I’d not visited the Goodwood Festival of Speed for some time but the promise of rare and interesting Porsche cars – there to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the company was too difficult to resist.
To be more accurate – the 70th anniversary relates to the first Porsche badged car being built in 1948 as Porsche GmbH, Konstruktionsbüro für Motoren und Fahrzeugbau was actually founded in 1931!
Having hummed and hawed about whether to go to this event or not I finally conceded the night before the last day and I’m glad I did.
I thankfully selected a less busy day and could circulate freely, snapping piccies of nice motors without having to electric-cattle-prod hordes of selfie-takers out of shot.
I was also able to see motors in motion on the Grand Avenue without having to reserve a fence-side viewing place an hour in advance of the demo runs and without having to resort to rugby scrum tactics to get to the front or a ladder to witness the action.
This Classic Car Show continues to expand in terms of the volume and variety of cars on show and in terms of the size of the Grand Avenue where cars are driven up and down the cavernous main hall to improve the visual and aural experience for the audience.
The autumn clock change softened the blow of having to get up early to drive my noisy 911 through slumbering London to Brooklands.
As I neared my goal on a damp and misty morning I joined a long queue of like minded enthusiasts in their precious cars.
A full English breccie and strong coffee in the Club House set me up for some serious car nerd mooching around the visitors car parks and the museum exhibits.
This year’s London Classic Car Show at the Excel Exhibition Centre in London’s Docklands promised to be bigger and better than last year and thankfully – it was!
Spread over two large halls the show was easier to move around, it offered a more balanced mix of dealers, specialists and car club stands and last but not least it allowed for a much bigger open space in which to parade cars representing the great automotive nations.
AMOC race meetings can always be relied upon to produce some interesting cars on and off the grid and like most club events there are some incredibly friendly owners who are only too happy to talk about their cars. This particular meeting did not buck the trend!
Following a really enjoyable visit to Prescott earlier in the year I had little hesitation in deciding to join DDK mate Kirk on a visit to Kop Hill Climb.
This annual revival has grown into a tremendously popular weekend gathering of cars, motorbikes and petrol-head enthusiasts of all shapes, sizes, ages and states of repair. The sheer variety of motors was enormous with everything from 1904 Veteran Cars through Pre-war land speed record behemoths to the latest Tesla. A great, easy-going but tremendously well organised event. Don’t miss it next year!
In BM/BD years gone by (Before Marriage/Before Daughter) me and my mates used to regularly attend club races at Silverstone, Donington and Brands Hatch. They were always incredibly friendly and enjoyable events with full access to the paddock, the garages and the grandstands around the track. It was great to be able to wander around chatting to drivers, owners and other enthusiasts and it was a privilege to see some lovely old motors being flung around the circuit as if the driver’s lives depended on a good finish.
I’m pleased to report that my latest visit to the AMOC event at Silverstone on Sat 5th Apr clearly shows that cheap (£10 a ticket), friendly, well organised and open access motor racing experiences can still be had.
This is in stark contrast to the increasingly remote and expensive F1 experience and even to events such as Goodwood Revival which have become a little too puffed up with their own self importance. Don’t get me wrong – there are some great cars (and bikes) at the Revival but it seems to be more dominated these days by professional/celebrity drivers rather than enthusiast/gentleman/amateur owner/drivers.
Surprisingly – the World Endurance Championship has managed to stay relatively sensible and down to earth in terms of expense – £20 a ticket for this year’s Silverstone round is very reasonable for 6 hours of full-on racing. The WEC events also maintain a good degree of roving access to the pits and open grandstands for the paying enthusiasts. Long may it remain so!
Coming back to my AMOC day out – it a was a really great if bone jarringly freezing experience.