Last Updated: Wednesday 30 July 2025
Originally Published: Tuesday 3 January 2023
An annual tradition
We started the year off as we mean to continue: by hopping in our VWs and heading to a car meet!
This weekend a few of the JK Team met at the 2023 New Year's Day Classic Gathering at Brooklands Motor Museum, which has become a bit of an annual tradition for us over the last few years. I drove along in Jack, our 1956 Beetle, with my three-year-old son in the passenger seat (in a car chair, which itself was on a blanket so his wellies didn't make the seats all muddy!), and we both had a great time, as always.
I met up with Mark, who founded Just Kampers back in 1989, as well as Steve, JK's marketing director, and some of our friends. I know that our photographer and videographer, Nick, was there because he sent me a photo of Jack, but I managed to miss him in the massive crowds at the show.
In fairness, I did spend a lot of time with my son in the Brooklands bus museum while everyone else was checking out all the cool classic cars, so I was a bit out of the way of most of the action!
All the spares, but not that one - sorry Reece!
At the show, Mark bumped into Reece who he first met at Hessisch Oldendorf 2022, and it was great to see his Oval at Brooklands. Sadly, however, he'd snapped his accelerator cable, which was less than ideal. I headed back to Jack to rummage through my sack-o'-spares to see if I had one Reece could take to get him back on the road, but it was basically the one cable I didn't have with me.
Hopefully someone else was able to help him out, and Reece wasn't stranded at the first show of the year!
You can click here to read more about Reece and the Oval he's had since he was 13 years old.
What's the Brooklands New Year's Day Classic Gathering like?
The New Year's Day Classic Gathering at Brooklands is really chilled out, and a great way to start off the New Year. Hundreds of classics are parked up around the historic Brooklands racing circuit and beneath the wings of Concorde and other iconic aircraft. There's no blaring tannoy announcements, no distorted music blasted over the whole site and nothing much to do except meet up with your friends, check out the cars on display, chat with some fellow enthusiasts and, if you fancy it, take a look at the museum displays which are all open and accessible for free.
Tickets aren't staggeringly expensive, with Brooklands Members and under 5s getting in for free. For 2023 all cars registered pre-31st July 1993 were invited to park on site, so I got to park Jack right near the front next to the fire engine (which was very exciting for my three-year-old!).
You can check out some more details from the New Year's Day Classic Gathering here.
What other shows are the JK Team heading to in 2023?
As always, we'll be trying to head to as many different shows and events as possible throughout the year! There's so many events coming up this summer, from old favourites like the VolksWorld Show and Skegvegas, through to newcomers like the Vee Dub Show.
We started the year off as we mean to continue: by hopping in our VWs and heading to a car meet!
This weekend a few of the JK Team met at the 2023 New Year's Day Classic Gathering at Brooklands Motor Museum, which has become a bit of an annual tradition for us over the last few years. I drove along in Jack, our 1956 Beetle, with my three-year-old son in the passenger seat (in a car chair, which itself was on a blanket so his wellies didn't make the seats all muddy!), and we both had a great time, as always.
I met up with Mark, who founded Just Kampers back in 1989, as well as Steve, JK's marketing director, and some of our friends. I know that our photographer and videographer, Nick, was there because he sent me a photo of Jack, but I managed to miss him in the massive crowds at the show.
In fairness, I did spend a lot of time with my son in the Brooklands bus museum while everyone else was checking out all the cool classic cars, so I was a bit out of the way of most of the action!
What's the Brooklands New Year's Day Classic Gathering like?
The New Year's Day Classic Gathering at Brooklands is really chilled out, and a great way to start off the New Year. Hundreds of classics are parked up around the historic Brooklands racing circuit and beneath the wings of Concorde and other iconic aircraft. There's no blaring tannoy announcements, no distorted music blasted over the whole site and nothing much to do except meet up with your friends, check out the cars on display, chat with some fellow enthusiasts and, if you fancy it, take a look at the museum displays which are all open and accessible for free.
Tickets aren't staggeringly expensive, with Brooklands Members and under 5s getting in for free. For 2023 all cars registered pre-31st July 1993 were invited to park on site, so I got to park Jack right near the front next to the fire engine (which was very exciting for my three-year-old!).
You can check out some more details from the New Year's Day Classic Gathering here.
What other shows are the JK Team heading to in 2023?
As always, we'll be trying to head to as many different shows and events as possible throughout the year! There's so many events coming up this summer, from old favourites like the VolksWorld Show and Skegvegas, through to newcomers like the Vee Dub Show.
You can click here to see our 2023 show calendar
