DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Back from a great sunday at Goodwood, one of their breakfast meetings. Lots of Porsches plus loads of other interesting machinery. And really nice people too, great coffee, terrific food, even a band playing. Did I mention this lot is free and we are parked in the paddocks or on the circuit at the iconic Goodwood!
And then there is Boxengasse, park in some remote field, oh it's only £70.72 for two people. I think someone is definitely taking the P . . .

Yup.

Don't want my post to be any criticism of this coming weekends DDK event because it isn't. I'm really looking forward to it and appreciate all the work thats gone into it by those involved . It will be great and boxengasse as a concept for ddk meet is brilliant. We are coming down a day early to make the most of the weekend and so we get to C&M early enough. Sunday , if we went we would probably only be at Boxengasse for a couple of hours, late morning start and then heading back up north so for us its expensive.

This is my take purely on Boxengasse :
When i initially saw the ticket price I thought it was per car price with all passengers included .... then i realised it was per person !... so when there are 2 of you ( me and my wife ) it is too much for standing in a field talking to mates. I can do that for elsewhere and now having been doing the porsche thing for so long I'm not that bothered about paying to seeing a field full of them . It's not as if the organisers have to rent the field or sheds off anyone as they own them.

Sadly , we are not doing boxengasse on Sunday because of this

Looking forward to Caffine a & Machine though and our drive out / ddk evening .



... saying all the above , have you seen the ticket prices for Luft Denmark ! 60 euros pp for pedestrian ticket, 250 euros ( driver only ) if you want to enter your car ( incl food and drink ) + 80 euros for after party.

BTW, Weekend ticket for Spa Six Hours is 43 euros but at least that is full on race meet

Maybe I'm getting grumpy in my old age as it annoys me when people turn our hobby into a business by just replacing what volunteers used to do well

Last year was my first visit and I thought it had a vibe..even her indoors was quite impressed. Too many classic car events seem to have been hijacked by a certain element IYKWIM. This felt different.

Last time I paid £25 a head and rocked up around 11.30 ..drove straight in with no ticket checks!. I gather the queues earlier had been horrendous so they had to just let cars in unchecked to get the queue moving ?

I’ll reserve judgement this year but the price hike this year is 40% ish which IS a bit steep!! ..still you can never underestimate the time, effort and money that will have gone into putting the event on. Many contacts and favours from all over Europe will have been called in.

The rise and rise of these new fangled car venues/events is very noticeable with charges to boot. It does feel like the venues/events are not viable without the cars and the enthusiasts ….who for now seem willing to oblige?

There’s a few local pub nights near me in Cheshire that do very good business on a weekly / fortnightly basis due to the classic car enthusiasts. Free bar the cost of a couple of shandies.

It is down to Value for money.
You take your choice, pay the money, and everyone is happy.
I paid £20 / head at Prescott on Saturday, full-fat VSCC meeting and it was great.
Took a picnic lunch but the day was still £70 all accounted for. 100 mile round trip so 2 gallons of diesel in the Big Skoda.

Entry to SPA is a real deal, but a lot to get there, stay etc, but still, overall, good value for the fab experience in the past.

Hard to justify this year, all down to the Dover/Calais UK leg, insurance etc and overnight.

For years the enthusiast has paid dearly to organizers, just look at the Classic Car shows at the NEC

Interesting..............
Goodwood breakfast club hardly a fair comparison- attendees are the exhibits - no others and plenty of other money making stuff all year to subsidise!
like, I suspect, other DDK weekend attendees I was originally travelling solo and had paid my £ 35 as cost of my and car admission - seemed OK to me.
I now need to bring majordad with me [health etc.] consequently need to pay a further £35 - and that suddenly seemed wrong.
Most events of this nature attract solo drivers or may be two to a car [especially 911] meaning that the "per car" model [as C&M] is the logical way to go and seems fairer when you consider what costs are involved.
These events, by nature are far more costly to run than many assume - especially if its the only event run to soak up costs etc. but pricing needs to better thought out.
We're coming from the West Coast of Ireland so taking into account all other costs its not huge- but nonetheless grates somewhat.

I don’t think you’ll regret the cost Clive when you see some of the cars that have been brought in. It’s not just a park in a field and the attendees are the show type of event.

We all like a gripe about increasing costs but no day out is cheap these days and we should be making the most of events like this whilst we can!

For full disclosure I know Frank and have seen some of what goes on behind the scenes to make this show happen, it’s no small undertaking in time or expense.


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DustyM wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 6:27 pm I don’t think you’ll regret the cost Clive when you see some of the cars that have been brought in. It’s not just a park in a field and the attendees are the show type of event.

We all like a gripe about increasing costs but no day out is cheap these days and we should be making the most of events like this whilst we can!

For full disclosure I know Frank and have seen some of what goes on behind the scenes to make this show happen, it’s no small undertaking in time or expense.


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Jon- exactly the point in my first sentence .
I'm not whinging about the actually cost, I totally get the scale of the undertaking and smile when us Porsche people complain all the time.!
I just believe that pricing per car - 1 or 2 pax for this sort of event is much fairer.
C

Regardless of what 'special exhibits' have been brought in, a static show like this does nothing for me - there are relatively few interesting cars that most of us haven't seen before, whether at Le Mans Classic, at Techno Classica or Retro Classics, or in the Porsche Museum over the years. If a race car is on show, I want to see and hear it in action, not placed on a pedestal with an information card leaning against it. But that's just me, Mr Misery.

Indeed Keith, it is nice to see them in action and a lot of us here are very fortunate to have done so. However it costs a lot more to get to and attend LeMans Classic, or the Porsche museum and for many people not an option, so I for one won’t moan when someone makes the effort to bring these cars closer to home.


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Jon is correct- I've been able to get to CLM 5 times , Rennsport Reunion twice so far - and you see everything there - not everyone can do that!!
Keith - stop being a miserable old fart - you are better than that!!
C

If we are edging into value for money and not having to travel too many miles, my vote is the Goodwood members meeting. Bonkers cars, bonkers racing and you can go dribble over them in the paddocks. We are all off to Spa in September 43 euros for two days but the practice and timed runs day is free, yay!

Ignatzcatz wrote:If we are edging into value for money and not having to travel too many miles, my vote is the Goodwood members meeting. Bonkers cars, bonkers racing and you can go dribble over them in the paddocks. We are all off to Spa in September 43 euros for two days but the practice and timed runs day is free, yay!

See our other thread … quite a few of us going to six hours of spa too

KS wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 7:01 pm Regardless of what 'special exhibits' have been brought in, a static show like this does nothing for me - there are relatively few interesting cars that most of us haven't seen before, whether at Le Mans Classic, at Techno Classica or Retro Classics, or in the Porsche Museum over the years. If a race car is on show, I want to see and hear it in action, not placed on a pedestal with an information card leaning against it. But that's just me, Mr Misery.

Not been to any of those yet so £35 does not seem too bad if there's some good stuff... especially given the cost of getting to Europe with a car!

Ollie, the european events are really good. Classic Lemans is amazing if you've never been before . I've been going since 2004 and it is still the best of all events . Can be done on a budget too if you go public camping and book your tunnel in advance . IMHO, camping at the circuit is an integral part of the event. Admittedly it's not as cheap as it used to be though .

Spa classic & Six hours of spa are still great but much quieter events