We will have five pairs of tickets to give away, four will be given away here to readers that contribute to the site on one of our Cholmondeley posts (this post, or click link above to leave us a comment) and join our newsletter subscribers.

We will also be giving away 1 pair of tickets via a Competwition.  So if your on Twitter, be sure to enter our Competwition also.  Good luck.

What’s in store for visitors to this years Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.

The fifth Pageant of Power takes place in the glorious grounds of Cholmondeley Castle. Taking to the 1.2mile circuit will be over 150 historic and modern racing cars and motorbikes. The Pageant showcases high-octane action on land, water and in the air, with powerboat action on the Mere, military combat power demonstrations and aerobatic displays including the fantastic Breitling Wingwalkers.

New for 2012 is the “Autocar” Supercar Paddock featuring cars such as the Bugatti Veyron, Ariel Atom and the Lamborghini Aventador.  James Bond fans will be left shaken and stirred on seeing the thrilling line up of original Bond cars including the Aston Martin V12, BMW Z8, as well as the Ice Dragster from “Die Another Day”.

No doubt it’s going to be a cracking event.

Following a red-blooded display of fire-breathing exhausts and smoking tyres on Top Gear (BBC2, 4 March 2012), the aero-engined BMW ‘Brutus’ will be making a star appearance at the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power (15 to 17 June), the UK’s biggest celebration of power and speed.

The three-day Pageant will play host to a weird and wonderful collection of early 20th-century cars that are powered by aeroplane engines, with the 500bhp Brutus taking centre stage on the track and in the paddock. Germany was forbidden from creating military aircraft after World War I, so, with large numbers of aeroplane engines spare, this 46-litre experimental project was created.

While Brutus is normally on display at the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim, Germany, this automotive marvel will be making a special trip to the UK for Pageant crowds to experience for themselves.

Other aero-engined cars at the 2012 Pageant of Power will include a 23-litre Maybach Zeppelin (affectionately known as ‘Chitty Bang Bang 1’, one of four celebrated 1920s English race cars believed to have inspired the creation of the fictional Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), the 24-litre Napier-Bentley and the fearsome 42-litre Packard-Bentley. Including Brutus, the combined power output for these four cars totals more than 2,800bhp.

James Hall, Event Director for the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, said: “Aero-engined cars are a rare breed, but these are some of the most fascinating and exhilarating machines people are likely to ever encounter. We can’t wait to see what the crowds make of these unique cars, as there is simply nothing else on the road that can match them for sheer drama.”

Now in its fifth year, the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power will take place on the Cholmondeley Estate in Cheshire from 15 to 17 June. A full event schedule and list of participants will be announced over the coming weeks, with Pageant organisers set to reveal some exciting new additions and features for 2012.

The 2012 Cholmondeley Pageant of Power will be open to the public from 15 to 17 June at Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire. It was awarded Best Tourist Event in Cheshire in 2010 and runner-up in 2011. Gates open at 8.00am every day, and, until April, adult tickets start at just £18 with children entering free. Adult tickets for the fireworks concert event on Saturday 16 June start at £20, while child tickets start at £5. For more information about the Pageant or to book tickets, visit www.cpop.co.uk or call 01829 772432.

He also happens to be a bit of a photography expert (in my opinion anyway), given he has his own photography website as well.  Check our Matthew’s website MBrace Photography.  You can also check more pictures like this on his Flickr page, Facebook page or on Twitter.  This guy gets around hey.  Hope you enjoy the pictures. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter, so you don’t miss out on our classic car show and motorsport event free ticket competition give aways.

Only 349 cars were made, so it’s a rare car. The last F50 was produced in Maranello, Italy in July 1997.

Here is a short video introduction to the Ferrari F50 by one of Europe’s leading Ferrari F-Car specialist, DK Engineering.  Hope you enjoy…

A lot was good about F1 in 2011:

• the ‘overtaking problem’, wherein races for the previous decade and a half or more offered very little of it, was gone;
• the combination of DRS and degrading Pirelli tyres, races became races again;
• they were invariably diverting and close, displaying much wheel-to-wheel action;
• overtaking moves per race dwarfed the previous high tide-water mark since records began in the early 1980s.

