Twelve Porsche 997’s had gathered from all over the UK to take part in the 6th annual running of the Register’s Spring Tour and the base chosen again for this year’s event was the gothic style Highbullen House Hotel, a delightful country establishment set in 125 acres of rural North Devon with its own 18 hole course, spa, swimming pool and conference centre. “We were looking for something a little different this year,” explains co-organiser and 997 Register Secretary, Clive Wratten. “Starting from this location gave us a wonderful base with access to roads we’ve not previously been able to use.”
The Highbullen Hotel car park on Friday night was resplendent with an eclectic mix of twelve 997 beauties. C2S, C4S, Cabs, Turbos and even a GT3RS. Friday night saw us meet in the bar for the drivers briefing led by Clive. Radios and Tour packs were handed out for each car. The rest of the evening was free, with groups of people eating in the Hotel or the local pub.
Saturday morning arrived and the Tour started in earnest. The cars roared away for a 150 mile tour of the Devon countryside. This was led by Alan Stoneham who drove with great pace where possible and gave information to the other cars about road conditions and on-coming cars and other potential “obstacles” - his commentary was absolutely brilliant and invaluable. The rear was brought up by our noble leader, Clive, who made sure we were all together. This formula was repeated on Sunday too. The weather was fair and the roads were great and everyone had a tremendous drive out.
The cars returned to the Hotel at around 5pm giving time for us all to have a swim or otherwise relax and enjoy the Highbullen facilities, before getting ready for our dinner. We all mustered up for pre-dinner champagne before heading off for our three course fine dining meal, plus a glass or two of wine! The dinner culminated in one of Alan’s famous quizzes which produced a lot of laughter and some really poor scores in the face of some tough questions – perhaps the good wine played its part! It was eventually won by Ross and Sarah after a tie break and the prize was a lovely £100 gift voucher donated by West London Porsche.
Sunday saw us all excitedly waiting for part two of the Tour, this time a shorter route with some steep, twisty and narrow roads and even narrower bridges over which great care was needed. The sky was azure blue and all was good, the roads and scenery were stunning and we all had a blast. We concluded the Tour in Taunton with a sandwich lunch, a chance for a chat and time to say our goodbyes.
The Tour proved to be fabulous fun for all, so much so that another Tour for later in the year is in the pipeline.