Cholmondeley Pageant of Power Preview

It's not at all grim 'oop North' when CPOP kicks off*

By Silversixx / Monday, 20 June 2011 / Loading comments

Bentley Speed 8 racer is promised

The Goodwood Festival of Speed may be less than a fortnight away, but we thought we'd slip in a timely mention of its 'Northern rival' CPOP, especially as the organisers invited us to a fun-filled press day last week.

The Cholmondeley Pageant of Power started-out as a stage of the Tour Britannia, but is now becoming an increasingly significant event in its own right. Visitor numbers are expected to top 75,000 this year, when CPOP will be held over three days for the first time in its history.

15th-17th July are the days in question, and having attended the aforementioned press day we can confirm that there will be some prime PH fodder for all tastes. What's more, this is a timed, competitive event, so the machinery there will be run in anger with FoS-style 'demonstration' runs kept to a minimum.

As is Jaguar's new XK R-S

So what of the machinery? Well from the pre-war era there will be some splendidly over-engined monsters like the 47 litre 'Brutus', the 42 litre 'Mavis' and the 24 litre Napier Bentley.

If you prefer your racing cars a little more up to date there will be the famously/controversially rebuilt Lindner-Nocker low-drag E-type, which is reportedly worth anything up to £4,000,000 and whose stunning restoration can be seen here.

Also being given 'what for' over the 1.2 mile course will be the Le Mans-winning 1959 Aston Martin, an ex-Sir Stirling Moss Grand Prix Lotus, a Bentley Speed Eight, the Bentley 'Ice Speed Record' Continental, a Gallardo Performante, Noble M600, Jaguar XKR-S, Ariel V8 Atom, and maybe a McLaren MP4 along with a load of other performance and racing cars of all vintages. Each will be trying to beat Nikki Faulkner's record which he set in a Gallardo last year, but there might be two new cars there which could pose an even bigger threat.

One is the 200mph, 100mpg, 2000 miles-on-a-tankful, 6.6 V8 turbodiesel Trident Iceni (manufacturer claims, not ours!), and the other is the much-anticipated 520bhp/ton BAC Mono. With some very experienced drivers seemingly determined to get their name at the top of the time sheet, expect some fierce competition in each category.

Lots of Group B - and other - rally action

There will be just as much PH interest away from the main track - and we're not just referring to the wing-walkers, the aerobatic display, the 'copter rides, the motorbikes, the tank display, or even the seven classes of powerboat competing on the lake. Because this year there is a ¾ mile tarmac rally stage adjacent to the main track featuring that old PistonHeads favourite - Group B rally cars - as well as some rather tasty non-Group B stuff. We only got to witness a Quattro, an ex-Bjorn Waldegaard MkII Escort, an RS200, and an ex-Miki Biasion Delta Integrale on the preview day being launched off the line, but it was worth turning up just for that. There will be around 20 other iconic rally cars being driven hard at the event proper.

Despite being limited to just a 'brisk' pace we snapped-up the chance to drive around the CPOP road course in a borrowed Bentley Continental Supersports, and can confirm that it's a challenge. Much of it is flanked by some particularly stout-looking trees for starters, and apart from the chicane on the Polo straight none of the heavy braking is done in a straight line.

The fun starts here - literally.

One or two braking areas also show evidence of some cars 'tobogganing' - where surface undulation causes the braking wheels to skip along the surface and leave those tell-tale intermittent black marks. Aside from the tricky braking the course is a decent blend of fast straights, tight bends, and sections of Armco which bear testament to the fact that the drivers of the rare and valuable cars at the event aren't afraid to find out where eleven-tenths is...

Oh and if you've watched the Faulkner video, the answer is 'no, we didn't get the two-and-a-quarter-ton, £170,000 Bentley airborne over the bridge before the finish line.'

*The North is not necessarily grim at other times.