Hello All,

 

Some of you may be shocked at the title because yes Japfest has changed its venue from the Old faithful (Castle Combe) to the new shiny Silverstone.

 

 

Quite a few things have changed this year with the booking process, so please read the below instructions carefully. What will be staying the same is that we have a combined stand with the 350Z/370Z club and Z Club, so it should be a good turn out for the Z's.

 

New Self Service Booking System

 

Japfest have changed the way club bookings work this year, meaning that individual club members can book their own tickets and vehicle passes for the clubs stand. Please follow the following instructions for a successful transaction:

• Club members must go to http://japfest.co.uk/club-info to book their tickets
  
• Select your Club (Z Club) from the menu and enter the Club's Personal Password - 215.408
  
• Proceed to select required tickets and place order - Make sure you choose 'Club Vehicle pass' to get on the club stand.
  
• Once booked, you will receive a confirmation email as proof of payment
  

Club space will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The deadline to book club tickets is Friday 18th March, subject to space availability.

 

If you have any difficulties, our club support helpline is available on 01959 543 724 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. Please call this number and do not PM me as I have no access this year.

 

Club Ticket Prices for 2016 Per Person

• Club Early Bird Package £48 - includes show entry at Japfest and show entry and pre-show camping at Japfest Rock! (previously Japfest 2) and Japfest Motorsport Heroes.
  
• Club Weekend Camping Ticket £28 - includes show entry and pre-show camping.
  
• Club Advanced Show Ticket £18 - includes show entry.
  
• We're also offering Early Bird Tracktime exclusively to clubs on the famous Silverstone National Circuit at just £30 per 20 minute session, saving £5 when booked before 31st January
  

When updating the list please put your username, ticket type wanted and when you have purchased. This lets us know how many we have attending.

 

Example. 370Ad - Stand Pass + Track Time - PAID

Thanks for sharing the video and photos Draxan, I didn't get to meet you [emoji17] do you own the white one that was parked on the end? I've not seen it before...

Hi there .. It was my swb parked on the end with the black top ... We left early with wiper failure and frozen fingers lol..

Cheers Great weekend,,,

Yea, my Zed is white one that was parked on the end :) .

The one where my Plasti Dip melted spray-can paint on front+back bumper, both side skirts, and many other small spots on my car.

Lesson for the future, dont spray Plasti Dip on a places where is a spray-can paint, clean it first to a bare metal/car filer.

 

At last wheels looks great :D

Edited April 25, 20169 yr by Draxan

It was amazing to see so many wonderful Zeds in one place . Unfortunately we froze to death the night before in a cheep tent with not enough warm clothing and way too much cider lol.. Massive thanks to nemesis Paul ... Great to meet ya. ! And big love to the young lads A and R in the diesel 370z (joking !!!!)... Top night but next time it's a lovely hotel.

Windscreen wipers failed so driving home to Sussex was fun.. Cheers to a great day

 

Its was great to meet you and Gordon too Richie.. Had a great laugh with you guys and the 370Z lads.. Hopefully there'll be a few events in the warmer months for camping and I'll pack a few more sausages! Lol..

If we'd not met up it would have been a poxy night in the freezing cold.. So thanks for the company and conversation, it made the camping worthwhile.. Apologies if I appeared a little on the grumpy side in the morning, 2 hours sleep, minor hypothermia and a damp ass can have a negative affect on my mood! Still tired tonight..

Anyways, it was good to meet you and the event itself was great.. roll on the next event!

It was amazing to see so many wonderful Zeds in one place . Unfortunately we froze to death the night before in a cheep tent with not enough warm clothing and way too much cider lol.. Massive thanks to nemesis Paul ... Great to meet ya. ! And big love to the young lads A and R in the diesel 370z (joking !!!!)... Top night but next time it's a lovely hotel.

Windscreen wipers failed so driving home to Sussex was fun.. Cheers to a great day

 

Its was great to meet you and Gordon too Richie.. Had a great laugh with you guys and the 370Z lads.. Hopefully there'll be a few events in the warmer months for camping and I'll pack a few more sausages! Lol..

