Congratulations to member Dave McConnell who has been drawn as the winner of our Charity Prize Draw.
Dave wins a pair of free tickets for any day of this year's Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show with Discovery as well as a £50 voucher to be used towards a Dream Ride with the Sporting Bears.

The total amount we raised was £120, which is being donated to the Sporting Bears Motor Club. The charities benefiting from this year's Sporting Bears fundraising activities are:

• James Rennie School, in Carlisle
  
• National Deaf Children’s Society
  
• Dogs for Good
  
• JPC Community Farm
  
• Ty Gobaith (twinned with Hope House)
  
• George and the Giant Pledge (Royal Marsden Children’s Cancer Unit)
  
• Fly2Help

A sincere thank you from the Admin team to all the members who supported us in helping this very good cause, and thanks also to Lancaster Insurance and the Sporting Bears Motor Club for providing the prizes.

We are proud to announce that we have joined up with the Sporting Bears and Lancaster Insurance to support fundraising for UK children's charities at this years' Lancaster Classic Motor Show with Discovery and we have a fantastic prize worth more than £100 to give away!

​WIN a pair of free tickets valid for any day of this year's Classic Motor Show courtesy of Lancaster Insurance AND a £50 Dream Ride voucher* courtesy of the Sporting Bears Motor Club. The cost is £5 per entry and the Dream Ride is a passenger ride of approx 10 miles. 

RULES

• enter as many times as you like
• the winner will be drawn at random on 20 October 2018
• the winner will be notified by email
• no cash alternative prizes are available

All monies raised will be donated to the Sporting Bears in support of children's charities. ​

* the price of a ride varies according to the car you select - you may need to add money to the voucher value to make up the required amount

What better way is there to raise money for charity than by taking a ten-mile passenger ride in the car of your dreams?  

The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, works with the charity organisation, the Sporting Bears Motor Club to create the ‘Dream Rides’ garage – a fantastic array of between 70-100 cars that are available for visitors to enjoy a passenger ride taking them out onto the open roads surrounding Birmingham’s NEC.

‘Dream Rides’ offer visitors the opportunity to jump into and experience some of the most spectacular cars in the world and all you have to do is donate to a wonderful cause. The size of your donation depends on the car you want to be taken for a drive in – starting from as little as £10.

The Sporting Bears Motor Club members will on average undertake 1,000 rides over the three-day event, with each person giving their time, their car and covering the cost of their fuel, so every penny of your donation goes to the children’s charities that they support across the UK.

Since Dream Rides began, the Sporting Bears have raised over £2 million in donations, with the 2016 Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show raising over £50,000!

Formed in 1989, the Sporting Bears Motor Club is a dedicated group of classic car and sports car enthusiasts with the primary aim - to raise money for children's charities through its own social and touring events, and to support other charitable events. It is to the club's credit that annual subscriptions support the club overheads thus allowing all monies raised from Dream Rides and other events to be directed towards the selected charities.

In 2017, with the help of the members, the marques on offer included Cobras, Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsches, GT40s, Jags, MGs, TR’s, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins and for those of a tender age they even had Noddy’s car!
​
There is a Dream Ride for everyone!

Reflecting on this year's Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show theme 'Built to Last', Motor Sport Magazine's stand is set to impress with their focus on Britain’s contribution to competitive longevity.

The display features several fascinating cars – including the oldest surviving racing Bentley. Built in 1921, and with Brooklands racing pedigree, this 3 litre car has been developed as a recreation of one of the 1922 Tourist Trophy team cars, and most recently appeared in an episode of the TV show, Downton Abbey.
 
The other star exhibit is an Aston Martin DB2, which was entered for the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hours… but did not start after driver Jack Fairman suffered an accident on the public road while making his way to the event. Racing for most of its life, chalking up several notable victories in sprints and time trials, it scored yet another memorable success earlier this year when Aston Martin driver Darren Turner, won the Fordwater Cup at the Goodwood Revival Meeting.
 
Visit the Motor Sport stand (1-430) as they take great pride in uncovering these legendary classics at the show.

If you're joining us at this year's show and you're a lover of the classic Mini, you're in for a treat at this years Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show with Discovery, as we'll have a very rare 'Twini' Mini on display, once owned by motoring legend and presenter of Chasing Classic Cars, Wayne Carini.

Now owned by Mini enthusiast Alan Willcox, this car has traveled far and wide, spending most of its motoring life in the US and now parked here in the UK. Based on a 1965 Mini Cooper, and built between 1995 and 2001, the MGK 848D had been filled with a pair of 1275cc Cooper S engines which together produce around 200bhp.

Although the car is driven regularly, including visits to shows and even to the pub says the owner, the NEC will mark just its third UK show appearance. It is guaranteed to be one exhibit that avid Mini fans won’t want to miss, so be sure to come and join us in November!

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Many vehicle clubs attending the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery are celebrating some big anniversaries. Such anniversaries cement the fact that motoring has been loved and indispensable for many years, with hundreds of clubs being part of motor shows past and present, including the previous Earls Court Motor Show, which many of our clubs have an affinity with.

The Jowett Car Club (stand 3-148) - The World’s ‘Oldest One Make’ car club -  will be bringing a bit of nostalgia to the show. In 1948 the Jowett Javelin became more readily available (it was announced in 1947) and a flavour of the "1948 Earls Court Motor Exhibition" will be recreated on their stand.

Daimler SP250 Owners Club (stand 2-728) will be launching celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the SP250. The club will be showcasing one of the two cars that appeared at the 1959 Earls Court Motor Show. There will also be an SP450, fitted with the 4.5-litre engine and a 'C' spec car - one of the last produced - in Old English White, alongside the unique SP252 (the only one in existence) which was designed by William Lyons. 

Another ten finalists have been revealed for the Autumn Final of the Lancaster Insurance Pride of Ownership with cars coming from across the UK and even France. ​Held at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, 20 cars in total out of the 100 entered will be invited to Birmingham’s NEC from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 November for the Grand Final.
 
Andrew Evanson, Senior Operations Manager of Lancaster Insurance, sponsors of the Pride of Ownership, said: “At the show, there is always a real buzz surrounding the Pride of Ownership as it showcases incredible cars with some fantastic stories behind them. It’s always exciting to hear about who will be displayed and these ten cars will be a fantastic addition!”

​The oldest car in the Final is Gillian Caldicott’s 1922 Calthorpe All Weather Tourer affectionately known as Connie (above). Believed to be one of only nine examples left, Connie was built in Birmingham and was originally owned until 1928. After then, she was lost until she was discovered partly dismantled in a semi-derelict building. Lovingly restored, the Calthorpe is around 85 per cent original but was sold to Gillian as it wasn’t being used as it should

One of the youngest cars and the youngest finalist is 20-year-old Tahmid Haque and his 1989 BMW E24 M635csi, believed to be the last M635csi finished in Diamond Schwartz Metallic, and car number 508 of 524 produced.
 
Tahmid said: “I am very fortunate in only being 20 years old and having the opportunity to own and drive such rare cars. But the real happiness comes from being able to share these cars with other enthusiasts that appreciate them and I look for every opportunity to do so.”

Kevin Peck will have quite the journey to the show, given that he resides in France, but it will be worth it to see the Bugatti Type 35 Replica he purchased for just £1,000. Visiting a friend in hospital, Kevin met the then owner in the next bed who had bought the car, crashed it after eight miles on its first trip out, and not taken it out the garage since. He offered to sell it to Kevin for £1,000 complete with dent. Kevin accepted and restored the car back to its best.
 
Also travelling across the water is David Selfridge from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and his 1938 Citroen Traction Avant Light 12. Having been parked in the garage for ten years by the previous owner, David has restored the vehicle over the past three years and will be driving it to the show.
 
Representing the 1950s, Christopher Joyce’s ’56 Daimler New Drophead Coupe and Nick Pollitt’s ’55 Triumph TR3 will add some sports car style to the proceedings. Chris’ Daimler is one of 56 built with very few in the UK, while Nick’s TR3 was retained by Standard Triumph as the press and publicity car.
 
Lucas Reynold’s 1982 Lotus Turbo Esprit was built by Lotus for the 1982 British Motor Show at the NEC so it is great to see it return some 34 years later. To make it stand out from other manufacturers, a new metallic paint colour named Iced Blue was used on all cars on the Lotus stand to catch the eye – and it certainly does that!
 
Talking of eye catching, Josh Lydiard’s 1972 Volkswagen Trekker is not something you see every day. “It’s an odd vehicle when original but mine has a unique patina with tasteful modifications and a slightly rat rod look,” explains Josh. “The car was originally used by the Luftwaffe in the 70s and still sports its original military markings which lead me to finding out it was a radar and artillery car at an airport in Germany near Munich. The car was very unique from the factory, but this example is one of a kind.”

The Standard-Triumph Forum is an umbrella group for all clubs connected to Standard or Triumph cars, who meet to exchange ideas and facilitate inter-club cooperation, they also organise an annual gathering – the Standard Triumph Marque Day – for all owners irrespective of their club affiliation!
 
Joining us at this year's Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show with Discovery, the individual Standard and Triumph clubs will present imaginative and eye-catching displays in Hall 4, whilst the Standard-Triumph Forum's stand nearby in the brand new Hall 8 will complement these displays by presenting an exciting snapshot of the entire history of both marques with a timeline that cuts across club boundaries.
 
Squeezing an impressive 12 cars onto the stand, discover timeless classics from the pre-WWI era right through to the last Triumphs of the 1980s. See how the marques evolved and models changed as technology progressed and customer tastes developed. It promises to be a fascinating at-a-glance overview of how the British motor industry grew and matured across eight decades.

Interested in finding out more? Visit their stand at the show, 8-320.