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Sports Cars in the Park Ripon 2023

I had honestly expected this not to be my thing whatsoever. Based on the photos on the website and other publicity I had expected a lot of exotics, TVRs, Focus RS's, and similar cars common to UK shows without a specific theme - however - this was much more broadly attended and there were so many really genuinely interesting cars. Of course Ferraris and Lamborghinis and McLarens did make up a good portion of the vehicles on show but there were also E28 M5s, very well presented E30s, a super cool Alfa Romeo 75 V6, a Peugeot 306 Maxi, and countless other expectionally clean cars.

Nice easy start to a beautiful day but ultimately completely pointless.

After going the wrong way and having to turn around in the mud along the side of the road.

This Forester is a staple of shows that I'm on the fence about and then turn out to be quite good. Saw it last year at Farmer Copley's and we thought it had been sold so glad to see it again. Never really appreciated the two tone paint properly until now but it's very fitting for a car designed to be a light off road/camping sort of car.

I've had a couple of soft filters kicking around for a while but having seen how badly they look in the wrong light, I hadn't considered it worth giving a go. Since selling my soft wide angle lens and getting a sharper one, however, I decided a clear sunny day was the perfect time, and it does work.

And then I immediately forgot to take it off for a shot that would've been 100x better without. I just love the way the guy is scowling at the bright green Subaru.

Ultimas are my favourite looking cars ever. They take the smooth, wind tunnel born curves of a racing car to the absolute extreme. This bay sort of looks strange with the combination of a more classic style filter and rocker covers and the much more refined rest of the car.

Unsure what the car is but these guys must wear beacons so they can find each other at shows. I wonder if they ever have the same conversation twice?

First time I've really seen a 535i. I was parked about 50ft away and feeling a bit embarassed by this.

Seems to be an E39 Touring with the interior, engine, and 'power bulge' from an E9x M3. Pretty purposeful estate that a lot of people must've wished existed at the time.

Soft filter sort of works here although something a bit more toned down just to halo the edges of the highlights might be a better effect.

I believe this is an F430 which was my favourite Hot Wheels when I was young.

This car got cooler the longer we looked and had some interesting OEM additions. As cool as it is, however, the sump was gigantic and I can't imagine it's very fun to daily.

It was a bit difficult to make out what was going on with this but I guess it's a supercharged 3.5?

I wasn't going to interrupt this important work to ask about it though.

This was in what appeared to be a Japanese import Altezza, and although I don't know what it is, I would assume based on the size of the turbo it's quick.

A TVR I don't dislike? Sacrilege.

That was it, back home. All in all a very impressive day and, dare I say, better than Edition? Better car to cost ratio for sure.