Seminar 26th April 2008

[ktclm06]

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Castle Bromwich seminar yesterday. It was great to meet so many of you and spend time with so many like minded folk, a great day.

Thanks again to all the organisers and to David Marks who surely has a memory bank with a capacity larger than anything Bill Gates has produced!,

Cheers,
Keith Thomas
4.0Lt. Coupe

[davidr]

I'd like to add how useful I found the seminar and how much I enjoyed meeting everyone and looking at each others cars. Talking XJ-S all day was a rare treat.
The venue is excellent with superb facilities and we enjoyed a very good lunch.
As for David Marks - what a knowledge bank!! Can we have him cloned so we can all have one?
I'd thoroughly recommend these seminars to all enthusiasts - I thought I had a resonable knowledge of my car until Dave started! Now I do have a much better knowledge and fewer delusions!
Please can we have more of these? Perhaps separate days on the drivetrain, suspension, electrics etc?
Thanks to those I met on the day - I enjoyed your company.

[Milan]

I couldn't agree more that Dave Marks is something of a genius. However, I did find the seminar perhaps a little too detailed in parts. Most of the jobs were described at great length, which is exactly what you want if the task in question is something you're about to tackle. However, if he's covering a problem you've yet to experience (or will never experience if it doesn't apply to your model), then it's all a bit much.

I think it would have been useful to see an agenda beforehand which would have allowed attendees to pick and choose the bits they listened to. The first two hours on the V12 were all well and good if you have a V12 engine, but I found it a bit much to be honest! I wasn't alone - did anyone else see the 2-3 people that were fast asleep in the afternoon? (Very rude of them I might add!).

Overall, yes, I think the seminar was a positive experience, but I think a shorter version giving a general overview of the car would be more beneficial to most people, particularly those who are have yet to purchase an XJS.

[dhdove]

Milan

That's an interesting comment and echoes a conversation that I had with Norman Hicks after the day was over.

In the past the group has been split into two parts, those who own/are interested in six cylinder cars and those for twelve cylinder cars. Subsequently you only attended the "engine" section for your particular group. This allowed some extra time in the day for an overall presentation by Nigel Thorley on the development and history of the XJS, which was very entertaining and informative eg Jaguar politics, near scrapping of production and ultimate success etc. Also there was a most amusing presentation by Andrew Swift covering the marketing of the XJS, brochures through the years etc.

I don't know why the format has changed - it may be that people wanted a more technical approach - I found it a bit "dry". I haven't had chance to discuss this further with Norman yet but we will be feeding back to the organisers, so if anyone has any further comments on the day please post here.

On a personal note I thought the turnout was superb, with 38 members' XJS's in attendance, (plus various other Jags etc.), also I think we could have usefully filled a little more time covering the Forum, BB etc. had it been available.

Still, Norman won the the Gold plated briefcase raffle prize so that made his day!

Best Wishes

DH Dove