...after thinking about this for a bit I am not sure anything particulary "kills" a rally, but I get bored when I see the same engines/exhibits, in the same locations, year-in-year-out. And when I am bored, I don't go back again.

Some blokes/rally committees have worked hard to get this right, such as prior events at Cerney, but for the ones I attend in Kent its mainly the same old stuff. Having trudged through the mud in Dorset this year, I got the same feeling so may give it a miss for a year or two (sure, I know Gigantic was there, and the trenches and everything... but it all felt very familiar).

So Tom, familiarity breeds contempt....

Engines being a pretty finite resource and difficult to transport it must be difficult for organisers wherever they are to attract / bring in new engines from other parts of the country though? As an example what would be the attraction or incentive for engines from oop North or the South West to visit rallies in Kent? I don't disagree with what you are suggesting but new exhibits is a tough thing to address I would think, so all you can do is shuffle things around a bit. Our little gathering in Canterbury gets plenty of support from the public and its surprising how many are repeat visitors year on year. Free admission and free parking help I guess lol.

Paul.

You're right Paul... and Sturry was the best one I went to last year for the reasons you mention. Have I missed it, or is it later in the year... I have a crap memory.:o

Any number of reasons.

Bad weather year after year
Exhibitors being treated like sh*t!
Loss of use of the ground & a suitable replacement not being found
Places simply not wanting to host it any longer (Such as Woodlands)
Places shutting down (Such as the Shire Horse Centre)
Greed!
Red tape

Tom Rolt Vintage Rally in the incarnation we ran it as was finished due to too many bad years of weather and no finances to sustain it.

Sorry Dave you have missed it this year! The Sunday was a total wash out unfortunately, some of our gallant railmen ran late morning but everyone was soaked by midday! We were still turning people away at the gate at three in the afternoon!! For next year its always the weekend 9th and 10th August or the weekend closest too!

Paul.

I used to do 18 rallies per season and am now down to 12. the others having gone to that great Rally Field in the sky., and for most of the reasons listed above. Lack of footfall, Elf & Safety., Large Insurance premiums, poor weather, unsuitable fields, deaths of organisers/landowners. Too far to travel due to fuel costs Too much regimentation, do this ,do that, don't do that. Too expensive entry charges, some rallies now , a family of four needs at least £100 for the day. There's lots more reasons I suspect, but I don't suppose we will ever totally sort it out even though they rally scene is slowly diminishing.. I suspect it will all be finally down to individual clubs having a yearly do as my club and several more have., and the big rallies as we know em have all but gone.

On the plus side, some newer, smaller gatherings are flourishing. The informal pub gatherings are good. My nearest one, up in the Warrington/ North Cheshire area is a pleasant weekend. The main beneficiary seems to be the pub landlord who is prepared to give over his car park for the weekend, good for him!
That reminds me, are we about due another this autumn Clive?

Don't you patronise me you gobby little shite!

Your another cause for all this! Gallivanting all over the country with your whippet and dinosaur, trudging all your father's worldly possessions around up hill and down dale! Holding up Joe Bloggs and poor old chardonnay in their Chelsea tractor.. due to the free exhibition time you give them on the road, they feel no need to attend the show. Plus because they had to actually drive under the speed limit for once, they don't wish to attend the show because you held them up!

There is a similar problem down here in as much as you can see the same engines year after year at different rallies during the season. However, we are at the end of the UK and the likes of Cornwall only shares it's border with Devon!!

However, rally organisers down here do a fantastic job by spending large amounts of money encouraging engines from outside the area to attend local rallies. We have had over the past 5 seasons an amazing number of engines which are not native to Devon and Cornwall. We should take our hats off to both the organisers who invest heavily in attracting new engines and to the owners for being prepared to travel to this end of the country to exhibit their engines.

I may be wrong, but I feel that the killer down here is the cost of transporting engines. It is great to be able to road your engine but some of the roads down here are just not suitable for doing so. Look at the A382 which passes through Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead, in several places it is single track with passing places and it is treacherous in October most years when timber is felled in the area and it is transported on large articulated lorries from the Moretonhampstead direction down though Bovey Tracey and then presumably onto the A38 Devon Expressway. The only advantage of these large lorries is that if you follow one you have a relatively speedy journey as oncoming traffic tends to keep out of their way!

I think that the only way to turn around attendances at rallies is not to try and make as much money as possible. Instead, charge reasonable admission fees and provide attractions which are of interest to all of the family. For example, out of the four of us in my household, my 17 year old grandson and myself are interested in the Traction Engines both full size and miniatures at rallies. My 15 year old grandaughter enjoys the vintage fairgrounds. My wife is not interested in any of the above and does not attend any rallies at all. She has been to two in the twenty two years that we have been together. If rally organisers provided an attraction that was of interest to her, she would attend and that would be one more admission fee for the organiser!