Branson Z Fest 2016

[Twisted Six]

I was considering coming down for the day.....but 3rd year in a row of solid rains.........I won't be coming down. I miss all of you, but with the weather and other things, I think I just need a year off. I'm with all of you in spirit!

[b15sent]

I've gotta admit, I'm pretty bummed out not taking my vacation this week. This is the first year in a long time!

[Twisted Six]

Looked at some of today's and yesterday's FB coverage...the turnout looked pretty light....but I must admit, the new hotel looks a lot nicer!

[Dan84300ZX]

I read that Friday's drag strip event was cancelled due to rain. Also, today's car show was pushed back a few hours because of rain.

[xpwarrior]

Yes it rained out the drag racing but the funcross was great. It was raining like crazy this morning and the car show was pushed back until noon. The weather has been great since then and we are just finishing up the awards now.

[lasz'zz]

The turnout was larger than in the past two years, there were a lot of new faces this year.

The Funcross was a great success everyone had a blast over double the entries than last year, everyone was looking forward to the drag racing till it got rained out. Danny is looking for another location closer to Branson for next year and possibly (just a thought) doing the Funcross on Thursday and running all day.

The rain on Saturday for the Car show meant a lot of changes had to be made pretty much last minute because the original plan was to have the cars on the grass areas, with that much rain the grass was still pretty wet and while it was still pretty packed it was still very slick, so the venue offered the parking lots and road leading to the parking lot for the cars. We had a couple of issues getting the cars loaded because the road was narrow but it worked out.

The new show location is better, not in a bowl, lots of grass around, a large pavilion with fans going, several restrooms accessible in the club house with a small cafe/dining area with pretty decent menu to order from with very reasonable prices.

The new hotel was great,very clean rooms, provided water hoses to wash cars with, had a great sitting area in the center, everything easy to get to and very accommodating staff. Breakfast was normal hotel "free" breakfast fare- biscuits,gravy, eggs, sausage, waffles, toast, ect, but so much better than the Rowdy Beaver.

Overall from everyone I talked to, everyone had a great time, thought it was one of the better ZFest in years.

[Honad]

This was one of the best Z Fests in recent memory. Even with the hiccups of a new location it ran pretty smoothly and I think everyone had a good time.

The addition of the meet and greet on Wednesday night was a good idea. Got to catch up a bit with people.

Thursday's cruises were pretty fun, though a bit on the wet side. I had a great time with lunch, tour and dyno at ZHookUp.

The Friday Funcross was exactly that, fun. I didn't do it last year, but this year I had a great time. I met some great folks, one of the Ozark club guys even let me flog his car around the course. It was a pretty great time, and I'm not just saying that because I won all the things. :p Unfortunately, the Drag strip event got cancelled completely again this year because of weather.

On Saturday, once the morning rain stopped, the car show was pretty good. Loading in was an understandable shit show because of the changes that needed to be made to accommodate the wet grass and the change in time. The addition of a decent DJ and that pavilion area were fantastic. The cookout food was apparently good (though ran out quickly).

Raffle items were just sort of just okay this year. Not a big showing from our retailers, but I don't blame them as their ROI on this sort of thing is pretty terrible and of course, the last few years attendance and followup have been pretty light. There were a bunch of items from ZSpec, I really liked seeing that.

The trophies were pretty cool. I really enjoyed the Funcross ones, the car show ones were pretty weird, though I feel like a ton of work went into them. They were certainly the most unique trophies I've seen in my 13 years of coming to this event.

Huge showing as always from our local car club, though there were a ton more Ozark Z Club than anyone else. I blame ZHookUp, having them in the area has certainly increased the Z Frequency at BZF and has solidified the reputation in the area of the Z being a pretty badass car.

[xpwarrior]

I didn't realize I was talking to Honad at the autocross. I've read quite a few of you posts over the years. I was the guy with the white Z32 that asked you about your hood struts.

I did really enjoy the funcross even though I placed last in the Z32 class. The look on my 16 year old daughters face was priceless when I told her she could run my 3rd lap. When Mad Mike saw her behind the wheel the look on his face was pretty good too.

Looking forward to next year!

[Dizmone]

I was there Thursday through Sunday but remained hidden until the show on Saturday, heh. Didn't stay at the Honeysuckle.

It was my son's first time down there and we planned a bunch of things to do, so I didn't really get a chance to meet and greet as much as I wanted.

We plan to make it next year and focus more on the Z activities. My son did enjoy pointing out every Z we drove by.

[lasz'zz]

Hey Honad and XP Warrior now I know who you are, I was the guy doing the timing. My wife was doing the course in her Black Z32. XP you should have had a go pro on your daughter when she ran, the look on her face as she stopped and I clicked the stopwatch was priceless! Bet she did not know she could hold her breath for that long!

I was also one of the guys trying to get everyone parked for the car show, the rain really messed us up on that.

Dizmone I talked to you not long after you parked, my wife's Blue Z32 was a couple of cars away from yours, you have one clean car.

[xpwarrior]

Oh yeah lasz'zz definitely remember you and your wife. Paige asked about your wife and wondered who you two were. I guess she talked to your wife and thought she was really nice. She was also impressed with how well your wife was doing in the funcross.

I did get a video of Paige in the car. It isn't the best since I was paying more attention to her driving than where the camera was pointed. It's hard to tell in the vid but when I said good grief she had the Z sliding and did a great job correcting.

Funcross

[lasz'zz]

She thought Paige was a sweet girl! She said it was evident she was having a great time. When we helped set the course up on Thursday, she drove it in her Blue Z, with me telling her how to drive through it, it was the first time she had ever been on any kind of course. Then I drove her car and showed her how it should be done. Should have had a camera on her face! She got more confident as she made more runs. She had a blast!

[Honad]

Absolutely great to meet everyone!

I'm guessing you've seen this already?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-pl3sA124k

[Twisted Six]

I'm kinda hoping that taking the year off will refresh me a little, and next year we can put together a BZF17 Zfest Warhorse reunion!!

[lasz'zz]

Originally Posted by Honad

Absolutely great to meet everyone!

I'm guessing you've seen this already?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-pl3sA124k

Yeah, I know its tough to put a video together trying to show everything but was a little disappointed on how few Z32's there were. Lots of S30's and 350-370's. Was a good video anyway.




Would be great to get all the "warhorses" there......Even the ones that are currently Z less ......ANDY