Cumbria Classic &

Motorsport Show

The Cumbria Classic and Motorsport Show, which is hosted in the grounds of Dalemain House near Ullswater, is one of the more picturesque classic car events on the calendar. It’s clearly a success, too, with owners travelling from all over the country to be there – perhaps combining it with a classic-themed holiday in this well-known tourism hotspot.

For 2018, the 30th running of the event put on by the Wigton Motor Club, show co-ordinator, Graeme Forrester, confirmed that it had attracted 876 entries, 125 more than 2017’s event. Perhaps the recent run of unexpectedly hot and dry weather had attracted the locals to bring out their cars – but when it came to the day, a disappointingly damp weekend knocked that entry list down by about 100, which still makes it an overall record for number of cars on show at the event.

You’d never have known on the field, where the cars were packed in, and visitors were able to roam among the various classes of cars – from pre-war to 2000s modern classics – in lush surroundings, and overlooked by the Grade I-listed Dalemain House. As there are so many motoring anniversaries going on this year, there were also specific classes for 70 years of Land Rover and the Citroën 2CV, along with 60 years of the Austin Healey Sprite (and its MG Midget cousins) and half a century of the Ford Escort, as well as the standard classes based on age and body style.

There are a lot of Land Rovers in Cumbria and the surrounding areas, so when more than 80 rolled up on the day, you knew that this was going to be very special. The number of Ford Escorts and Sprites/Midgets was also very impressive – and of the cars on display, the Escorts were by far the best presented. Unsurprisingly, Paul Teasdale’s 1971 Mexico ended up winning the car of the show award.

Graeme Forrester said: ‘It’s been a huge success this year.

‘ We did get some no-shows due to the weather, but the continuing growth of this event is great news for the Wigton Motor Club.’

Wigton Motor Club, said that more than 780 classics headed to Dalemain’s grounds for this year’s event – a big increase on last year’s show.

This year’s event had a big focus on the Ford Escort’s 50th anniversary – including Paul Teasdale’s 1971 Mexico, which ended up winning the Car of the Show prize.

Paul Montgomery from Ayrshire has fitted his 1980 Ford Fiesta Super Sport with a 2.0-litre Ford Zetec engine.

Chris Wilson from Egremont, Cumbria PDI’d his 1973 Morris Marina 1800TC Jubileewhen it was new.

Dave Rawling from Cumbria has owned this step-front 1964 Type 105 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint for 25 years.

1929 Austin Seven gets down and dirty in the increasingly muddy timed autotest demonstrations.