2013 Classic Car Shows

2013 shows

In the hope of better weather this year than last, this is a provisional list of shows I'm hoping to attend either as a private entry, or with either the South Cheshire Collectors Car Club or The Droopsnoot Group.

Donington Historic Festival - May 3-5 (SCCCC)

A great weekend watching the racing at Donington brought highs and lows. My water pump failed on the way back on Friday, leading to a stressed journey hoping it would last and that the traffic wouldn't be too bad. As it happens, the car got me home without any trouble, the traffic wasn't too bad and I was able to fit my spare water pump that evening ready for the next day.

Saturday brought a few brief showers but, for me, the highlight of the weekend was Gerry Marshall's old Firenza "Old Nail" racing for the first time since 1978. Sadly a fuel problem caused it to retire but it was a great sight for a while. And the weekend ended on a sad note with the death of driver Christian Devereux in an accident in the second to last race on Sunday which, understandably, caused further racing to be abandoned.

Gawsworth Hall Classic Car Show - May 6 (private)

Another lovely day for this local show saw probably the best turnout I have ever seen here with a wide range of both club and individual entrants. A big change from last year when the show was one of the casualties of the weather and had to be postponed to a date which unfortunately clashed with another show.

Arley Hall - May 12th (SCCCC)

Gathering clouds were present at the start of this show, the second at this location in North Cheshire. The forecast was that the weather would only get worse, and light rain started around 11.30 and never really went away, with the show being brought to an early close around 2.30 and most leaving at that point.

I was disappointed to see that, in contrast to last year, entrance to the Arley grounds was charged at £4.50, quite a high price. Although it's an interesting place to look around, especially if the weather is nice (I imagine), that's just too high especially when compared to venues such as Cholmondeley Castle and Tatton Park that offer free access.

Tatton Park classic show - June 1-2 (DSG)

On a combined club stand with the Droopsnoot Group and the Viva Owners Club, the weekend enjoyed a mixture of sunshine and clouds, though thankfully it stayed dry the whole time. The usual massive autojumble brought some bargains, and for the first time I managed to actually find time to venture out of the show and into the park itself.

Elephant show - June 9 (private)

Another lovely day, and another contrast to last year for this show. A good turnout from a wide variety of local vehicles brought people to the field behind the pub. Cars, tractors, motorcycles and even a couple of trucks shared space with a pair of miniature steam engines.

Cholmondeley Pageant of Power - June 14-16 (SCCCC)

Better luck with the weather than usual for CPOP - although it was quite wet (!) on the Friday, Saturday was a better day and Sunday was excellent. A great variety of vehicles, though perhaps some additional variety for next year wouldn't go amiss. Rally cars were kept in a separate paddock this year and run on special parade laps during a break in the normal running, and air support from the BAC Strikemaster and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, among others, helped to add interest.

Bodelwyddan Castle - July 21 (SCCCC)

Once again we were blessed with fine weather for this show set in the picturesque grounds of Bodelwyddan Castle near Rhyl in North Wales. A good club turnout saw ten cars on our stand sited at the top of the field, far away from the arena and the running commentary.

Arley Hall - August 4th (private)

slightly better weather for this show, but a poor autojumble (four or five stands, only a couple of them with car-related contents, and all packed up to go by 2pm) and even more money to get into the gardens (£7.50 this time, is there a special level of inflation in this part of Cheshire) means it's unlikely I will attend here again.

Tatton Park - August 17-18 (DSG)

Another nice weekend at Tatton saw us, along with the Viva Owners Club, squeezed onto a tiny stand in the top corner of the clubs display area, which really only worked because of a couple of no-shows over the weekend. As usual the large autojumble brought some goodies.

Oulton Park Gold Cup - - August Bank Holiday (SCCCC)

A nice change of vehicle entries for this year meant entirely different styles of racing from the previous Gold Cups - CPOP are you listening? Some thrills and spills on the track with a serious collision in the F2/F5000 race on Monday being ended early, but no harm to people and the cars can be mended. The Spitfire fly-past was a nice change on Monday, and the club stand saw a total of fourteen cars across the three days.

Cholmondeley Castle - September 1st (SCCCC)

First time here with an Andrew Greenwood show this year, and a much better set of stalls than at Arley a few weeks back. Good club turnout again with nine cars on the stand and at least one other elsewhere in the showground.