The Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic 2025
Newark Show Ground
11 January 2025
The Winter Classic Motorcycle Show at the Newark Show Ground is one of the first events I attend as a photographer when the new motorsports season starts. A static show that is run by the Classic Bike Guide magazine, at first glance it’s not the most interesting event for a motorsports photographer, but bear with me.
The show is aimed at Classic Motorcycle owners, so it is heavily biased towards the restoration and maintenance of classic bikes. What this gives to casual visitors like me is the opportunity to get up close to a wide range of rare and interesting road and race machines.
Some of the motorcycles at the show have been restored, some not. As a motorsports photographer, this allows you to capture some great images of shiny motorcycles and others with a bit of patina for my portfolio.
Most of the show is undercover in halls, so even if the weather is inclement, which is likely in January, you can stay warm and dry. There are three main halls that have different clubs and individual exhibitors.
Each year is slightly different as the owners have built up motorcycles to ride and display over the previous twelve months; you can expect plenty of new (old) interesting machines on display. Club displays ranged from the more modern Suzuki Bandits to the BSA Gold Star owners to the classic two-stroke ring-a-ding-ding Yamahas and Suzukis of my youth.
On the Gold Star Owners Club stand, who are celebrating their 50th Anniversary this year I got talking to Kendra Quinn, the owner of a very interesting 1953 350cc BSA Gold Star. Kendra had just been presented with a winners rosette for the best unrestored bike at the show, this is the story behind her motorcycle.
953 350cc BSA GOLD STAR – A Scrambler in Road Trim.
This bike was registered in July 1953 and has spent all her life on Teesside. I knew this from the documents. I also knew she was a scrambler in road trim, but no more. So, I set about trying to find out what I could. The first owner one Peter Hodgson, from the famous Hodgson racing family, was a scrambler of some note and won various contests on her.
I managed to trace his sons and have some wonderful photos of her airborne and in the lead at various muddy events. There is even a photograph of her in a published book (“At the drop of the flag” by Ernie Crust). She was with Peter for 18 months, during which time he was sponsored by Tom Ellis from Ripon, the BSA ISDT rider, who kept the bike in tip top working order. Peter Hodgson sold her back to the Middlesbrough garage he got her from in February 1955, and she was put into road trim.
She had another local owner for 14 months and then my Dad bought her from him, in May 1956, when he was just 19.
He met my Mam by offering her a lift one rainy day, as she walked to work past the building site he was working on. They married in 1962. My Mam (who didn’t have a bike licence) once rode her along a local private road, with him as support on the pillion.
I was born in January 1967 and the bike being their only transport, I got my first pillion ride home from the maternity hospital, buttoned down the front of my Mam’s Belstaff coat! Dad continued to use the bike daily for work, until around 1969, when he took his car licence and bought a family car. The bike went into garage storage.
The last time she was started was Sunday 19th August 1984. I can be so sure as I found my old diary, in which I had written “Dad tried fixing the motorbike. He got it going then he was on about selling it. I refused to let him”
So the bike stayed, under a polythene cover, in the back of his garage. He wouldn’t have ever sold her. My Mam always said she would be got rid of before he got rid of the bike!
Dad died in July 2023 aged 86, but long before he went he knew I would get that bike started again somehow and have a ride on her.
In March 2024, burglars broke into the garage and stole MY old bike and uncovered Dad’s. The Police asked me why they hadn’t taken the Gold Star. I said all that I could think of was the ghost of a very angry old biker lad scared the wits out of them.
Thanks to the Gold Star Owners Club and their friends, she now starts, retaining all original parts and I intend to have a ride on her after the end of the Newark show. If there ARE such things as ghosts, you can bet your life he will be on the pillion with me..
Kendra Quinn
Race Bikes at the Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic
Leaving Kendra and the Gold Star Owners Club I spotted an unusual bike I had not seen before, the “Force of Nature” a steam powered ‘Rocket’ motorcycle built for drag racing. Doing a bit of digging I found out it uses the latent energy of super-heated pressurised water released through De laval nozzles, where it turns to steam and creates the thrust to propel the bike forwards.
This is one aspect of the show that I like, the race element is strong, with plenty of interesting classic machines on show, and this is one of the many reasons I make a point of going to this event.
It’s not just race bikes however, is usual for ex-racers to be guests of the show, bringing along the bike they used to race and being interviewed live on stage. This year it was the turn of the 1987 World Grand Prix champion, Wayne Gardner, and 11-time British Champion and Isle of Man TT podium finisher, Roger Marshall.
Rodger is a local Lincolnshire lad from Grimsby and has an amazing career in motorcycle racing. British Championship, Formula 1 Championship, and winning the Ulster Grand Prix in 1982 saw him named MCN Man of the Year by the fans ahead of Ron Haslam and Barry Sheene!
Rodger can still be seen trackside most weekends and is still involved with top-flight competitive racing, mentoring riders in the British Super Bike race series.
Wayne Gardner accumulated 52 podiums, 18 victories, and one MotoGP title in his career, riding for Honda on the mental 500cc two-stroke machines of what is regarded as a golden era of MotoGP motorcycle racing. Retiring in 1992 after a final win at the British Grand Prix, he was the first-ever Australian 500cc World Champion. He still rides at 65 and is a regular at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, riding classic Hondas. One of Wayne’s anecdotes was racing Barry Sheene at the Goodwood Revival in Barry’s final ever race. Barry beat Wayne by a matter of inches.
It’s not just about motorcycles at the show; there is a strong scooter presence. Custom, classic, and restored Lambretta and Vespa scooters were on display and being brought to life in the start-up area. The start-up area is what you would expect it to be; the classic bikes and scooters are quite literally started up for the show visitors. I would recommend earplugs; it’s challenging to take photos with your fingers in your ears, and some of these machines are very loud.
As the bikes are introduced to the crowd, the owners are interviewed about the machines before they are started. I would recommend arriving early for the start-up, which is held twice a day, first one around 11:00 – 12:00. There is usually a good-sized crowd, and it can be difficult to see what is going on unless you are at the front.
As you would expect at a classic bike show, there are plenty of motorcycle stalls around the site selling parts and memorabilia. Catering outlets are many and varied, from the standard burger vans to the local produce sellers that got my custom. A hot, tasty Lincolnshire sausage roll and a strong cup of tea go down well on a cold, damp day in January.
I was late getting to the pastry-covered pork product purveyor, so all of the traditional sausage rolls had gone; spinach and feta cheese was all that was left. I was disappointed but still walked away with a couple of Samosas to fuel me for the rest of the afternoon.
So to sum up, the Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic Show is an event mainly for enthusiasts who own classic motorcycles and scooters. However, it also has enough interesting stands to keep the casual visitor occupied for many hours. As a photographer and motorsport enthusiast, there was plenty of subject matter to keep me interested and occupied, and I came away with plenty of memories and great photos.
Photographic Post Script
Camera kit used for this event was the Nikon D500 DSLR with a 17-55mm f2.8 DX lens for the detail work. This lens is a solid old lens first introduced in July 2003 with no Vibration Reduction. A professional lens for DX cameras, it produces excellent images, which is reflected in the price when new of £1500. Second hand, it is now a bargain and can be picked up for a few hundred pounds.
I didn’t use a flash gun as the halls are well lit, and if you have a modern camera like the D500, they will cope well with the available light, and a bit of grain in your images suits the classic subject matter.
Last year’s Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic 2024 report can be found below, click the image for more.
The Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic 2023, click the image for more.