Only disappointment about 2011 was that bloke Vettel who seemed to win every time.  It reminded me of the boring seasons when Schumacher won all the time, good for him, bad for the viewers.  Sebastian Vettel claimed 11 wins from 19 rounds in 2011, including six from the first eight.

But hold on, SO FAR the 2012 entertainment factor is high, overtaking per race is even higher than last year, and four different winners in the first four races (yes you are reading this right), for the first time since 2003. And for the first time since 1983 the winners have come from four different teams.  You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Let’s just hope this spectacle carries on this way, as regrettably it probably won’t.

So, what of my 2012 prediction. 

I said:

Teams
1. McLaren
McLaren pip “the angry cow” by 1 point after Vettel and Webber collide sending each other off the race track.
2. The angry cow
3. Ferrari
4. Mercedes
5. Renault

Drivers
1. Button
2. Vettel
3. Hamilton
4. Alonso
5. Raikkonen ( go on the Kimi)

I still think I’m on, what do you think?

If you don’t want to miss out on our competitions and news then we suggest that you either subscribe to our RSS feed and/ or sign up for our weekly newsletter and/or follow us on twitter.

The car events we will be looking to talk about and hopefully offer you free complimentary tickets include Silverstone Classic, Goodwood Revival, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Classic Motor Show, Chelsea Autolegends, Race Retro, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, Bromley Pageant of Motoring and more.

If you’d like to go to Chelsea Autolegends courtesy of the MyCarHeaven then all you have to do is leave a comment here (see bottom of this post) or on any other Chelsea Autolegends post over the coming months, and make sure that you sign up to our newsletter.  Simples.

Good luck.

Competition winners were:

• John Bakewell from Birmingham;
• Matthew Barrington from Coventry; and
• Ian Edwards from Gloucester.

Also Dan Fisher from Heywood, Lancashire won a ticket through our Competwition competition. 

Well done to you all, we hope you will enjoy the great racing and classic cars on display.  It is certainly and experience day that no motorsport fan should miss.

As well as housing over 300 iconic historic racing cars in between their periods of action out on the track, the paddock at the Donington Historic Festival will be home to fascinating individual displays of special vehicles, including some outstanding cars from two forthcoming Bonhams sales.

Sir Stirling Moss will be signing autographs in the paddock on the Sunday.

Remember, if you want the chance to win complimentary tickets to other UK car events, such at Silverstone Classic, Goodwood Revival, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Classic Motor Show, Chelsea Autolegends, Race Retro, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, Bromley Pageant of Motoring and more, then I strongly suggest you sign up to our weekly newsletter, so that you will be kept up to date of our latest free ticket competitions.

Enjoy the event, looks like it’s going to be  a corker.

A 5 year production run

The F40 was made by Ferrari from the years 1987-1992.

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A tough act to follow

The F40 is a successor to the great Ferrari 288 GTO.

Conceived by Enzo himself

The  F40 was conceived by Enzo Ferrari before his 90th birthday.

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The 1st 200 mph+ production road car

The F40′s top speed is 201 mph, 0-60 mph of 4.5 seconds.

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Designed to be the best

The F40 was designed to compete with vehicles such as the Porsche 959 and Lamborghini Countach.

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Who’s got a weak bladder then?

F40′s are fitted with racing car style bladder tanks.  These tanks sit in each sill.  The bladders are ‘lifed’ for 10 years and cost about £13,000 to renew from Ferrari itself, although specialists can replace them for around £7,500.  For £5,500 you can fit two aluminium tanks, although probably not a move the purists will pursue.

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Production figures (the not so rare Ferrari supercar)

Ferrari initially proposed to limit the production to 300 examples, but demand kept on coming so eventually 1315 were made.

