entry ticket engine

Although we all know what is meant by "entry ticket engine" it really isn't the engine's fault, it is the cynical attitude of the so called 'exhibitor'. I would be more than happy to see this little Villiers at a rally, nicely presented and perhaps driving something interesting - simply plonked non-running on the grass for the weekend and backed by a virtual camping site would be quite a different matter!

I agree its not the engine, its the "you can get in for free" which did me, and i am sure that who ever buys it wont be thinking in that frame of mind, (i hope)

rgds bob

Could not agree more, as the engine lines get less and less interesting, these are the first to be outlawed, thus bring a ssmaller but more interesting line-up back and hopefully more restored and better presented exhibits

One problem which hasn't been addressed, is the greater number of shows now, so that there are probably more show places than engines to fill them.

Last weekend in our area there were at least two shows, Stotfold Mill and Stoke Goldington, and there were others if you wanted to go further afield. At the end of this month we have Lamport Hall and as it is a Bank Holiday there will be a large number of similar shows around the country.

With numbers of engines available for shows limited by fuel costs or just plain 'show fatigue', there will always be a dearth of good engines to turn up, so the smaller ones tend to be booked in to fill the line up.

We need to get better quality exhibits out there, but the number of 'good' exhibit engines seems to be on the decline as more people opt for staying at home on the weekend. If you look at mine and Martin P's travelling schedules this week you can maybe understand why.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

"Bob" wrote (snip):-

Wasn't really aiming my comment at you but thought it worth saying as not everybody seems to 'get it' (as stonerobert's subsequent post perhaps demonstrates). It's a shame that rally organisers cannot weed out the freeloaders but, though we all know one when we see one, I guess it would be very hard to define in a simple unambiguous way suitable for printed rules of entry.

Nick.. Dont worry I know exactly what you mean, at last years astle park I bought a 3hp appletop petter and there was one very simular at the rally, I kept droping past to ask the owner a few questions repeatadly over the next couple of days and not once did i see the enigne running or the owner, not to say that he had some important bussiness to atend to but it just seemed a shame that you go to all the effort to bring an engine and then desert it never to be seen again. The public pay money to enter the event to see working displays and not static non running engines.

Regards bob

I think we have all come across this at some point. Whilst some are geniune cases for not running engines, (I stopped running my Fowler 1PA mid satuarday afternoon at a rally last year because I found that the bearings had far to much play in them for my comfort) There is always the option which some engine stewards do of recording which engines are running at several points through the day, and not inviting those back who do not run their engines. This however does have some draw backs, such as engines which suddenly stop running for no apparant reason (im sure weve all experinced this most annoying of problems), and compressor engines which were only ever intended to run for short amounts of time.

Mike M

miley snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

That is not always quite true, there are many cases where an engine is taken along as a non-runner because it may be interesting in its own right, and very often some of these can be more interesting in some circumstances than the regular stuff.

We took one of the Caterpillar engines along to Stofold, mainly as an interest item, but it was the largest engine there and attracted a fair bit of interest over the weekend.

We did make sure that plenty of information was supplied about the engine on 3 X A3 mounted display cards.

I agree with your basic point though, regarding small non-runners :-))

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

(snip)

PA> That is not always quite true, there are many cases where an engine is PA> taken along as a non-runner because it may be interesting in its own PA> right,

Quite so. Not so long ago the front cover of SEM featured an early Day engine (the original crank case scavenged two-stroke). The engine looked as if it had been marinating in a pond for 50 years and was very definitely a non-runner, but the only other I have seen is a sectioned example in the science museum, so that would have been a very welcome rally visitor.

OTOH at one of last years rallies there was a Turner V twin diesel that I desparately wanted to hear run but which never turned a flywheel all day and appeared unattended (there may of course have been a perfectly good reason).

So the running or otherwise of an engine is certainly not a good indicator of an 'entry ticket' job.

nickh=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 2.2.0.8

We cannot really blame the show organisers as (for instance) I am certainly guilty of not turning up with the engine(s) I'd fully intended to take with me when I made the application. No doubt this happens to other well intentioned people on this list.

That said, I always make the effort to display something a little out of the ordinary and to add interest to my display by good signage and a subsidiary display of old electronics gear.

All eventy things are run by a harassed few and by the time the family have set up caravan, car, van and camping gear it's too late. The engine they lift out of the car boot and drop negligently near the rope may well be of no interest to anyone, but it's academic by that time. Are we going to beard the organiser in his den as he counts the gate money and complain about the

1970's rusty Viljap Z290 that has leaned drunkenly on it's gear case for three days & never turned a wheel? Do we resent the exhibitor for getting away with it whilst we try hard? Or the organiser for not turning him away at the gate?

Personally, as I have said before on this subject, the public are largely incidental for many of us. I really go to talk to the like minded, pick up an interesting bit of Rusty Junk and exhibit the results of my labours amongst my peers. Certainly, I talk to Joe Public, but if he doesn't visit my corner of a foreign field, I do not feel too disappointed ;o))

You will note that I have made no slighting references to lawnmower engines and have nothing against small engines per se - I have enough of them myself, in all conscience!

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

This has been noticed by this member of the public :-)

Speaking as an interested by (pretty much) ignorant visitor to SE lines, I find the level of documentation (e.g. before and after restoration pictures, where the engine was found, history of the engine type, historic pictures of similar engines "in situ") very disappointing.

BugBear

"bugbear" wrote

Nice to know I'm not the only one round here who is more commonly found on the other side of the 'Rope of Difference' (as Kim has termed it)!

If this was some teenage kid's first engine, I'd be delighted to see them with it.