If we'd not met up it would have been a poxy night in the freezing cold.. So thanks for the company and conversation, it made the camping worthwhile.. Apologies if I appeared a little on the grumpy side in the morning, 2 hours sleep, minor hypothermia and a damp ass can have a negative affect on my mood! Still tired tonight..

Anyways, it was good to meet you and the event itself was great.. roll on the next event!

Does anyone know Who I need to speak to at zclub.net about japfest 2. Trying to find out if they have a stand there at Rockingham. It appears as though we won't be having a club stand there so I'm going to try and book a camping pass and ticket through the zclub like last time..

Does anyone know Who I need to speak to at zclub.net about japfest 2. Trying to find out if they have a stand there at Rockingham. It appears as though we won't be having a club stand there so I'm going to try and book a camping pass and ticket through the zclub like last time..

Im a Zclub member.

There is no mention on Z club forum about Japfest 2/Rock.

 

I might go but Im not bothered about displaying on a club stand.

Im not in a position to commit atm.

If I book track time then there will be a track day paddock to use.:yes:

I deffo dont do camping...ever.:whistling:

Cheers Pete.. I saw that the tickets they were selling on the zclub forum were priced at £48 and included both events japfest 1+2 so I was assuming they'd have a stand at Rockingham aswell as Silverstone..

Thanks for the info Pete.

lol, there is not a single photo of 300zx on japfest site ...

So I was waiting few days to write this, just to see anyone else want to write something more...

 

So IMHO the Japfest 2016 was a awesome event, I was really enjoying it, so it was a big win for me.

But as a Club, a 300zx Club we FAIL... How our Club stand looks? Like a parking bay, there was no difference between car park in front of Tesco and our "stand" .

Nobody was there, no talking about our cars at all, about how to fix something, how to make something better, no talking about ANYTHING at all , nothing...

Our Club Stand was so bad we dont have ANY SINGLE PHOTO of our cars on Japfest official web site, NOTHING... There is not a single Nissan 300zx z32 photo there...

Yes it was cold, but that was not a problem for a Honda guys, for a Evo guys, for a Supra guys, for EVERYONE else...

That how the club supose to look? Thanks god I take my wife with me so I can talk to someone...

The only person that was trying to make any conversation was NemesizX - THANK YOU MATE, for trying to be friendly.

My conversation to a club people looks like that: I park my car, said hello to everyone there and hmm thats it. And then when I was leaving NemesizX ask me about few things.

Honestly I was feeling like people dont care who is coming to this event....

Everytime I was back to my car there was nobody there, no matter what time it was.

 

So now if I go to another Japfest im not sure there is any point to buy Clubstand tickets, looks like its pointless, I can park my car on public parking, and just walk arund and look at cars, exacly the same way I was doing this on Japfest.

 

Thats it, You can hate me for what I write here, but sadly thats how it looks from my point of view.

Edited May 1, 20169 yr by Draxan

So I was waiting few days to write this, just to see anyone else want to write something more...

 

So IMHO the Japfest 2016 was a awesome event, I was really enjoying it, so it was a big win for me.

But as a Club, a 300zx Club we FAIL... How our Club stand looks? Like a parking bay, there was no difference between car park in front of Tesco and our "stand" .

Nobody was there, no talking about our cars at all, about how to fix something, how to make something better, no talking about ANYTHING at all , nothing...

Our Club Stand was so bad we dont have ANY SINGLE PHOTO of our cars on Japfest official web site, NOTHING... There is not a single Nissan 300zx z32 photo there...

Yes it was cold, but that was not a problem for a Honda guys, for a Evo guys, for a Supra guys, for EVERYONE else...

That how the club supose to look? Thanks god I take my wife with me so I can talk to someone...

The only person that was trying to make any conversation was NemesizX - THANK YOU MATE, for trying to be friendly.

My conversation to a club people looks like that: I park my car, said hello to everyone there and hmm thats it. And then when I was leaving NemesizX ask me about few things.

Honestly I was feeling like people dont care who is coming to this event....

Everytime I was back to my car there was nobody there, no matter what time it was.

 

So now if I go to another Japfest im not sure there is any point to buy Clubstand tickets, looks like its pointless, I can park my car on public parking, and just walk arund and look at cars, exacly the same way I was doing this on Japfest.

