DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

As I sit here on this very damp February afternoon dreaming about Porsche engines in general and mine in particular as it's still in a thousand pieces, a small thought wandered through the grey matter. Why is there not a huge gathering of all the great folks who make up the webby world of DDK. Organisations in the States usually term their meets as 'nationals' or even internationals because of course for Americans their world ends at New York and Los Angeles on t'other side. But joking aside we really ought to hold an annual big meet up. It would have to be mid UK for all the members, so that means North of Watford, just to make travelling time acceptable to everyone. What we should also do is wear name badges with our web names so everybody can put a face to a blog name. Obvious initial difficulties would be primarily - venue, big muddy field, not so good, then exclusivity, how the heck do we overcome that one. No kettles, no boxtrs, don't think so, some of you have to drive those things. There will be loads of hurdles to get over but I think it would be fantastic if it could happen.

It is a good idea, probably worth fleshing out some ideas

Great idea!

Will need to take the geographic spread of the club into account... piggy back on someone elses event for year one or go it alone?

Would suggest tarmac based venue. I like the idea of the roof of a multi-story car park, then there is an indoor option if the weather is inclement.

Bicester Heritage might be up for it, plenty of space and stuff of interest there. I know the event manager there if I can help?

Historically we always had our annual DDK weekend events that were brilliant.... multiple events in North Yorkshire, wales and scotland . These have always been about driving followed by an evening of drink and food . People seemed more willing to get out there back then . The Coast 2 coast we did we had a massive amount of ddk cars.

Thing is , these events only ever came about because individuals stepped up and organised them.

As years have progressed these UK events have fallen away slightly ( because no one stepped up to organise anything for the uk ) and were replaced with the euro events like spa & clm . CLM at one point pre covid we had about 80 people attending . For some reason those kind of numbers dropped off and at last couple of CLM we struggled to get more than 30 people ( which isn't a bad thing as now everyone gets to know each other )

A DDK national meet up would be great . There would have to be a draw rather than a meet in a car park or field. From experience don't have high expectations of 100 ddk cars turning up either . I always take the view that if only 1 other person turns up then its a success .

I tried last year with the DDK / Z club meet at The Motorist just off the A1 near leeds. We had a good turn out of mainly northerners for that but also its a cars and coffee meet for anyone so there was things to see beyond our own cars.... but , its a long way to come from London just to stand about and chat

I wont deny I have been contemplating organising another Yorkshire DDK weekend but it is finding the time and motivation.

If anyone does want to organise something then I'm more than happy to help

If you want an event to hang a Yorkshire DDK day (or weekend) around, how about the British Championship Hillclimb at Harewood on 6/7th July?
It also has a round of the PCGB Speed Championship, so there will be plenty of Porsche interest, including ourselves in the BHC Cup hopefully.
There's plenty of parking, and I'm sure the organisers would be able to give DDK a display space.



JW

Great ideas guys- keep them coming!
My thoughts -be central- tarmac based [look at Race Retro - washout] - piggyback on something if possible' have a drive in/drive out trip.
Gaydon might work?
I'dl happily organise something in Ireland for us.

Now that would be a good trip, long weekend tearing up the west coast of Ireland

I live on the Wild Atlantic way- organised a 60 car week long trip along whole WAW for Porsche Club Ireland two years ago.....................

Talk done then, when we coming

This sounds a good idea indeed.

Does DDK have a 'map' of who is where so it is possible to select focus areas to catch as many as possible with an overnight stay (say)?

I think the British Car museum at Gaydon hosts a lot of one make clubs, kept quite separate from the general public parking.
All hard standing and lots of space. The place is worth a visit.

The Midlands is well catered for but is it a good location to tempt many?

The next Bicester Scramble ( if you haven’t been they’re huge - so plenty to see, do and eat) is on Sunday April 21st. Tickets still available. The car park is huge and we could easily all park and meet if we do a simple bit of pre-plotting. Graham and I met up there last year. I regularly make the 2 and a half hour drive from Somerset, so if I can you can! And it’s pretty bloody central and a zillion times more interesting than Gaydon.

The only issue with the Scramble is that its a ticket event that sells out quickly, so you may not get everyone there, and unless we could get a dedicated parking area, people are going to be all over the place meaning actually meeting up is more difficult. What about an air museum? As an example the Avro museum near Manchester airport allows car clubs to get their cars photogrpahed with the Vulcan they have. There are also others too that may be more central.

I’m up for Ireland

In 2018 I organised an Imp Club National event in Leicestershire. Mostly a camping event, Prestwold Hall, Leicestershire.
Marquee, catering, toilets/showers, evening entertainment. 250+ attendees. 1st weekend in August. It relocates every year around the country.
I can’t imaging DDK managing the same scale event, but perhaps at a rugby club (mostly unused in the summer), some camping. Hotel nearby ?