive did, and it did become a little damp. Notwithstanding this, most people were prepared for this and brought their jackets and umbrellas. The charity auction raised £361 towards the overall figure raised over the weekend which was £1,012 and all the traders the organisers spoke too said that they would be back next year... Competition winners from the Saturday were Pasco in his unfeasibly loud, modded, Griff at 126Db and Dave McKendrick in his much more sensible unmodded, with 108Db. The concourse winners (as voted for by their peers rather than a judging team) were Nigel Smith for his ‘New’ Griff and Sean Lacey for his ‘Used’.




Sunday dawned to the promise of better weather. Whilst still overcast it did hold off for most of the morning which allowed some hangovers to cure and some money to be spent. Numbers continued to rise and peaked at 153 Griffs and 37 ‘others’.

Photographs with thanks to Roger and Chris Thomas, Bob Naismith, Andrew T and Chris Mapey

The following are the results from the Rolling Road shootout:

Owner	Model	BHP	Owner	Model	BHP
Graham Jeffs	540	308.2	Dave Hothersall	500	255.4
Matt Durys	500	288.7	Howard Barnard	430	250.4
Andrea Bennett	500	279.2	Dean Hayes	430	249.3
Paul Bradshaw	500	278.8	Rod Hill	500	246.8
Peter Reason	500	278.8	Ben Buchanan	430	240.3
Del Walden	500	271.1	Shawn Ashton	430	234.9
Andy Horton	500	269	Antony Pattison	400	216
Phillip Williams	500	267.6	Gary Clelland	500	202.8
Lord Grover	430	266.3	D Blanchard	430	192
Andy Cripps	500	266.2	Non-Griffith
Sean Lacey	500	256.6	Paul Vincent	Tuscan S	346.4
Dave Blades	500	256.5	Gary Rowe	V8S	276.0
Paul Bennett	430	256.1	R White	Chimaera	213.5

A great deal of hard work goes into its organisation and the TVRCC would like to extend a huge vote of thanks to the 4 organisers plus their immediate families who support in other ways. We would also like to thank the event sponsors and companies who donated so much of their time and services for auction and raffle prizes. These include: