***Simply Japanese, Beaulieu: Sunday, 20 July 2025***

[Casey]

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Simply Japanese will return to Beaulieu (Hampshire) on Sunday 20th July 2025 for an excellent day out for owners and enthusiasts.

Set in the parkland of the National Motor Museum, the event is open to all ages and models of Japanese cars and motorcycles and is always a highlight of the events calendar.

All participants have the opportunity to be chosen as the winner of the People's Choice Awards, selected by public vote. Prizes are awarded to the winner and runners-up.

If you have not been before, this venue has a lot to offer, beyond the the cars on display and the Museum. The venue is especially good for families. See here for more details of:


Palace House - the Montagu historic family home since 1538
Little Beaulieu play area for kids
Secret Army Exhibition - Beaulieu was a training school for SOE agents during WWII
Beaulieu Abbey & Exhibition
Extensive grounds and a riverside walk
and more .... there are often activities, such as Falconry flying displays, plus Veteran bus and car rides


An interactive map of the venue is avaiable here

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ADDRESS
National Motor Museum,
Beaulieu,
New Forest,
Hampshire,
SO42 7ZN

CLUB STAND AND TICKETS
The RX-8 Owners Club have booked a Club stand and have invited other rotary clubs to join them.

Tickets now available here
No booking code is required - BUT please state "RX-8 Owners Club" in the "Club Name" box

NOTE: Early Bird tickets are available until 2pm, 28 February. After which the prices will be as in brackets


[indent]Adult
£15 (£16.80)

Child (5-16 years old)
£8 (£8.50)

Under 5's are free[/indent]


The venue opens from 8:30am and we all need to be parked up on the stand by 10:30am

REFRESHMENTS
The RX-8 OC will, hopefully (weather permitting) have the club gazebo available to members. In which case they will supply breakfast bacon rolls, plus hot and cold drinks and few other snacks for later in the day . Non-Members can partake of any of the refreshments for a flat donation of just £5 (cards are accepted, or PayPal).

So, bring a mug for hot drinks (there will be a limited supply available, if you forget) and a camping chair to sit, chat, chill and enjoy the late July sunshine 8)

RENDEZVOUS
Nearer the event date, I will post up details of a rendezvous meeting point, with the (optional) opportunity to drive into the venue in convoy for a few miles, which is fun, and makes it easier to find our stand location on arrival.

I'm Going:

1. casey (RX-7 FB or RX-8)

Please DO NOT quote the first post :thumleft:
Please post up your interest including how many you intend to bring with you, and I will add your name(s) to the list. If you have any questions, just post in this thread and I will do my best to help :thumleft:

[Casey]

A quick bump for this event, which is now just over 3 weeks away!

This is a great event for car enthusiasts, and for families too, with plenty to see and do at the venue at a discounted entry price.

We plan to have the usual, legendary, RX-8 OC breakfast bacon roll service available, including tea, coffee, soft drinks and water too

Currently, we have 10 cars booked on the stand, including TWO FB's

[Casey]

LAST CALL!!

I've been requested by the organisers at Beaulieu to send final stand numbers by 7th July, so please post up here any additions/changes by noon on Sunday, 6th July.

There are about a dozen cars booked on the RX-8 Stand to date.

Thank you

[Casey]

Beaulieu was a MOST enjoyable event, with only some short showers in the morning and lovely sunshine in the afternoon. During the showers, a group of us wandered around the musuem for some car nostalgia, inspiring us to share some of our personal stories and history. There were several highlights in the museum, but I will mention just two:

The first highlight was a part-completed restoration of an ENORMOUS 1,000hp Sunbeam 22,450 cc V12 land speed record monster (nicknamed "The Slug" due to it's shape) from 1927. The aim is to have it doing demo runs on it's 100th anniversary. One of the two engines powering this car - one in front of the driver, one behind, has been mounted and tested. The guide at the museum said the engine had been run statically and makes quite a sound and throws awesome coloured flames from the vertival exhausts. It couldn't be run for long as it used huge amounts of cooling water with no airflow through the rads. The history of this car and engines (only 2 of 18 made have survived) is fascinating.

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The second museum highlight was a fantastic timeline of F1 cars from the 1950's to the 2020's. Being of a certain age, it brough back many memories of seeing these race on TV in the 1960's, and live from when I started to attend a few F1 races in the 1970's onwards.

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and Nigel Mansell's iconic "red 5" Williams, in which I saw him win the Silverstone GP in dramatic style in 1987. This is a quote on that race:

For Mansell, the highlight of 1987 was his scintillating late race charge to beat his least favourite Brazilian, Nelson Piquet, at Silverstone. Mansell was simply unstoppable, setting lap records 11 times in the final moments as he reeled in the other Williams. On his victory lap, as thousands of patriotic fans in the feverish grip of 'Mansellmania' flooded onto the track, their hero stopped to kiss the tarmac at the spot where he'd overtaken Piquet at 180mph.

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Another highlight of the day was sharing it with THREE other FB's (plus mine, making 4).

Dave and Sally again brought their immaculate Opal Green S3 along to join me on the mixed rotary stand. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of my car or Dave's, so credit to Tom Hopkins for this shot of RX-8's on the adjacent Familia stand with my FB and Dave's just visible in the background

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I also met and had a long chat with Russell and Eliose about their gold FB S2, which was a family project for them both;

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Finally, I met and chatted with Pete Fielder, who owned an SA many years ago, but has acquired this S3 a year ago. Pete has already introduced himself on the RX7FB.com Facebook Group and I have just sent him a lengthly email listing other resources, such as this forum, he may wish to join.

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