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The most desirable model

For those in the know the most sought after model (and yes there are variations) is a low mileage, an early non-cat, non-adjust, sliding window, British spec, accident free example.

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Not a Drag king or queen

The F40 is most efficient with a low drag coefficient of Cd0.34.

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It was designed by one of the very best

The F40 was styled by Pininfarina‘s Leonardo Fioravanti, the artist behind the Ferrari Daytona, Ferrari 512 BB and 308 GTB.  His previous designs were curvaceous and beautiful, yet the Ferrari F40 is sharp, angular and purposeful.

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Click here for more Ferrari F40 facts.

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The Ferrari F40 supercar will celebrate its 25th birthday this year and in order to celebrate in true Ferrari style, there will be a huge gathering of the supercars at Silverstone racetrack in the UK.  Are you going?  Have you got your tickets yet?  Well if you’d love to go to this year’s Silverstone Classic courtesy of MyCarHeaven visit our Free Tickets page and bookmark, so that you don’t miss out on our regular special offers.

As well as housing over 300 iconic historic racing cars in between their periods of action out on the track, the paddock at the Donington Historic Festival will be home to fascinating individual displays of special vehicles, including some outstanding cars from two forthcoming Bonham’s sales.

 There are three lots from Bonhams’ June 29^th Goodwood sale, including one of the most famous pre-War British competition cars; the 1929 Bentley 4½-Litre Supercharged Racing Single-Seater (above) in which ‘Tim’ Birkin shattered the Brooklands Outer Circuit lap record in 1931. There is also the 1938 Bugatti Type 57C formerly owned by Le Patron Ettore Bugatti, and which may have been presented to him as a birthday present from the workers in his factory. And the 1956 Lotus-Climax Eleven Le Mans Sports-Racing Two-Seater is one of the Glasius Collection cars, an extremely rare and immensely desirable Team Lotus works Le Mans veteran.

Bonhams is also displaying a car from its May 19^th Aston Martin sale. The 1991 DB4GT Zagato Sanction II Coupé on show in the Donington Historic Festival paddock is the last of the four works-approved Sanction II DB4GT Zagato Coupés built. It carries a pre-sale estimate of £1,200,000 – 1,500,000.

Another paddock head-turner is Richard Jones’s immaculately-restored 1940 Dodge race car transporter. This eye-catching machine spent its early years carrying bomber crews around a wartime base in England before beginning a new life hauling British Speed Hillclimb Champion Dennis Poore’s pre-War Alfa Romeo to sprints and hillclimbs in the late 1940s and early ’50s. By the mid 1990s the transporter was outside at Donington Park, having once been displayed inside the Museum there. Richard Jones discovered it in 1995, and began a lengthy restoration, the impressive results of which can be seen at the Festival.

Sir Stirling Moss will be signing autographs in the paddock on the Sunday, and, of course, Festival visitors can get up and close and personal to some incredibly rare and valuable pieces of machinery spanning seven decades as the cars competing over the weekend ‘rest’ between races. Want to spend ages gazing at a Maserati Birdcage or a Ferrari 250 GT SWB, or find out what a Squire Short Chassis looks like? To listen to the idling engine of a Chevron B29, or choose your favourite from dozens of racing E-types? Then the paddock is the place to be – and don’t forget your camera!

The British Historic Kart Club’s ‘Karting in the Park’ celebration should be another crowd pleaser, as some 150 historic karts, including machines originally campaigned by Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna, join the action on a specially laid-out circuit using the Donington GP Loop.

And last, but not least, the magnificent Donington Grand Prix Collection houses the world’s largest collection of F1 cars – and Festival entry tickets allow two-for-one entry to the museum.

Day tickets cost £18 in advance (£25 on the gate) and weekend tickets £30 in advance (£40 on the gate). Children aged 15 and under are admitted free. For more information, and to book tickets visit www.doningtonhistoric.com or call the 24-hour ticket hotline on 0844 873 7355. Advance ticket sales close at 5pm on May 2nd.