Players Classic 2016

Published June 17th, 2016

It’s fairly hard to figure out exactly where to start this article. Without a single doubt, Players Classic is our favourite show to date and it’s the biggest one we’ve attended this year so far. Let’s start off with the location. Goodwood Motor Circuit is notorious for hosting car events and its heritage. Usually the paddocks are filled with the likes of vintage Ferraris and Jaguars, however last week they were filled with the best quality show cars the country has to offer. It wasn’t just the guys from the UK who showed up; people from all over the world came down just for this show. The sense of community behind the show is great too, I managed to meet some of my German friends which I’ve spoken to through Stance | Works and catch up with builds I’ve been following for months, even years.

The drive down to the venue was amazing to say the least, Goodwood is surrounded by the iconic British B roads and Sonny decided to avoid the motorways and make the most of the roads on our way down to the show. It’s safe to say that next year I’ll volunteer to be the one driving down.

The weather was very British too, and kept on hinting that we were going to be drenched by rain. However luck was on our side and the guys in the convertibles didn’t have to rush back to their cars to put the roofs up at any point.

The cars on show were next level. Everyone who brought their car down put 110% into making their pride and joy look as good as possible, which hopefully you guys will be able to tell from the 100+ pictures in this article.

I also made an aftermovie of the event which you can find on our YouTube channel. If you click on this sentence you’ll be taken straight there.

Also I’m not making any excuses, but if you’re a photographer you might notice the f stop is all the way up. School boy error I know, it’s my lesson to remember about it for the next show.

Anyway, let’s start off with Orv’s freshly repainted EK9. He’s also got a new set of clears for the rear to wrap up the whole look. If you look closely enough, you might even be able to spot our sticker on his rear window.

The car got resprayed with the help of Jake Hilling, who brought down not only his pristine ’65 beetle…

… but also his blue static ’57 Oval. The ’57 rag top on the right belongs to his friend Ben. Together they recently launched HR Autoworks. They specialise in anything to do with Type 1s, so if you need anything done or know someone who does – get in contact with them.

Instagram @hrautoworks

Another classic which grabbed my attention straight away was Matt’s Mini. The amount of work he’s put into this little car in order to prepare for Players Classic deserves all the attention it can get. The recent addition of a MK1 Golf GTI splitter works perfectly with the over fenders and wheel set up. The car sits mean and the overall execution of it all is great. Matt has done a job to be proud of with this car.

The amazing thing about Players Classic is the amount of variation throughout the show. Being open to all makes and models is an important factor to hosting the successful car show. The guys behind the show have established themselves now for hosting the best shows in England, and this year was no different. Everything was there, from your VAG cars such as Dan’s MK2, to Japanese cars such as Thom’s S2000 and everything in between such as your Corsas and even a juiced Ford KA.

The only thing that bugged me about the venue were the poles suspending the roofs of the paddocks. Their existence is very important indeed, however I’m sure a lot of photographers can relate when I say they got in the way of a lot of nice shots.

That is only a minor detail however. Remember the German guys I mentioned earlier? Well they managed to bag the best parking spots in the whole show ground if you ask me. The stretch at the back was filled with some amazing stuff. Shame Max was on his daily wheels on the E91 as I would have loved to shoot the car on its old Schmidt setup.

Another person rocking our window sticker was Ben. We met last year when he had his W124 estate, however since then he’s moved onto a saloon. Personally I’m a massive fan of the 7 seaters, however the saloons are classier when done properly and it’s safe to say Ben has done a grand job with his one.

As with a lot of shows, it would be impossible to mention every car which stood out to me. I’ll let my photos do the talking.

Although we didn’t find time to wander around the general car park, we needed to snap Tom’s MK3. Since I saw the car at Early Edition I fell in love with it, the black bumpers work perfectly with that shade of blue. If I was to have my own MK3 build I would definitely use this car as one of my inspirations.

Right so that’s about everything covered I reckon. The show has definitely got me and Sonny keen to crack on with our projects, hopefully next year one of our cars will be in one of those paddocks.

If you’re interested in getting the full high definition version of any photo just let me know by dm’ing our Instagram @candyshowroom and I’ll be more than happy to email it over.

Interested in representing our brand on your car? Feel free to go over to the store and purchase one of our window stickers! Keep an eye on our Instagram as we often put up discount coupons on there.

Thanks for reading; our next write up should be of Fourinstance’s June car meet in central London. We’re actually attending it tomorrow (18th June 2016), so if you have a free evening I highly recommend making the trip down. We are also planning to shoot a few more car features in the near future. It’s safe to say we’re going to have a busy summer!

Words and Photography: Michal Fidowicz

Click here to read our Early Edition coverage

And click here to read our coverage of Fourinstance’s May meets.