So Why Not Go To A May Bank Holiday Motoring Event?
The last Bank Holiday had brilliant weather, so who’s to say that this weekend’s May Bank Holiday won’t be the same and allow thousands of people to go to one of many motoring and classic car events taking place this weekend (and this week)? Admittedly, looking at long-range weather forecasts they are saying cloudy – but remember Michael Fish?
SO HERE’S WHAT’S ON
During the week there’s a couple of events at the legendary Ace Café on London’s North Circular with Weds 22nd hosting a Mercedes special and “Pagoda” 50th and Thu 23rd a Bristol, AC & Fraser Nash Evening Meet – both starting at 6pm.
And on to the weekend.
With the best of the weather allegedly happening north of Birmingham (but don’t hold me to that!), the East Yorkshire Thoroughbred Car Club informal gathering at Humber Bridge Classics Night on the banks of the River Humber on Friday 24th looks pretty exciting if you want to celebrate “ all things automotive.” It starts at 5pm and goes on until 9pm, with all sorts of cars, makes and models welcome – and spectators!
With the long weekend starting on Saturday, it’s then that the weekend really begins in all honesty, with events lasting between 1 and 3 days, giving you the chance to perhaps visit a few over that time – depending on your availability, your social calendar and your family commitments – but here’s your choices.
The Deal Classic Car & Motor Show at the idyllic setting of Walmer Green, over looking the sea, close to Walmer Castle in Deal, Kent has around 400 Classic cars appearing on Saturday 25th until Sunday 26th/
For a longer period if time, the 30th annual Launceston Steam & Vintage Engine Rally at Trebant Farm, Altarnun Launceston in Cornwall lasts all three days, unsurprisingly featuring steam and vintage engines by the score but also about 300+ classic motors to cats your eyes over and salivate from 10.30am each day.
One of the largest Classic Car shows in London and the South-East takes place over all three days at the Enfield Pageant of Motoring at the Playing Fields, Great Cambridge Road, Enfield, Middlesex with, get this, 2000+ classic cars in attendance. That’s not a pageant – that’s an invasion!
Up in Cheshire at the Smallwood Vintage Rally held Saturday to Monday close to the birthplace of Edwin Foden on the A50 Newcastle Road, Smallwood, Nr. Sandbach in Cheshire. Here you’ll be able to see both classic & vintage cars, commercial cars, tractors, Land Rovers, military vehicles, motorcycles, steam and stationary engines along with a wide selection of stalls & autojumble, beer tent, food & refreshments. There’s also not much chance of boredom as there are events in the arena every day as well as the expected static displays of vehicles, models & awning displays. Open each day between 10am and 5pm.
Staying up north for the next few events you’ll find the Chipping Steam Fair on Green Lane in Chipping, nr Preston where you can join an estimated 10,000 visitors and upwards of 450 exhibitors over all three days, and the Scottish All Rover Rally (aka the Rover P6 Rally) at Lauriston Castle in Edinburgh.
For a more active event in the North-west of England, why not pop along to the Liverpool Motor Club Track Day on Saturday 25th May. This day is one of only two track days the year for cars at Aintree and you can get the chance to drive the same circuit on which Stirling Moss secured his first ever Grand Prix win! There are sessions available for novices, intermediates and experts in open wheeled single seaters with all track visits fully marshalled with Licenced Race Rescue and medical personnel. The Aintree Circuit is located 6miles (10Km) North East of Liverpool City Centre, close to the M57 and M58 Motorways so it is pretty easy to get to for between 10am and 4.30pm, but set off early because those motorways are likely to be packed with caravans and other North-west coasters and visitors to Wales.
Keeping in the North-West for a little longer (and who wouldn’t want to?), why not drop into Capesthorne Hall at Siddington in Macclesfield on Sunday or Monday for 36th Cheshire Classic Weekend with (Sunday) Classic Cars, Motorcycles & Jaguars and (Monday) Festival of Transport, inc Classic Cars & Motorcycles, Minis & VW’s, Customs, Hot Rods & American? Or maybe the Barrowford show at Nelson and Colne College in Barrowford on Saturday where you’ll be able to see anything with an engine from steam engines to motorbikes and everything in between, live bands and slot car race tracks.
