Getting better every year – AirCool 2001

4 May 2001 (Brooklands Circuit, Weybridge, Surrey, England – 29 April) by Ian Tisdale Sunday 29 April saw the third gathering of air-cooled vehicles at Brooklands, England, organised by Tatra Register UK’s membership secretary and events co-ordinator Derrick Moores. It was clear in advance that Derrick was determined to outdo his first two events, with an even bigger and more diverse concentration of cars and motorcycles than ever, and Tatra Register UK was hoping to do justice to his plans with a strong turn-out. As Sunday dawned, it looked as if fate was going to do us no favours. After a year of the wettest weather since British records began the forecast was very bad, but early torrential rain unexpectedly abated and, apart from a couple of showers, it turned into a reasonable spring day. A second eleventh-hour threat to the event was the astonishing and almost wilful inadequacy of the site management’s preparations. The display area was littered with modern cars abandoned by guests at a birthday party the previous evening, but worse were the arrangements for admission which led to entrants, for most of the day, facing a one-and-a-half hour wait in the queue to get in. It is a measure of Derrick Moores’ efforts, the size of the entry and the enthusiasm of the participants that none of this prevented the event from being a splendid success. The show attracted a record turnout of over five hundred cars and bikes and two thousand visitors had a rare opportunity to see sixteen Tatras together – surely a British record? Two comments sum up the day: “I lost count of the number of old friends that bumped into during the day. AirCool day is unique in its ability to bring together such a hugely diverse array of vehicles that are united by a common factor. I don’t believe that there is another event like it anywhere else in the world