And what have you done?” – [John Lennon].

Well it seems I’ve had quite a full year since January when I started this blog.

No longer looking forward to racing my car I was looking for other ways to stay involved with historic motorsport and classic cars. So I started writing about events, historic motorsport issues that interest me and events that I was attending, or planned to attend.

Since then, as part of Tripos Media, I’ve been granted media accreditation as a photographer to many Historic motorsport events including the Silverstone Festival; Motor Racing Legends Silverstone GP weekend; The Oulton Park Gold Cup and the VSCC Silverstone Hawthorn Trophy, to name but four.

But First, A few Thank yous.

You will note there is a constant theme running through this round up. The team at The Car Collective have given me the opportunity to meet and chat with petrolheads of all ages. It’s not just about classic cars, it’s all about cars (and coffee). So my grateful thanks to them.

Tripos Media offered me the opportunity to apply for media accreditation, they have made it possible for my work to be reproduced by the HGPCA, MOG Magazine and FISCAR News, to name three.

Silverstone Media who made me feel welcome at the Festival, and The Bentley Drivers Club who produced a really well run event, also at Silverstone. The MSVR team at Oulton Park who made sure I knew where the red zones were, and with that knowledge I blundered into one on the Friday!

The XJS Club who not only run a very friendly organisation, they also run my write-ups in the club magazine.

The VSCC team who are possibly the most friendly group of motorsport organizers anyone could meet.

Two organizers that often go together are Motor Racing Legends (MRL) and the Historic Racing Driver’s Club (HRDC). I have raced with both on a number of occasions. So a big thank you to Gillian Carr at MRL for granting me accreditation for their October event.

It was Lindsey Warren of the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association who reproduced some of my photos in the April newsletter and thus was the first to do so this year.

The Aylesbury MG Club who regularly meet on the first Tuesday of the month. A great bunch of people with only two aims. To enjoy a few beers and sometimes drive an MG!

And of course all the photographers at the meetings who put up with me and provided quite a few laughs!

And so……….

January:

My first event of 2024 was the January Bicester Scramble, named I suppose, because the Bicester Heritage site is an ex RAF base. Essentially a Scramble is a gathering of petrolheads and the cars range from recognised classics to modern supercars. There are also heritage companies here who manufacture parts for, or restore and maintain, historic and classic vehicles. Hagerty Insurance, Auto Historica and Motorsport UK among many others, are based here. You can find a full list of the current businesses here.

A fine but chilly day provided some excellent machinery. Always difficult to choose a favourite from the assortment of cars in the exhibit areas and of course the car parks. Too many to mention but the ex Royal Navy Landrover, which was lovingly restored by a team of enthusiasts over a period of a year or two, provided a feel good start to the trip. The car is often at events to promote mental health awareness.

As far as form factor is concerned, in my opinion, and you may disagree, the original Porsche 911/912 takes some beating. This 912 looked just right.

The VSCC Winter Trials at Brooklands Museum followed a couple of weeks later. Watching prewar cars on skinny tyres being thrown at various tests involving not only timing but accuracy in stopping and re starting was very entertaining. Everyone was smiling, even those whose mount had cried enough and dropped its fluids or perhaps lost a track control arm.

February:

The monthly Cars and Coffee gathering in Leighton Buzzard kick-started February. Lots of regular favourites including this Nissan Skyline GTR.

February also provided a first for me. Although I’d been aware of the VSCC’s Pomeroy Trophy for most of my racing life, I had never entered or even attended before. I corrected that omission on 17 February when in typical damp and grey conditions I turned up at the Silverstone Circuit as a spectator.

Needless to say I took my cameras and whilst the fencing was somewhat distracting, there was a great selection of vehicles being put through their paces in both autotests and later time trials. After a few days of deliberations by the VSCC comps team Theodore Hunt in his Frazer Nash, was declared the overall winner. You need to read the rules to understand why it takes so long to decide the winner. A large glass of something alcoholic would no doubt assist with the decision making process!

March:

Due to weather issues the planned Race Retro exhibition in Stoneleigh Park was cancelled so the next outing for me was my usual visit to the Leighton Buzzard Cars and Coffee on Sunday 3 March. Once again a fine variety of cars and motorcycles attended on a bright and sunny early spring day.

And that was it for March.

April:

As usual April kicked off with my visit to the Leighton Buzzard Cars and Coffee, although overall the month would prove to be somewhat challenging.

I travelled down to Goodwood on the 13th for the 81st Members’ Meeting. When it first returned to the calendar in 2014 as the 72nd Members’ Meeting, I was entered in my Ex Works Rover 3500s in the Gerry Marshall Trophy. Sharing with Tiff Needell was quite an experience! Tiff put the car on the front row and then said I should take the start. Certainly a baptism of fire. Anyway he shared my car a further two times and each time was great fun.

The Gerry Marshall Trophy is now part of the HRDC line up. The Group 1 Touring Cars race was named the Gordon Spice Trophy on this occasion. The day was packed with some excellent races but apart from said Touring Cars the most fun seemed to be had by the Vintage racers in the S F Edge Trophy.

The following weekend I attended the VSCC Hawthorn Trophy meeting. A two day event which also included races for the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association and FISCAR. I attended on the Saturday 20th and witnessed some fine racing. Again, the early boneshakers were most entertaining. Pleased to say that the HGPCA published a few of my photographs in their newsletter following the event, which was quite satisfying.

