Devon Figaro Rally – 22nd/26th April 2024

Our Devon Figaro Rally took place Monday 22nd April – Friday 26th April
40 Cars attended from Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Scotland, Ireland and the UK. The three routes had been created and road-tested over 6 months by Lynette and Rob Parsons.

WATCH THE VIDEO
Enjoy our fun video of the rally

MONDAY
Monday evening kicked off in the bar for reception drinks. This was a great time to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones. Followed by the welcome dinner and early to bed, we had a busy week ahead of us!

TUESDAY
The first day of the event saw a buzz of activity as a BBC Film crew turned up at the same time as our booked drone Pilot Jeremy Wilkinson. A few hours earlier club founder Kevin had been on Radio Devon talking about our plans for the week. The TV team filmed the cars and interviewed club members Adam Woods, Dennis Case, Dolly Webb.

WATCH THE BBC FOOTAGE
This was transmitted in the evening on BBC Spotlight and was a great advert for both our club and the Nissan Figaro.

To help manage both car parking and driving logistics, we divided the 40 cars into two groups of 20. The Red group did ROUTE 1, and the blue group ROUTE 2. Route 1 was a spectacular coastal route that included a coffee stop, a ferry trip and a lunch stop/free time at Salcombe. Covering Dawlish Warren, Teignmouth, Torquay, Paignton, Stoke Fleming, Kingsbridge and Salcombe. We then made the trip back to the hotel. The total distance is 94 Miles. After dinner, we played our customary quiz night which was won by Helen & Nick Robinson.

WEDNESDAY
Today the blue group did ROUTE 2 and the red group ROUTE 1. Route 2 took our Figs east. Hugging the coast we drive in convoy around the Exmouth inlet. We then made our way to Budleigh Salterton and onto a coffee stop at Otterton. Heading inland to Ottery St Mary for lunch. The route was a figure of eight and we crossed over the same road on our way back. The total distance was 100 Miles. After dinner, we enjoyed a raffle which we are pleased to announce raised a whopping £1,149.00 which we will donate to Macmillan Cancer Support. This was followed by our Balloon Car Racing Series. It was so much fun trying to work out how to get the car to race in a straight line! Many needed up under the tables. The judging was carried out by Stephen Nevin and Stewert Wrigley. After several races and knockout rounds, the race was won by Chris Burch with some rather questionable weight addition on the bonnet!

THURSDAY
Both groups enjoyed a 93-mile round trip into the beautiful Dartmoor National Park. The route included a coffee stop and a lunch stop/free time at Tavistock. The drive took in Postbridge, Tavistock, Ashburton, Chudleigh Knighton, Kingsteignton and Teignmouth. The drive was amazing as we had very little traffic to break up the convoy. We all parked for an hour at the Two Bridges Hotel car park where they were expecting us for coffee. The evening saw a change of clothes as we all came down to the bar in our Fancy Dress outfits. Our members made a real effort and it was a strange mix of Love and Peace, Beatlemania, The Village People and The Wombles!! Our group for the night was the amazing Cherry Beats.

AWARD WINNERS

Furthest Travelled – Peter & Andrea / Luxembourg/973km
Best Figgy Quirky Feature – Mark Williams / Digital Clock
Best 60/70 Fancy Dress – Anne & Stewert/Dennis and Angelique / The Wombles
Best Dressed Car – Alex & Chris / T-Set on roof

WATCH THE SING-OFF/DANCE-OFF
We couldn’t decide between The Wombles and The Village People. To settle this we chose to have a sing/dance-off so each act had one minute to persuade the audience!

THE WOMBLES	THE VILLAGE PEOPLE

Thanks to all our amazing members for joining in with all the fun, the hotel staff for impeccable service and Lynette and Rob Parsons for creating and hosting a most memorable rally.

ENJOY OUR THREE BBC INTERVIEWS

Devon Figaro Rally 2024 BBC Devon Interview 23.04.2024
Interview 1 of 3.
BBC Radio Devon Presenter John Acres speaks to Kevin Fagan (club founder about the Nissan Figaro and the club’s plans for the week.

Devon Figaro Rally 2024 BBC Devon Interview 23.04.2024
Interview 2 of 3.
BBC Radio Devon Presenter John Acres speaks to club member Adam Woods about the Nissan Figaro and the club’s plans for the week.

Devon Figaro Rally 2024 BBC Devon Interview 23.04.2024
Interview 3 of 3.
BBC Radio Devon Presenter Rick Edwards speaks to club member Lynette Parsons about the Nissan Figaro and the club’s plans for the week.

Extensive media coverage
This rally seemed to hit the sweet spot as we had more media coverage than ever. Five Minutes on the 6:30 BBC show ‘Spotlight’, three Radio interviews with BBC Devon and mentions of two local publications, Devon Life and the local Tavistock Weekly Paper. All thanks to member Jane Ellison-Bates 🙂