 

Thats it, You can hate me for what I write here, but sadly thats how it looks from my point of view.

 

I wasn't there so I correct me if i'm wrong, but it looked like the stand was right at the edge of the event, so everyone crowded to the middle where the action was? I think the position might have something to do with it, whether you can change that or not?

My opinion is a bit split... Yes it wasn't the nicest looking part of the show but it was close to alot of things. (toilets, cafe etc.) It would have been maybe better where the 240z's were parked?

 

The event is so big and tbh it was my first time at Japfest so I wanted to see the other cars there so I found that I spent most of my time walking around the other stands and watching the drift cars etc. It would have been nice to have spent more time with my own car as I felt once I'd cleaned it, I didn't really see it. Whenever I was around near my car you are correct there weren't many other Z owners in sight but again I suspect they were also taking in the sights. It was great to meet a couple of new people I hadn't met before and catch up with others but I didn't see everyone, (yourself included).

 

Overall I enjoyed the event despite the cold weather but your right in saying that where we were parked lacked presence. Would have been good to have some club banners there maybe. I feel like I always positively promote the owners club and wouldn't mind maybe getting a banner at some point for myself if that's possible?

My opinion is a bit split... Yes it wasn't the nicest looking part of the show but it was close to alot of things. (toilets, cafe etc.) It would have been maybe better where the 240z's were parked?

 

The event is so big and tbh it was my first time at Japfest so I wanted to see the other cars there so I found that I spent most of my time walking around the other stands and watching the drift cars etc. It would have been nice to have spent more time with my own car as I felt once I'd cleaned it, I didn't really see it. Whenever I was around near my car you are correct there weren't many other Z owners in sight but again I suspect they were also taking in the sights. It was great to meet a couple of new people I hadn't met before and catch up with others but I didn't see everyone, (yourself included).

 

Overall I enjoyed the event despite the cold weather but your right in saying that where we were parked lacked presence. Would have been good to have some club banners there maybe. I feel like I always positively promote the owners club and wouldn't mind maybe getting a banner at some point for myself if that's possible?

 

What he said.

What he said.

 

Never got chance to meet you either bedzee... I saw you pulling in when I was washing my car and meant to come over. So much going on on the day though!

To be perfectly honest, I found it very boring as far as our stand went and I'm in agreement with draxxan.

There were no club banners, no one representing the club as far as organisation was concerned.

Even though I slept in a freezing cold field all night, I did make the effort to talk to the other club members as and when I could find one..

It's a tough one because this type of event is quite different to most. Theres a hell of a lot to take in and lots to do and see.

The scale of the show was enormous and the turn out for the club was low, which in my opinion is a bad reflection on the club. Out of the members we have, we managed to muster about 12 - 13 members for the event.. Not exactly a big effort made by the club's members really considering japfest is the largest Japanese car show in Europe!

 

It's hard to balance things when numbers are so low. If more people had made an effort to attend then there would have been more chance of people being around to chat with and make it an event rather than a carpark meeting.

 

Even the campsite was a joke, we had enough room for 17 campers and had only 2 there..

 

In my opinion, those that were there wanted to see the event which is perfectly reasonable but it was totally disorganised and wasn't worth paying extra for a club stand which was basically a car park with a line of Z's being swamped by other models..

No club competitions, just a group parking place for our cars to stay whilst individuals went their seperate ways around the show.

 

I think between the members we could have organised something a little more to make it more of a club event if we'd known it was just a case of buying a ticket and that's everything organised.

 

With the amount of members we have, we need to make the effort to get a decent sized group together for events. Otherwise it won't just be the cars numbers that are falling, but the members aswell. I mean who really wants to go to an event when they know it'll be a handful of people each time..

 

C'mon people, this is a club for enthusiasts... So get bloody enthusiastic and come to the events.. A little cold and rain never hurt anyone and to be honest, if a little rain or cold is gonna put you off attending meetings, you're not gonna get out much in this country huh?

 

For those that did attend, hats off to you. I'd have liked to have had a good chat and would have if I'd been able to locate anyone.. Those that I did find, it was an enjoyable chat..

In honesty I am not sure what some of you guys expected?

