Newark Classic Bike Show 2023

Newark 2023 by Roy.

It was good again to have the Classic Bike Guide show taking place at Newark Showground Lincolnshire just off the A1. this show is a kick-start to the new motorcycling year. Martyn motored up from Weston and eventually we headed off to the showground. It was a steady light rain going there, we thought it might put some people off going, we were wrong the place was heaving.

We had pre-paid tickets to get in, I had said to Martyn I wonder you we will see here today from the Fed.

Martyn owned one of these and said it was a good bike.

Two South Yorks SC Club members Alf and Martyn

As we walked through the entrance we bumped into Alf and some mates, between us on this day we met so many people that we knew. We went straight into the main hall on the right at the showground, as it was still raining. Plenty to see here, traders offering a range of articles, the club stands were of a high standard, the BSA Gold Star stand was excellent

as usual, but this year they had a new Gold Star, the latest model on display, something else to talk about.

There was a private owner’s section here with loads to look at. The rain stopped about 11 am and we wandered through the covered autojumble area, I spotted several motorcycles for sale here, some needed total rebuilds, there was a nice Triton priced at £6500 and a very nice BSA 250cc made about 1955, this was like new. Martyn did his normal and was checking out the tools stands. There are several halls to visit at this show.

In one of these halls the stage was set up with Steve Plater, he was joined here by Carl Fogarty and Jamie Whitham, Steve is great at asking questions, something new this year was Jamie and Carl were racing against each other around the Manx

TT course but this time on the Sega Manx TT Superbike arcade game, when the racing was over the show visitors could compete on this machine over the weekend – free of charge. Martyn and I had been keeping an eye open for sidecars, usually the trials clubs have some on display, we eventually got lucky in the scooter halls the first three-wheeler we saw

was an ice cream trike, and on one stand a chap selling scoter bits was selling for a friend a BSA complete with off road chair. Then I spotted Dave’s scooter outfit, in his younger days he raced scooter outfits, and then to cap it all there were

two outfits on the Vespa stand, so in one hall we found 4 outfits. Before at this show in the scooter halls a DJ had been playing music, this was missing this year

This is still a great show still very well worth a visit but Alf and Martyn and several people we spoke to felt that there were not quite as many bikes on display as there had been in previous years. As we wandered back to the car we went and looked at the autojumble traders who had their stands set up on the grass, hardy souls these chaps, not so much fun for them if it rains hard.