[SEL] British Engine show Rules / now waste of space

[Alan Bowen]

Hi Hugh,

At the Buckley, Michigan U.S. of A. show last year there was a very long
motor home taking up a lot of space and all we ever saw was a little mid
40s Briggs & Stratton sitting in front of it.

If it shows up again his year I am thinking about gathering up a group
of guys and drawing straws to see who paints that Briggs pink and tapes
a sign to the door that says something like "Space Hog," on it.

Alan Bowen

~~~~Hugh Stannard wrote~~~

On a different slant to this post, at English rallies the stationary
engines are usually the poor relation and as such, only get a small site
on the rally field and are usually cramped up in a compound. As a
regular rally attender I accept this fact and generally help out the
engine marshalls by keeping close up to the next exhibitor leaving
enough space to get all the other engine exhibitors into the allowed
space. But there seem to be an increasing number of so called "engine
enthusiasts" who selfishly arrive early and set up camp with numerous
cars, caravans complete with awning for one small (usually the cheapest)
engine on the market and take up massive amounts of room and then
generally leave it alone all day and not even attempt to run it. What we
term as ticket engines. A way to get into the rally for free!! 
See http://community.webshots.com/album/152913114ivvZBy
 for an example. I am going to take more photos during my rounds this
season and put them in my hall of shame. Is this just typical in England
or do any other countries suffer these selfish people? Maybe some-one
with an engine related website would like to host this "Hall of Shame"?
Then we could all contribute photographs of our experiences? 
Lets see if this sparks off some comments!! 
Regards, 
Hugh Stannard,
Rushden, England.