THE OULTON PARK GOLD CUP
Great to see the Gold Cup event went ahead over the Bank Holiday weekend, some good classic motor racing albeit with reduced spectator numbers. The Megacar Monday event is always a favourite as it brings in a tremendous collection of classic cars, of all ilks, to be displayed on the in field so the public can walk around them and watch some excellent racing at the same time.
The rise in interest of cars from the 70's and 80's was evident with sizeable diplays of those marques as well as the "Usual suspects". The early Ford's were well represented, Granada's, Cortina's, Sierra's, Capri's and Escorts were evident, the pick was probaly a 2.8i Capri Police traffic car, still fully equiped.
On the race track there were some fully authentic Touring Cars from Ford, Vauxhall, Honda, BMW and Nissan jousting in some "proper" racing. The highlight for me though was an Austin A40 racing against Mk i Lotus Cortina's, Anglia's, Mini Coopers etc, and giving a good account of itself.. From what I remember A 40's were dangerous enough as a road car without taking them on to a track...
As the market develops we look forward to having more of these more "recent" classics in our workshops alongside the Aston's, Jaguar's, Jensen's and the like. Markets constantly evolve and the next generation of classic enthusiasts may well have different interests to their predecessors but we think there will be a place for all these vehicles to be kept, restored and continue to be driven keeping our motoring heritage alive.
