Cars in the park - History

Who organises the event and why did I start it?

This was the first ever CITP photo, my eldest stood next to my Maserati 3200GT.

I started it because i got fed up with all the good car events being held down south. I have had various cars over the years MX-5, TVR Griffith 500, TVR Cerbera 4.2, TVR Cerbers Speed Six, Maserati 3200GT and currently have a Porsche Boxter. So i though it would be a good idea to bring togeather all the car clubs big and small; as well as individuals. I just needed the venue that could cope.

The event is run by myself, no one else. My wife assists with the newsletters, and my eldest Lewis helps to park cars. I also have a great bunch of people who voulenteer to help with the parking on the day, but i can always do with more people. The plans, newsletter, website, payments, emails and back office are all done by me. So I can get a bit annoyed when people complain, but don't offer to help.

The first meeting on the 18th April 2004

On a spur of the moment, I approach Bolton Abbey and put a note on the www.pistonheads.co.uk forum. I put togeather a basic website and off we went! It started as simple as that and it has taken years of negotiating and development to get to here.

Move to a bigger, more welcoming venue

Why did we move from Bolton abbey? To be fair, Bolton Abbey was a nice place to have meetings, but various reasons forced me to look else where.

Here is a list:

• Speed bumps where becoming a pain
• Having to argue to block off agreed parking space on the morning
• No group discount, i even had to pay to get in
• It started off small but out grew the venue
• Event insurance became an issue

In 2008 I arrange a meeting with Harewood to discuss the posibility of holding the meeting there. After a bit of negotiation we agreed a deal. They welcomed the meet with little reservations, due to our time at Bolton Abbey. Over the years the numbers have grown and this has become a big event at Harewood House.

Unfortunatly due to a change of direction Harewood House has limited the number of car shows to just a few and we didnt make the cut. So a new autumn venue is in the pipeline. There loss????

After the success of the first Harewood meeting, i approached Newby Hall. It was a similar size venue and had held these kind of events before. This has now become the second main venue

Advertising

Over the years we have attracted advertising and stands to the event. This is because the two CITP events have become quite big in the Yorkshire/North car calendar. Money from it is used to reduce our display car entrance price. Given that all cost seem to be going up, it can be a challenge. I dont want to damage the main core reason why we all meet up, so not all stands/advertising gets included.

Where is CITP going?

Bigger and better, I would like to keep growing the meets as two big northern gatherings as mixed sports cars :)

Suggestions are welcome.

I am in the process of opening up the events calendar to approved clubs, to allow group organisers to display there big meetings. This will not cost anything to add your events and it will appear in the future events list.