Moving (very) south, we find the Tortworth Vintage Steam Rally (Gloucester) taking place on Saturday and Sunday at Showground signposted off the B4509, Wickwar, (M5 J14) in South Gloucestershire (Nr. Bristol)where classic cars meet steam engines, and the Classics Around Dorset classic vehicle road run on the Sunday in aide of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance where you can watch the race or just go to Alecs Field, Hazelbury Bryan, Sturminster Newton where you can view the classic vehicles that have taken part in the run, and those that have come to display only.
Want to go somewhere on the Sunday and Monday that is considered an ideal venue for a Classic Car and Transport Show? Try the Ragley Hall Classic car and transport show just 2 miles south-west of Alcester in Warwickshire with a hall set in 400 acres of parkland, woodland and gardens (including a Children's Adventure Playground, Woodland Walk, and Lakeside Picnic Area.) There will be over 600 vintage and classic cars attending so let’s hope for good weather so that picnics can be the order of the day!
If bike are more your bag, then maybe a visit to the Fins & Chrome all classic car show on Sunday 26th at the Nissan Sports and Social Club in Teeside where, although the club is an American Car Club, all sorts of American and European bikes will be on show as well as Vans, Trucks and Classic cars.
Down in Devon, as part of what turning out to be a nationwide listing of events, you’ll find the increasingly popular Killerton Classic Car Day hosted in the beautiful National Trust park land at Killerton in Broadclyst in Exeter in Sunday 26th with over 200 Classic cars in attendance.
On Sunday in Prestatyn (Denbighshire) you’ll be able to watch around 350+ cars taking part in Classic Car Runs at the Prestatyn Classic car show. With a course choice of 75 and 100 miles, starting from the County Hall in Mold between 9 and 10.30 a.m. on Sunday the 26th May, the route winds its way through some of the most picturesque and scenic routes through North Wales, including part of the Snowdonia National Park and many historic towns and castles, before ending at The Beaches, in Prestatyn at 3.45 p.m (with The Beaches being the race sponsors.).
And there is so much more around the country too.
On the Sunday you can visit the Rover Bressingham Rally at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk, the EYTCC Hornsea Gathering at Beverley Farm in East Yorkshire (EYTCC means East Yorkshire Thoroughbred Car Clubs), the Melton Days Show and Fun Fair at Egerton Park, Leicester Road, Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, Scottish Italian Car Day at The Mansion House, Hill of Tarvit, Cupar, in Fife where you can see particularly Italian cars and bikes; and the 5th Haslemere Surrey Classic Car Show & Tour at Lion Green, Lion Lane in Haslemere in Surrey.
On the Monday there is: the Surrey Classic Show with Classic Cars & Motorcycles, Minis & VW’s, Customs, Hot Rods & Americans at Loseley Park, Guildford in Surrey; the Rolleston (nr Burton) Transport Festival with vintage vehicles including cars, motor cycles, lorries, tractors, buses, bikes, Children's Entertainer. Punch & Judy, a bouncy castle, .miniature railway rides, vintage bus rides and a spitfire flypast; the Vale of Glamorgan Classic Car Show in the grounds of the Sully Sports and Leisure Club, Penarth, with an impressive collection of hundreds of classic cars – all in aid of motor neuron disease charity and other local charities; the 31st Ripley Yorkshire Classic Car & Bike Show at Ripley Castle in Harrogate; and the Wassand Hall Rally in Hornsea, East Yorkshire with a fascinating display of vintage and classic cars from a 1924 Austin 7 to a 1989 Daimler DS420 amongst many others.
Other events lasting over the weekend include; the 24th-26th National Hot Rod, Custom & American Car Show at the Peterborough Showground; the 24th-26th Weekend Frenzy at the Chiltern Sport and Social Club, Maple Cross, Rickmansworth, Herts; and the 24th-27th Yanks Weekend / Gary’s Picnic at the Shakespeare County Raceway, Long Marston Airfield, Long Marston, Stratford-upon-Avon.
For more information on all these events, and many others at the venues, please feel free to Google which one may interest you the most.
Now isn’t the internet a wonderful thing? But it’s still good to get out to a motor show on a Bank Holiday!