Performance French Cars

Performance206 / 206Info Meet

When Anthony Taylor gets the urge to organise and attend a meet, you need to be prepared for the mix and match of cars that this usually entails. 2009 is already no exception to this as Birmingham once again became besieged by a barrage of Peugeot 206s, a bunch of Citroen C2s, a 106, a BMW and a Renault Twingo.

Jointly hosted by Performance206 and 206Info, members from C2Owners were also invited along to join the event that was well attended throughout the day.

Organisation for this social event was second to none as little was left to chance, and even the two major ‘convoys’ were organised with precision timings and pin-point accuracy. Well, mostly!

The premise for this meet was simple. Socialising and networking. It was for many, a chance to put faces to names and of course to see the cars in all their glory.

We started the day joining the small, but dedicated South-West convoy…starting at Gloucester outside the deserted B&Q Superstore where we met up with 3 of the 36 cars that attended. Nevertheless, a small country drive over to the Wye Valley ensued at a gentle Sunday drivers pace and we met up with another 206 attendee and a 106 before heading off to, and arriving at, the first major meeting place in Stourport bang on time. Well admittedly it was a few minutes after the Sat Nav had decided that the postcode was in the middle of a housing estate somewhere instead of the pub we were meant to be meeting at, but we were ahead of schedule!

If you have never been in a convoy, you can do much worse than being in one consisting of 6 206’s, a 106 and Twingo, especially if amongst the 206s not one of them is standard. It’s certainly an exhilarating experience especially when you get to see the faces of future young motorists awe-stricken by such a sight.

Anyway, after picking up a final convoy participant at a McDonald’s somewhere in Birmingham that we weren’t paying much attention to it was finally off to the destination point Reservoir Road in Ladywood, Birmingham.

It shouldn’t take a genius to work out that the final destination point was in fact a reservoir and we weren’t the first bunch of 206s to arrive as a reasonable group had already arrived. The entrance was a bit dicey, especially for those of us with lowered 206s as the speed restrictions aren’t exactly speed ‘bumps’ more speed ‘mountains’. But due care and attention saw everyone parked up safely and more importantly together at the far end of an already busy reservoir.

Throughout the 2 hour initial meeting period, cars came and went… but even the locals were surprised to see such a gathering of 206s in one place, most having some form of modification or other – not strictly performance related though!

Several cars stood out at this meet. There was Anthony Livesey’s two-tone Blue 1.4 8v GLX with full-on entertainment system, Ryan Sivitar’s body-kitted 1.4 8v Indigo Blue GLX but without a shadow of a doubt best on show was Claire Horton’s Red and White 206.

Lowered 80mm at the rear, and 70mm at the front and sporting 17” white Dezent alloys it has also had custom red paint job the Post Office would be proud off, but that’s not all this little beauty boasts. Most noticeable are the rolled arches with custom made arch extensions. There’s also a custom roll cage that manages to keep full usage of the back seats. Finishing off the outside look, the windows are tinted all round, and the car is adorned with tasteful but very complimentary one-off decals.

Inside there’s an entertainment system in the back, and a suitable accompanying sound system and at the front Claire even decided to dispense with the standard ignition system and instead opted for a custom ignition switch and start button mounted at the bottom of the centre console. But it’s not just cosmetic detail that makes this car. It also has a quickshift and PiperCross air filter fitted.

Panic set in at one point through the day as a local squad car drove up towards the gathering. The female officer inside could be seen radioing something through to HQ but the bobbies turned up, turned round and left without stepping foot out of the car. It was mentioned that perhaps the radio call was ‘for more backup’… but no other cars came and we were left to mingle peacefully in our secluded group. It wasn’t just the police that turned up to look at the cars though. A number of cars were spotted through the early-afternoon cruising slowly past our gathering eyeing up the French motor candy. The socialising almost remained un-interrupted until the scheduled 2pm departure, but in amongst the usual trading/modding/chatting a local Clio owner and his partner decided to crank up the music and smooch by the reservoir. Perhaps this is very much a local tradition, we’re not sure?!?!

And then, it was time for lunch! Splitting up into a few smaller groups, the idea was to head out to the Honey Bee pub in Doverdale. With not many people knowing the directions, it was quite an adventurous journey with lots of lost people! Eventually everyone made it.... There was just about enough room for all of us, but the pub (it’s not a restaurant we were reminded) seemed to struggle somewhat at the bulk ordering that had taken place, especially as it was already fairly full with regulars.

That said, the food was good – and if you are up for a challenge we’d recommend taking on the 48oz steak that’s on offer! The conversation went on for some time, and as a first for this sort of meet, out came a specially selected fruit cake with appropriate adorning decoration… duly cut (with a very badly chosen knife!) and divided amongst those still left in the pub.

By 7pm most people had gone back home, and leaving just a hardcore few behind we decided to set off too. A good day was had by all and plans are afoot already for the next one. So a big thank you to all those that attended, and not just for attending, but for also conducting themselves appropriately. Also a big thank you to Anthony for taking on the responsibility of organising everything!

This year’s summer meet looks like it could break club records….and anyone is free to tag along! For more information on up and coming club meets visit the club websites: http://performance206.com and http://206info.co.uk