The much anticipated Ripspeed Donny show 2005 took place over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of April 2005. CWC had a stand at the event, with cars from all over Cumbria and two from Scotland. The CWC stand out classed most of the other cruise stands at the event, ensuring that we are now well known throughout the cruising community.

At least 3 convoys of cars headed down to the event for the whole weekend, with many more people attending for a single day. The brave cruisers who camped out over the weekend had to put up with strong winds and even a flurry of snow on Friday evening. But Cumbrians are made of stern stuff, so the snow did not put out the barbeques, and some impressive jerry rigging meant that we had a couple of wind proofed gazebos to shelter in. These were firmly anchored to the ground so as not to suffer the same fate as some of the tents on the campsite that actually blew away!.

The traditional Friday and Saturday night cruises in the car parks next to the racecourse provided some evening entertainment. A lot of show cars from the event turned out, together with hundreds of spectators cars and cars from the surrounding area. A strong police presence kept everyone in check; they knew we were coming so had even arranged alternative parking for the public who would normally use the car parks.

 In the show itself was the usual mix of show cars, cruise stands, cruise babes, trade stands and the action arena. Pictures of the cruises that took place on the Friday and Saturday night, and pictures of other cars at the event can be found in the forum.

Half of the Carlisle Convoy meeting up at Scotch Corner.

On the A1 heading down.

Setting up camp in the high winds.

Donny in the snow! Luckily it didn't last long.

The CWC stand, 11 cars in total (not bad when you are only allowed a maximum of 10!)

With our banner and Cruise Babes, no one was in any doubt about who we were. Anchoring the banner down in the wind was a bit of an engineering feat.

Japtorque's Scooby. The car only left the body shop a few minutes before setting off for the show.

Ant's Escort. Another car not long out of the body shop. The trip to Donny was well worth it as Ant was offered a feature in Fast Car.

Neil's Cooper S. This car had a nasty shunt from behind a few weeks before Donny, and a lot of hard work went in to getting it fixed.

Weeman's Civic. We had all been kept up to date on the progress being made on this car over the last few months by a series of photos and reports that Weeman had posted in the forum. It had been a lot of hard work, but well worth it in the end.

Puntostyling's Punto. Just to prove that a no one ever finishes modifying their car, Puntostyling has made a few subtle changes to the car since it was featured on the website. Even Craig David said it was "proper bo".

SEXO-VTR's Saxo. He originally managed to get a place at Donny by himself, but when he heard about the CWC stand he decided to come and represent Cumbria.

Dave's Astra. The crappy temporary road surface in the campsite damaged the rear bumper on the car on Friday. Dave was not a happy man, but as a result of being seen at Donny, he was offered features in Fast and Modified, Fast Car and Max Power, so it was worth it in the end. The car will also now be seen on display on the Max Power stand at Max Live in Birmingham.

Gaz's Corsa. A few last minute touches in the paint shop before the show meant that the car was in gleaming condition.

Adam's Astra. Adam is from ScottishCruise.com and was on standby for the top 25 cars that were on show inside the grandstand. When the grandstand was full we were happy to have him on our stand, so with 11 cars the CWC stand was the biggest cruise stand at Donny!

Podge with his Starlet from Carlisle. Podge filled in at the last minute when we ended up with a spare place on the stand. His impressive ICE install kept the crowds entertained.

Dixon's Focus, fitted with a 1999 WRC body kit. A lot more is planned for this car in the future, so by the time it is on show at the Modified Nationals it will look very different.

Col_VTR's Saxo inside the grandstand with the top 25 cars.

Flat four's Scooby on the SIDC stand.