[James3990]

So I’ll be taking part in the ‘opening ceremony’ at the Common Wealth Games here in Birmingham with my Coupe.

The first rehearsal was last weekend and although it was a long day (09:00 - 19:00), the car performed great and it was an enjoyable day.

In total, there will be 73 cars taking part from a variety of makes and models including 4 x R8’s & a Rover 45;

2 x 200 Coupe’s in blue/red
1 x 200 cabby in blue
1 x 400 saloon in white
1 x 45 in blue


There’s only so much I can say and show, but I’m sure most will know the location these pictures were taken







On the big day, we’ll be in front of 35,000 in the Stadium and over 1 billion TV viewers from around the world.

Great to have a number of R200 & R400’s in the lime light!

P.S - I’ll get a picture of the 400 at the next rehearsal, unless the owner is already on here.

[GTiJohn]

Fantastic!

Looking forward to see this on the telly. Fancy writing this up as an article for the club mag?

There is another connection between these games and Longbridge - one of the Birmingham poets, who have a spot in the opening ceremony, used to work at Longbridge

[James3990]

Fantastic!

Looking forward to see this on the telly. Fancy writing this up as an article for the club mag?

There is another connection between these games and Longbridge - one of the Birmingham poets, who have a spot in the opening ceremony, used to work at Longbridge

That's interesting to know, our first rehearsal was done with all people involved, not just the drivers so we were mixing in with dancers, actors, stunt professionals etc etc.

Yes I'd be up for it John.

[James3990]

So that’s another 5 rehearsals under our belt since the last update and nearly 60 hours of our personal time committed to this fantastic event.

Both myself and Tom have needed to adjust our suspension settings on the tomcats to cater for the obstacles at the common wealth games. Otherwise we run the risk of damaging our exhaust systems like a number of more expensive vehicles we have witnessed over the various rehearsals



With the event getting even closer, the army are now present in the area with road closures in place and stricter entry measures for all volunteers including ourselves, therefore it’s going to be even harder for us to gain access dispite our friendly faces and involvement so far!!

Security passes have been upgraded which involved us heading into Birmingham city centre (during a none rehearsal day) to answer a few questions, proving our identity again, and collecting a higher security pass

We will also be searched individually along with our cars before any further rehearsals take place in the stadium.

We have a full weekend at the stadium coming up, and then one final rehearsal on Tuesday before the big day on Thursday 8) 8) 8) .

Make sure to tune in to BBC1 at 20:00 8) 8) 8)







P.s - we have some cracking photos to share once this is all over.

[Topcat Tomcat]

Top marks for the massive personal commitment. Although I’m retired, I simply couldn’t commit to that sort of involvement!

Although I’m not interested in the event itself, I will be watching the opening ceremony, or at least the part with the cars!

The date and time is marked on the Club calendar, so I don’t forget!

[Stan Thomas]

Nice pictures of your cars -thanks for flying the flag!

Regards to all,

Stan.

P.S.
When I was a nipper (Brummie term), I roamed the city with the rear end out me trousers and a piece of bread and jam - now you need a high security pass. And that's progress?

[GTiJohn]

Absolutely brilliant !

Will be watching it on Thurs

[James3990]

So tonight is the final rehearsal before the main event on Thursday. We will be well in excess of 100 hours worth of time spent on this now and the cars have performed great.

We’ve met some fantastic people along the way, including the organisers and instructors and it’s been a great experience so far.

We had a rehearsal on Sunday night in front of an audience of 10,000 people and tonight we are potentially looking at 20,000 people.

These last couple of rehearsals are like the real deal, all the food and drink facilities are open, toilets, police helicopters circling the stadium, army walking round, spectators taking pictures of the cars, TV crew walking round with these massive cameras. The atmosphere is

Here are some final (pre-event) pictures from me of our cars being parked up in a separate venue whilst they are searched top to bottom before we are allowed into the stadium. The search takes nearly 3 hours!!!





Also here is another shot of what the stadium looks like in the dark during the rehearsal. It’s mad to think we are in the centre of all this!

[Mr Teddy Bear]

Only spotted the one R8 a Nightfire Red Tomcat L450 EPG

[Topcat Tomcat]

I didn’t think much of the camera work. Considering the huge personal commitment of the participants, there were hardly any close ups!