A couple of weeks ago David Roots told me he was going to Bournemouth for the weekend over the Festival of Speed, he advised me it was at the friendly price of completely free so I made a note to pop down for the day myself.
I was not in the least disappointed with the sheer variety of machines on display some of which were static but obviously ready to go like this 1907 Peerless Steam Engine built in Waynesboro PA.
Of greatest interest to me were the demonstration runs along East Overcliff Drive, unfortunately there was no literature advising visitors who the drivers were and the pa system tended to get drowned out by the glorious sounds of the motors, above the a 2014 McLaren P1 was among a group of contemporary supercars that included a tyre smoking Chrysler Viper, Mercedes Benz SLS and Porsche 997 and Ferrari Italia.
The best sound of the day to my ears came from the 1972 4.4 litre / 267 cui V12 Ferrari which I believe is the former Maranello Concessionaires / JCB chassis #15681 that currently belongs to the Mason-Styrron family and was I believe driven by Sally Mason-Styrron.
Other Le Mans car present included the Ford GT40 chassis #P/1017 shared by Jochen Rindt and Innes Ireland at Le Mans in 1966, and two cars from the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, their 1932 4 1/2 litre Blower Bentley and a 1912 3 litre Sunbeam Coupe de l’Auto team car.
Among the “touring” cars present was this raucous 1959 Standard Ten which I believe is owned by Peter Clements and has been a regular at the Goodwood Revival meetings, other cars in this class included a Mini Cooper, Ford Anglia, ex Roland Ratzenberger BMW M3, and Josh Cooks 2015 Racing For Heroes #80 Chevrolet Cruze.
The Formula One display did not disappoint either lined up alongside the well Toleman TG181C “General Belgrano” above were the Benetton B191 driven by Lorina McLaughlin, an Arrows A10B driven by Gerry Harrison, a Lotus Judd 101, Jordan Honda EJ12 and Yamaha Arrows A18.
While among the Rally cars were Mick Wood’s Lancia Delta Integrale Evo seen above, a WRC Subaru Impreza, WRC Martini Ford Focus and Paul Swift indulged in some show boating with a non standard Ford Escort Mk2.
At this point I ventured off to look at some of the static displays which included a 1970’s Austin Princess, and wonderful selection of British sports cars of all ages, above Big Pete and Grim Reaper were parked up when I passed but they could be heard in action from the road above.
One of the many memorable cars on display closer to the city centre was the 1904 Maudsley above, known as “Big Maud” she was one of the first cars to be sold with an overhead cam engine, the 9.6 litre / 585 cui 6 cylinder overhead cam engine powering this car produced an impressive 60hp, and the car cost nearly twice as much as a Rolls Royce !
Thanks for joining me on this “Wheels Festival – Bournemouth” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Chrysler Viper. Don’t forget to come back now !