Did you want all the club members to stand in a little group around their car for the entire day talking to each other and not go see anything that was on show? Doesn't work like that.

 

This was the first year of Japfest at Silverstone, and as such is still developing. 370AD did a sterling job once again of organising the event across the 3 Z-Clubs. I understand complaints about location etc, however he has no control over where the club(s) stands end up. You're put where you are put and that's it.

 

I've attended 100's of events and shows over the years (mostly Jap themed) and I've always found you get out of them what you put in. Standing by your car waiting for people to talk to you doesn't tick that box.

 

Parking at these events is difficult. As you don't know the exact size of your area until you arrive, and you don't know how many cars you are going to end up with on the day. It's a pain in the backside to get right, and you cannot please everyone. Easiest way I have found is do a first come first served.

 

That said, the lag of club flags is a failure (same has been discussed over on 350z-uk as we forgot to take flags too).

With so much to see and do at this years Japfest, I'm not surprised that the club stand was left unattended for long periods. Many of the guys had briefings to attend to, they had their track time to do the business in, us polishers tried to support the guys on the track and get a good view as they blatted round. Unfortunately, unlike Castle Combe, a decent viewing point for the track meant moving a significant distance away from the club stand. If you wanted to absorb the other cars on display, just to walk around and see everything briefly took several hours and from what I saw, the other club stands were also fairly derelict of people in general - be it the EVO guys, the Honda guys or the Supra guys, so that seems a slightly clouded judgement to me.

 

I agree we could've made more of an effort as a club to "arrange" the cars differently in our dedicated area but as members were all arriving at different times, our crowd of drivers were already spread out across the event, some seeking warmth, others at briefings etc. Maybe, at the next event, you/somebody would make an effort to be the first to arrive and be prepared to take charge by coordinating the parking arrangement?

 

That said, I refuse to believe that because the cars on our stand weren't parked at an angle, or arranged in a specific colour order, that the official photographers didn't take any photographs. Maybe our cars just aren't appreciated as much as the more popular models on display, the Z32 is often overlooked. We didn't have any show stopping highly modified cars on display like Jason Farrow's beast, most were arguably tame looking cars in comparison and this type of event likes flamboyant cars!

 

Personally, I thought it was a reasonable turn out of Z32's. Obviously there could've been more but to get 10+ cars to any event, for me is a success, especially an event which isn't a "club" event and is something we tag along with another club (the rows of unattended 350s and 370s, but they had pictures taken?).

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you're wrong in what you say, we could always make a bigger effort at these events but I just think we were up against it for its shear volume at this one. If a social event is more your thing where you want to talk to club members and like minded enthusiasts, then I would definitely suggest that you attend the clubs main event at Coventry transport museum. Whilst there are still some interesting activities to do, it's more focused on ourselves as a club in a more intimate environment and involves a lot more of a social aspect to the day. You obviously don't necessarily get the exposure of the Z32 amongst other like minded petrol heads, or a variety of different cars to see, or the excitement of an action based event that involves track action etc, but for what you're after in a show, it certainly sounds to me that a more "static" show would be preferential for you. It's also nice to see the interest taken by the general public in Coventry due to the Z32 being such an unknown.

 

There are several other meets across the country with the same or similar, that also involve other marques and other activities, such as Simply Japanese and the local car enthusiast shows, but generally, the bigger they get, the more there is to see, the less time people may spend standing next to their car.

 

I'm also disappointed that I didn't get to meet yourself and others, I'm also disappointed that, the people I did meet and talk to, was fairly brief and almost impersonal. However, that wouldn't put me off parking on the club stand next time as that will not solve anything. Next year, if a negative vibe of this event doesn't detract people from signing up and decrease attendance, maybe it will be different as the people attending will have a better idea of what is available to do and be able to prioritise what they do instead of trying to see everything, making more time for the club stand. Being the first time for this event at this location may have had some effect on the dynamic of the show and as it "matures" it might change, but I still believe that the shear volume of things to see and do will hinder what you're after; even if it's just the fact that you've got a good seating position in a grand stand and are enjoying watching the cars race round the track.

 

I hope you don't view this reply as a negative, it's taken me bloody ages to type on my phone and I really don't want to spend any more time proof reading it all! I just thought in the interest of our club and our beloved Z32s, I might shed an opinion.

Should probably stress I've no problem with the way 370ad organised the event and would like to say a big thank you for taking the time to do it.

 

Well I lost my spot in our line when I went out on track, wasn't too impressed by that, I was with my car most afternoon, although I may have fallen asleep at one point, lots of late nights and the other show the day before caught up with me, so I apologise if I wasn't very social, particularly as I was in a bad mood after my cars issues on the track.

 

I personally take it as a compliment if my cars not on the japfest website, it's not some chav'd up stance "show" car, for me the 300zx is so much more then that, and again the fact there were so few appeals to me too, if that's what I wanted I'd go buy an evo or scooby and park next all the other identical cars...

 

Castle combe had so much more atmosphere, and because you could see the track from most stands ment people stayed with their cars more.

 

No offence intended to the zclub guys, but maybe we should have our own stand, imo nothing wrong with what they did, but if we want it different then we should make it.

 

If I have some Support/ suggestions (constructive preferably) from the members I'm willing to try to organise next year.

Edited May 1, 20169 yr by (adl) phoenix

Well we enjoyed ourselves immensely, we said ourselves how quick the day went,we did speak to several members and yes when we weren't on the club stand we missed other coming in,there was so much to take in I also never had much time for standing and talking,we had briefing to attended and yes we walked around looking at other cars as the site was huge,to me it's not just about my 300 I'm a petrol head and like all cars,and enjoy speaking to others as well,I like track time and I enjoy getting involved with what's going on around the whole event,but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy speaking with my fellow zedders,all that know me know ill speak to anyone,I've been to events with 300 before when People have gave me frosty vibs....but does that bother me...no:),I don't think you can please everyone at these events we just have to enjoy what you can out if them.

Edited May 1, 20169 yr by gray

Obviously I wasn't there, however I've been to Japfest when it was at castle Combe a fair few times. I think the largest issue for this club is the fact that we didn't have a set person to co-ordinate for us. Simply relying on one member of another club is a bit unfair. This is why there were no banners. It takes a fair bit of juggling to organise three clubs at once and even with it all in order things still happen. For example a few years back at Simply the stewards decided to separate all the Z33/34s away from the rest, ended up parked in different parts of the show ground, annoying.

I'd say, next year id take Japfest on for us. However with it not being in the south anymore and the way it fell I'm not sure il be going next year either. I feel if someone from here took up the batton next year and helped out, not just flags etc but it's the conscious effort to badger people to go. I think we missed out this year. With that in mind, your going to see a lot of Simply bumping.

In honesty I am not sure what some of you guys expected?

Did you want all the club members to stand in a little group around their car for the entire day talking to each other and not go see anything that was on show? Doesn't work like that.

 

This was the first year of Japfest at Silverstone, and as such is still developing. 370AD did a sterling job once again of organising the event across the 3 Z-Clubs. I understand complaints about location etc, however he has no control over where the club(s) stands end up. You're put where you are put and that's it.

 

I've attended 100's of events and shows over the years (mostly Jap themed) and I've always found you get out of them what you put in. Standing by your car waiting for people to talk to you doesn't tick that box.

 

Parking at these events is difficult. As you don't know the exact size of your area until you arrive, and you don't know how many cars you are going to end up with on the day. It's a pain in the backside to get right, and you cannot please everyone. Easiest way I have found is do a first come first served.

 

That said, the lag of club flags is a failure (same has been discussed over on 350z-uk as we forgot to take flags too).

 

Lexx, I'm not saying that everyone shouldve been standing around chatting and missing the show. The whole point of japfest is for people to see the cars, the different models and makes and the impressive amount of effort that people have gone to with their cars. Not of course forgetting the drifting events and market stalls etc.

My thoughts were that this event was being organised for months and our club turn out was dire..

370AD did go to a lot of trouble to organise the tickets and stands across the three clubs and his efforts were appreciated by those that attended.

But when we arrived, there was none of our clubs officials present that I was aware of, no direction on where or how to park, no banners and no organisation.

The location of our stand, in my opinion was actually perfect. A cafe within 100 yards with toilets, the pits not much further, a decent large corner of the track for view of the drifting and the trade stands only across the road too. Not that the trade stands at these events cater for us lovers of the old girls!

 

I feel that the whole thing could've been a lot better day if we'd had a larger club presence and maybe some fun things for the club members to take part in..

Even little awards for club members like best in show etc..

 

As for the chatting, I did manage to speak to Joely, draxxan, Richie and a few others but not for very long, but as I said, there was plenty to see and obviously standing around your car all day wasn't going to make the day any better..

 

I did have plenty of attention with my car from the general flow of onlookers and had some quite good conversations with some of these people that had said they'd like to own a 300Z. I gave them a little insight in to the car and what owning one has been like for me. Some of the things to look out for when buying and also information about the club.

 

If it'd been known that we needed someone to sort banners etc, I'd have volunteered to sort this..

In future I'll make it known now that if any help is needed in the organisation of events, I am happy to help with things if I can.

Lexx, I'm not saying that everyone shouldve been standing around chatting and missing the show. The whole point of japfest is for people to see the cars, the different models and makes and the impressive amount of effort that people have gone to with their cars. Not of course forgetting the drifting events and market stalls etc.

My thoughts were that this event was being organised for months and our club turn out was dire..

370AD did go to a lot of trouble to organise the tickets and stands across the three clubs and his efforts were appreciated by those that attended.

But when we arrived, there was none of our clubs officials present that I was aware of, no direction on where or how to park, no banners and no organisation.

The location of our stand, in my opinion was actually perfect. A cafe within 100 yards with toilets, the pits not much further, a decent large corner of the track for view of the drifting and the trade stands only across the road too. Not that the trade stands at these events cater for us lovers of the old girls!

 

I feel that the whole thing could've been a lot better day if we'd had a larger club presence and maybe some fun things for the club members to take part in..

Even little awards for club members like best in show etc..

 

As for the chatting, I did manage to speak to Joely, draxxan, Richie and a few others but not for very long, but as I said, there was plenty to see and obviously standing around your car all day wasn't going to make the day any better..

 

I did have plenty of attention with my car from the general flow of onlookers and had some quite good conversations with some of these people that had said they'd like to own a 300Z. I gave them a little insight in to the car and what owning one has been like for me. Some of the things to look out for when buying and also information about the club.

 

If it'd been known that we needed someone to sort banners etc, I'd have volunteered to sort this..

In future I'll make it known now that if any help is needed in the organisation of events, I am happy to help with things if I can.

 

As much as i hate to admit it, I do agree with Lexx mostly. IMO I think you were anticipating a large club meet, and not a national Japanese event.

I feel that the whole thing could've been a lot better day if we'd had a larger club presence and maybe some fun things for the club members to take part in..

Even little awards for club members like best in show etc..

It seems here like you are describing a club meet, so hopefully Coventry would be better suited to you're preference???

As much as i hate to admit it, I do agree with Lexx mostly. IMO I think you were anticipating a large club meet, and not a national Japanese event.

 

It seems here like you are describing a club meet, so hopefully Coventry would be better suited to you're preference???

 

Agreed.

I wasn't there as I have exams and couldn't afford the time away from revising but am going simply Japanese and looking forward to it.

 

From reading all comments, I feel as though those who were unhappy, bought a club ticket in thought of it being a club event/meet at a big event where the whole club go to japfest as a "team" (for lack of a better word) and then experience the day together, albeit some members do one things whilst others do other things but ultimately you go to meet and make friends.

 

IMO if you pay for a club ticket and have a stand, there should be some effort from members and organisers a-like to make it worthwhile otherwise you're just parking a few Z's next to each other and then do your own thing, that could be done in the car park and doesn't really feel like your together as a club.

 

I don't know if there where any organised convoys down or anything of that nature but that would be good to do (saw a few vids online of the Evos convoying down - granted it looked a bit chavy to outsiders, but for the club it probably felt great)

 

I need to note I haven't actually been to a National event and Simply Jap will be my first so I don't know if I'm talking s*** or not..

Thought I'd give my two-cents

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well me and the other half enjoyed it ,was cold and we did leave in the afternoon to get back to our little one ,but having said that bring on beaulieu sun will be out and I think we should all hug when we get there :cool3: