Wings And Wheels 2015 PICS

[Lucky]

Not got much time for words (yayy) as I'm already about three shows behind, and it's like the Brighton Speed Trials this weekend. And Brooklands. Or maybe the Beaulieu Autojumble....

anyway, I'm behind. So I'll be brief. Pay attention, 007. Wings and Wheels, for them wot don't know, is a funny mix of car and airshow. Why not, I suppose? It's held on Dunsfold aerodrome where Top Gear used to be. The Wheels part includes a mix of one-off oddities, car clubs and vintage stuff, plus military vehicles and period displays... and the usual distractions such as kids rides and fairground things. The Wings part includes displays from all kinds of periods; WWI, WWII, post-war, cold war, Red Arrows, Wing Walkers, all kinds. So what's not to like? It's great in as much as it's a proper family day out, which isn't always the case with a car show. And there's always something different to look at. Even an FDUK stand on this occasion; although I let the side down by not being in an FD, lol

So shall we have a look then?

Here I am trying to be brief, so why not get the longest-named thing out of the way first? 196 Dino Fantuzzi Spider. Probably a replica. Who cares? Just look at it!









McLaren always support the event well, being just up the road apiece. 650Ss the flavour of the day







Anyone know what this is? The Boy took this while I was faffing about putting suncream on the li'l un and I had no idea till I got the pics out of the camera! And I've genuinely no idea what it is!



Who you gonna call?



One of my favourite cars, always good to see. If only this had made production! The beautiful Zagato-styled AC 378









Bel Air '57s. The American Escort...i.e there are some everywhere you go. Lovely







Brooklands Museum support the event and always bring a load of stuff... and make collections through donation. Fair play. Austin Six was extremely grand





...as is this Bentley



although I LOVE this Blower Bentley; just looks utterly caddish as a Bentley should, and as if it's been beastlifying the opposition in any competition it could find for the last 75 years





No idea what this is. It says "Attack R1" on the badge. Never heard of it. I do like the interior, though. Funky seats





Some planes then? Where better to start than the Red Arrows. And I don't care how many times you see them, they're always worth a look!















Somehow Ada manged to blag his RX-7 into the paddock, which meant he got to run it down the runway at full honk. Amazing it lasted that long really, lol. Still, fair play to the lad, hitting 160mph ain't exactly shabby, even if it did cost him a headlight cover









Military vehicle displays are cool, and a great opportunity for the Boy to get stuck in and try to blag a go on various machine-guns and suchlike. Plenty of armoured cars, tanks, jeeps, everything you can think of really. I'd never normally go to a military show, so this is a great chance to see what we're missing





















I have to admit, I got giddy as a schoolkid myself to find a genuine T-34 parked up. This more than any single other thing won the War and according to the Russian military display guys, this actual tank was amongst those that made it into Berlin. Dunno whether that's true or not, but it's certainly an awesome thing. And a great viewing platform from which to watch air displays



















Look! A Hemi! errr... Daimler...



Ecurie Ecosse-colours D-Type was nothing short of gorgeous. Engine bay redefines "immaculate"












......more.....

[Lucky]

Drifting. Still don't get it. Even at an airshow it's just an annoying noise to have to listen to all day, and frankly I get enough of that listening to the local yoofs over at the industrial estate most nights...



Escorts. The British '57 Bel Air...





cool display of a Eurofighter Typhoon shadowing a Spitfire. If nothing else,
shows how, just like cars, fighter planes have got massive in later years

















The awesome sight of the FDUK stand. All four of us, lol. Can't understand why this show doesn't attract more interest, it's great







Always amusing to have a demo engine in the boot and watch punters try to think their way through this weird voodoo magic motor. And catch their fingers in it, lol



As Samuel Johnson would have said if they were around then; "When one is tired of bright purple loony TVR Cerberas, one is tired of life"









WANT! Although I could make do with the SRT, I'd prefer a full-fat Hellcat lol



Chargers.

....I was going to say more, but that's all it needs really. If you're gonna have one, why not two? And '68s too, best year!















Chinook! The shop truck of the sky. Best bit (which I failed to photograph) was the ridiculous sight of it wheelying backwards down the runway at an angle of about thirty degrees, nose high in the air and back wheels rolling along the tarmac. Incredible piloting skills!



Curtiss-engined 1907 Berliet was one of the star demo cars of the day. I love cars which wear their valvegear on the outside!









Another blue thing that I have absolutely no idea what it is! Apart from awesome. I love the used-ness of it. The patina even extends to a massive dead spider stuck in the tacho











C. For "Competition"






.....more....

[Lucky]

Moar D-Type. Being spoiled here!







Little Costin was not just extremely rare but also really quite alarmingly beautiful. I love the aeropods made not just to bring cool air into the cockpit but also to space the doorhinges out to a vertical plane. Glad that the owner didn't replace the enormous snorkel with a flashing light on top on the roof when he restored it, though











Granada OC always represents well. White coupe still desperately needs moar lows, though









New...





...and old (replica)







Flying Fortress wasn't on the bill but turned up anyway. What an incredible thing!









I'm not much of a purist with modifying cars (just look at my own, for example) but I struggle to understand this. Why turn a perfectly good GTX into an ersatz Superbird? It's fooling no-one and just looks slightly clumsy to me. I'd rather see a well modded "normal" GTX personally, especially...





...when there's an ACTUAL Superbird sat alongside for comparison purposes. Genuine one, too. Rare thing











I don't know why you'd want a Tyrannosaurus Rex made out of Astroturf in your garden, but it did at least provide a great photo op



Handlye Rolls-Royce Special is... well, special. Not just a fine way of carrying around a Merlin V12, but so well finished and fitted that it may as well have come from Crewe as an official product.











Huracans are fast becoming my favourite modern Lambo. Just something so right about their proportions.







This is an actual, race-proved Impala NASCAR brought over by a proud Worthingite. Best noise ever. Faster than a greased weasel, too.



The best thing about the drifting display was the dude doing the commentary, driving about in a life-sized KiddyCar. Complete with life-sized bear passenger



And the li'l uns got a chance to drive themselves, in the excellent inflatable electric-powered gokart track thing. Which they loved. The Boy's got his raceface down already, although how the hell he sees where he's going under that hat I'm not sure





Kittyhawk. I think



La Ferrari. Proved surprisingly popular with the punters, lol. To be fair, watching the thing get off the line was quite impressive. When it went, it just WENT!













Metro 6R4. Still crazy after all these years







NOT your average Morris Six. The bulkhead sticker is a clue...







Parisienne was the Canadian-market equivalent of the Pontiac Catalina. Most unusual thing







Actually, maybe the Mustang is the Escort of Americana. There are certainly a few around wherever you go. In supercharged Roush form...





...iconic Shelby liveried form...



...chillin' coupe form...





...stonkingly grunty Cobrajet form...





...and errrm... P51 form...



Here chasing a Spitfire. Good luck with that, lol





962. With Derek Bell's name on the side. Local(ish) lad too, lol. I had to take this one for Ada as he's too old and knackerdy to get down on his knees any more

















'57 Buick Special certainly was





Now, I don't know much about flying, but I'm willing to bet that getting your plane to go sideways whilst pointing at an angle of 45 degrees a few feet off the ground isn't the easiest thing to do!



Moar Spitfire, this time with a Hurricane for company











WANT! The missus is hassling me to sell an RX-7 in favour of a campervan, and since I spent half my working life in Transits, this'd be the one for me. Sadly, I'd never afford a MkI now!





Typhoon. LOUD!











Unknown Veilside FD loitering with intent. Seems to be shy a headlight cover, lol. Common problem, eh Ada?











As you know, and as my old Granny always used to say, I like to end on a song. But the song for today is The Sisters of Mercy's Afterhours cos I'm depressed about going back to work after my summer leave, and I don;t want to upset anyone so we'll forget about that. So we'll have to end on a high instead. A little bittersweet, because this is categorically, absolutely the last year that you'll see this



Yep, the last flying Vulcan is being retired at the end of the year. The engineers will no longer certify its airframe hours, and it's run out of engines. Sad times. But at least we got to see the majestic sight of this strangely graceful behemoth swooping through the sky while we still could







Even the terrible weather towards the end of the day didn't spoil it, and I wedged the kids into the car for the trip home. They loved the cosiness of being three-up in an RX-7, but I guess three full-sized humans might have been more uncomfortable. We scurried across the grass and blagged our way into a queue and got home in a mere two hours. It took the wife more like four, just queuing to get out. Lol



The wife wouldn't let me edit this one at all, just to show how grim the weather had got by the end. But I do love the moodiness of it, suits the mood somehow



As always, thanks for reading. Until next time, laters, playas




....END.....

[chc]

Very impressed how your subtlety popped a few RX7 pics amongst the others but your day wasn't wasted and you produced a 'Day to Remember' for us all - well done