And then my mother died.

She had sadly been quite ill for some time, so although it wasn’t a shock it still took some effort to get my head around everything that needed to be done, including funeral arrangements etc.

I found myself dashing between my home in Bucks, and Aldershot where she lived, the care home where she finally passed and the registrar’s office in Basingstoke. I managed to obtain a copy of what purported to be a will, held by a solicitor in Leeds. From there I had to go for probate.

So, the back end of April was somewhat fraught.

May:

I own a Jaguar XJS convertible which is registered with the XJS Club. The club attends various events, mostly in England, and is invited to display at meetings such as the Donington Historic Festival on 3/4 May. I took the opportunity to attend with the XJS club as a spectator and found the members to be extremely sociable and knowledgeable. I’ve always had a soft spot for the XJS, a view obviously shared with the other members.

I stayed in a local Loughborough pub on the Saturday evening and enjoyed a couple of welcome beers, although the only food was tapas. Hey ho.

The racing was very good, but the MRL grids were noticeably down on previous years. A few days before the event MRL announced that Aythorpe Promotions Limited (APL), led by prominent historic racer Shaun Lynn had taken over the organisation.

I agreed a deal to purchase a XJR-S 6 litre V12. There was some work to be carried out before taking delivery and so I would wait until August to get my hands on the steering wheel.

June:

With my mother’s funeral and dealing with her estate, the rest of May was pretty much taken up with non car issues so, on to June and I took my Focus ST down to Le Mans.

The annual trip (I’ve only been going since 2019) is a highlight of the year. No longer having racing commitments I can just be a spectator. Of course I take my cameras and where possible try to get some interesting shots. This year I splashed out and pitched my tent on Porsche Curves. This is becoming very expensive so I probably won’t be back there again.

This campsite provides an excellent spot for photographs though and so I managed to take quite a few acceptable pictures.

The end of June and beginning of July was holiday time and we went off for 10 days in Malta.

July:

We returned from Malta in time for the Aylesbury MG Club Pride of Ownership evening. My MGB is still hors de combat so I took the Jaguar. There are classes for MGs of all ages, including the modern Chinese cars. There is also a class for best non MG so it was quite satisfying to take home a trophy.

It’s a bit like photographing a car park, well it is a car park, so the pictures are rarely inspiring. That said, I’m hoping to help get the display better organised next year.

The end of July took me to the Oulton Park Gold Cup. My first time there with a camera. Lots of car clubs, including the XJS Club, an auction and of course historic racing. The stand out cars for me were the F5000s in the Derek Bell Trophy. Noisy, rumbling juggernauts compared to the pre 66 formula one cars and the other single seaters in attendance. But the most fun seemed to be had by the F500 drivers. These “four wheeled motorbikes” looked great fun at all the corners on the circuit.

August:

Another first for me, when I attended the annual Bentley Driver’s Club Silverstone meeting. A day of racing which included a race dedicated to pre war Aston Martins, two races for the Morgan Challenge, a race for Fifties Sports Cars (FISCAR) and of course a race dedicated to the big Bentleys.

The whole event was carried out in a very relaxed atmosphere, made more so when all the drivers in the feature Bentley race were each handed a glass of champagne in Park Ferme!

The Autumn 2024 edition of MOG Magazine includes a piece about the connection between this event and the Morgan Marque, with words and pictures provided by Tripos Media.

The Silverstone Festival at the end of the month is an event where I’ve had the pleasure of racing (when it was “The Classic”) many times, in historic touring cars and pre 66 GTs. Plenty of friends still racing and, being granted media accreditation, I joined the other photographers behind the barriers. It’s perhaps worth noting that the revised layout of the event and display areas worked very well. And of course the racing was excellent.

September:

September was somewhat more gentle. After the Cars and Coffee gathering it was off to Wales with the Bucks and Herts Jaguar Enthusiasts Club. Three days of great food and great wine/beer, punctuated with a couple of days touring around the roads of mid Wales. Although it was somewhat damp (a recurring theme for the year), it was a fun way to be introduced to the XJR-S. It covered around 600 miles over the three days and returned 15.2 MPG.

October:

And so to October.

Mid-October saw the return of Motor Racing Legends to the Silverstone GP circuit. The HRDC brought three of its grids out to play on the Sunday which made for a great season ending meeting for me. Of note were the four wins by John Spiers and Nigel Greensell in a Lister Jaguar Knobbly; a Shelby Cobra; a Group 1 Capri; and a Mustang. Lots of weather to contend with and some great banter with the other photographers.

November:

It wasn’t over yet. Cars and coffee as usual, then on the 30th I was granted media accreditation for the VSCC Winter Tests at Bicester Heritage. I have written a report about this event but it is pleasing seeing venerable old cars being thrashed around. There were quite a few young drivers, many of whom will be new to motorsport. Long may it continue.

On the subject of young people, I had the pleasure of driving Izzy Fitzpatrick around the various locations. @shotbyiz (her Instagram handle) is a student photographer who is writing a dissertation on women in motorsport. She is, in my opinion, a very accomplished photographer.

December:

The Cars and Coffee meeting held its annual Christmas Charity gathering. The aim is to buy toys for under privileged kids and this year a total of £2700.00 was raised.

We enjoyed a great annual dinner with the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, Bucks and Herts Region, at the Peacock Inn in Henton. Good food, good company and, perhaps too much wine.

And that was a pretty busy year, so before signing off for 2024: