Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Quiet weekend away in Dorset...

There are a few events which are cast in iron on my annual calendar. Some of them are easily understood to the Classic Fanatic. Goodwood Festival of Speed. Revival. Silverstone Classic. Beaulieu Autojumble. Race Retro. NEC Classic Car Show. Duxford Legends. Royal International Air Tattoo.

And then there are a few that are a little left field...

And talking of fields, you don't get many larger fields than those in Tarrant Hinton in darkest Dorset, scene of the annual Great Dorset Steam Fair. Not a place for the high performance enthusiast, but an annual goldmine for those who have a wider love of wheeled icons of yesteryear.

There's steam. Lots of steam. Not of the train variety, but traction engines, fairground engines, rollers, tractors and lorries. This year saw the largest ever gathering of steam rollers, which left me wondering how on earth the farmer was going to manage to plough the fields for next season.






I suppose one option he might consider would be to make post show ploughing a condition of entry for all the vintage tractors on display.









For fellow commercial vehicle bores, the show is always full of some fascinating machinery, and this year was no exception.

































There was a decent turn out of classic motorcycles, including Three Vincents (two Black Shadows and a Comet) a BSA Gold Star and, one of my earliest objects of two wheeled lust, a superb Honda CBX1000.













The highlight of the car section for me was a beautiful 1935 Brough Superior - one of only 25 ever made by the legendary motorcycle manufacturer and believed to be the only road-going survivor.







Others on show included an outstanding Mk1 Jaguar E Type and very nice Bristol 408.







The autojumble was a mass of fascinating bits and pieces, of all different types of vehicles from all eras. The crafts section, the live music and the funfair drew people in their thousands. Fundamentally though, the Great Dorset Steam Fair was, and always is, primarily all about the unique sensory experience, the sights, sounds and smells, of the steam engine.



















Same time, same place next year, guaranteed.

No comments:

Post a Comment