Donington Historic Festival – Saturday 30th April/Sunday 1st May 2016

Five have plenty of fun

Yes, that is the title of an Enid Blyton book, but Five Figgies definitely had plenty of fun at The Donington Historic festival on Saturday 30th April.

The Nissan Figaro Owners Club were pleased to be represented by “The Five”, as Car Clubs are an intrinsic feature of the Festival. Car Clubs have a special In-Field Pass – creating a living museum of vehicles that the public can walk around.
We arrived at the track in sunshine, and met our fellow friendly Figsters, all very welcoming and sharing the fun of owning a Fig. It was soon obvious that the little line up was being much admired, and appreciated by the crowds. We gave out quite a few Club leaflets (hopefully more Figgy owners for the future!).

It was really good to have a diverse range of colours present, as this made the Figgies even more appealing. Mr Plum was happy for a young lady to get in the driver seat as she had been in love with Figaros for a very long time, and she was delighted to see the Figgies coming in.

After collecting our wristbands, we were signalled to get in the cars and take Pole Position in the holding area, as we had been given the great privilege of leading all the Car Clubs out to the track. We headed over in bright sunshine, but were keeping an eye on the brooding, dark storm clouds hanging over the track. Sure enough, we experienced “four seasons in one day” by way of sun, wind, torrential rain and hail, and a smattering of sleet bouncing off the little Figgy bonnets.

We waited nearly an hour in the cars for the marshalls to signal it was clear to go, and the lead Emerald Green Fig was away! The first cars out on the amazing Donington track, even in wet conditions, it was a hugely exciting experience. Mr Plum was tail end Charlie, and unfortunately behind us, was a souped up Mazda (or was it a Toyota, who knows), but it was obviously not happy at being behind a mere one litre Figaro, and did a lot of exhaust blowing and an uncalled for gravelly wheelspin right behind us as we set off. He was pulled in by the marshall and shall we say, severely chastised! Well, a Figgy wont let this upset his special day, and off we went, Four Figs in a row, and despite the weather, took the twists and turns of the track with ease following the pace car.

I think the crowds were very appreciative of the feisty Figgies, and through the wiper blades on the rain smeared windscreen, am sure we saw lots of waving and cheering!

After completing several laps on the circuit (with no MX5 in the rear view mirror), we took the Chequered Flag, took the applause and proudly went back to the Club Stand, proving that indeed, the little Nissan Figaro, does indeed go….

The extra “s….mile”……

Thanks to Julie Janes for the article