Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power In Pictures

Didn't we have a lovely time, the day we went to CPoP...

A rain-spattered weekend didn't put a dampener on proceedings for the fourth Cholmondeley Pageant of Power last weekend, with a healthy variety of machinery hooning its way around the U-shaped track in deepest Cheshire - and here are some of the photos to prove it.

CPoP has been consistently raising its profile over the past few years and now seemingly has staked a claim to being the 'sort of motoring event that the Festival of Speed was when it first started'.

So we decided to make a trip from the PHHQ up the M6 to test that out. There's certainly a 'village fete' feel to CPoP that makes it thoroughly endearing and, while it may still not be attracting the crowds of the FoS, it still gets its fair share of interesting machinery (not to mention boats) and you can get a heck of a lot closer to the action than you can at the FoS.

The need to set a fast time on the 1.2-mile sprint course is also pretty significant. Last year Nick Faulkner threw down the gauntlet with a time of 62.68secs in a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.

This year he was fast enough to defeat the opposition once again, but not fast enough to beat his own record, though he did fend off some pretty feisty challenges, not least those of rally driver (and dab-of-oppo hero) Mark Higgins in a Subaru Impreza Cosworth, and the fearsomely fast Ariel Atom V8, driven by Autocar road test editor Matt Prior.

Our personal favourites? The flame-spitting 42-litre Packard Bentley, with torpedo oil tanks and a driving position offset to help accommodate the massive engine block was pretty awesome.

Then again the Rothmans 911 rally car was flung with impressive abandon around the course. Oh, and the AC Works Le Mans Coupe was pretty lovely... and we were fascinated by the 400hp Audi 80 racer that won the 1991 French touring car championship (and in '92 and '93 as well)... but we'll stop now and just let you enjoy the pictures...

^{Images: Lawrence Clift/Newspress}