An Ace award night

The first classic car night of the year at the Ace Café is also the venue for the Retro Rides awards ceremony. A chance to gather together for a fry up and natter before the serious business of the awards. Categories range from “magazine of the year” to “best blog 2009”, nominations are made throughout the last month of the year and then a shortlist is formed and votes made and counted. The winners can be found here.

With the snow starting to melt but more on the way I wasn’t expecting a big turnout on a freezing cold Tuesday night, setting off in the Beetle with a few inches of ice and snow beneath me and the heating set to full the roads were clear and the journey quicker than normal.

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On arrival there was only one other RRer car there, Bruce’s Delica with an interesting cargo on the trailer behind, an unusual project for 2010



As the masses rolled in we stamped our feet for warmth and marvelled at Seths newly MX5’d Herald.



Inside there was only one thing that could be ordered to stoke the fire.



Back in the carpark the madman award for craziest transport in the snow went to Jonny69. But everyone was a winner for making it there.





Another trailer had made a very long trip from Germany through Belgium up the UK to collect a few bits and then it was heading back to the continent, 2000 miles for a fry up!



Braving the chill and dog sitting Bruce noshed on the Aces finest whilst Jed looked on expectantly



The variety of rides on show was amazing, from Japanese saloons to British sportscars and everything in between.





Inside people kept warm and well fed waiting for the big event.



On stage David “Hotwire” Murphy held the mic and announced the awards, speeches were kept short (really short by some….sorry!)





I had a few nominations for the photography categories and with the competition very stiff didn’t expect anything, but much to my surprise I nabbed a gong for “RR photographer of the year” I was so shocked and with an irritating cough and being unprepared couldn’t muster much more than a “cheers guys”, so I’ll make up for that now……

“Thank you to everyone who nominated or voted for me, to win whilst up against such amazing competition really means a lot to me, with around 50 events in 2009 and getting on for 20000 photos taken I do I hope it was quality not quantity that gave me the edge. The other nominations are all very deserving of the award be they seasoned snappers or new guys picking up a camera for the first time and experimenting at the shows, the quality of photos being posted up after each show is out standing and gives such a great overview when combined with a few choice words that it really feels like you were there. And that’s the reason I take photos and share them online, I hope I can keep up the effort from 2009 into the new year, bring on the show season! “




The rest of the photos are here, thanks for reading.

Cheers

Steve.