Although an excellent show, Ford Fair this year seemed smaller than last year, a thought confirmed when downloading my photos - 239 compared to 303 last year. There were some repeats (if I’ve previously shot a car and it’s visually no different I tend not to take another pic as it wastes space - both on the page and on disk), but the total number of pics I take is a good indication of the size of the show.

That’s not to say it wasn’t worth attending though. Each year there’s new cars to see and in the 12 months since the last Ford Fair the Mk3 Focus RS and new Mustang have both gone on sale in the UK. It’s still early days to see anyone go really crazy with these, although there were one or two examples.

As usual we’ll start with an overview of the show and a general selection of cars that don’t fit into the usual Fiesta / Focus / Cosworth / Retro categories before the individual galleries of specific models to be trickled out in the coming weeks.

ft member RS Eddie’s FRST seems to get better every year. Aside from being spotlessly clean, every single detail is present and correct - all the original stickers and labels that people either peel off or naturally disintegrate. It even has the Pirelli stickers on the OEM correct P600 tyres.

Sometimes it doesn’t all go to plan. This Fiesta was one casualty early on but later in the day a Mk7 Fiesta ST was taken out by a Focus RS. 

As usual with these types of incidents, details were hazy and the Chinese whispers of the forums and social media didn’t help to make things any clearer, with various accounts of what happened and who was to blame.

A tyre brand you’d more normally associate with American Gasser dragsters than an 80s hot hatch. The serious rubber on this Escort presented no illusions as to the intent of the car. Somewhat drastic cosmetic surgery was necessary to accommodate such boots.

The sunshine makes everything better, not just on the day enjoying the show but as a photographer the results are so much more appealing.

From the deep blue skies to the deep blue gloss of this immaculate Mk1 Focus RS the added light makes everything beautifully vibrant.

As usual there was plenty of track action, and a large variety of machinery taking to the Silverstone tarmac. The green FRS was most recently pictured on this site at Tuner Fest North last month.

There were a fair few new Mk3 Focus RSs at the show, although the Mk2s outnumbered them ten to one. It’ll be interesting to see what the split is in five years or so.

I’m still undecided if I’m a fan or not. The 4wd is a welcome addition but there’s to much missing from what made the Mk2 special - the wider body, 5 cylinder engine, not to mention the visual impact.

I’ve mentioned several times in the past how much of a fan I am of pickup trucks. I’d love to own one, but not if it meant giving up a fast road car in order to make it happen!

Not so many years ago if you wanted your van to look like this the only option was an expensive airbrushed paint job. Now with the advances in plastics and computer graphics it’s just a case of printing it out and sticking it on.

There’s a little more to it than that of course, vinyl wrapping is still something best left to the specialists, but it’s affordable enough that any vehicle can be made into a head turner with relatively little effort.

Wigan based tuner KMS Motorsport certainly know how to pull a crowd. As well as the mega-modified Focuses you’d expect on such a stand they had this Mustang dressed up like a US Cop car, complete with siren, lights and promo girls dressed as officers.

When Ford bring along their latest and greatest - the 2017 GT supercar - there’s always going to be a crowd. Rather than make my way to the front and get the same shot as everyone else I spotted a gap in the fabric of the tent at the back, just big enough to poke my lens through.

Mishimoto are a manufacturer of alloy radiators, intercoolers and hoses. I’m pretty sure the giant penguin is of no connection other than to get attention. It worked very well!

This Ka done up like Herbie recently took part in a 150 car rally to Spain in order to raise money for Charity. It won’t be to everyone’s taste but it certainly stood out.

We didn’t manage to repeat the excellent lineup from last year, but we did have a couple of Mk3 FRSTs on the stand this year. You can’t see from this poorly chosen angle, but evidence will be provided in a subsequent gallery.

If like me you’ve ever wondered what the difference between a Sheriff and a Police Officer is in The States then wonder no more - the main difference is jurisdiction.  

A Sheriff’s department looks after a county or other subdivisions of a state (e.g Palm Beach above) whereas the Police dept look after a specific city, town or village. Also Sheriffs are elected, Police chiefs are appointed.

It takes a reference vehicle like this Sierra to demonstrate just how huge American pickup trucks like this are. As cool as they are the owners must face some serious practicality issues with parking space sizes, narrow country lanes and suchlike.

Like the Mk2, the Mk3 Focus sacrifices a portion of it’s fuel in order to provide aural entertainment to the driver and anyone within earshot in the form of pops, bangs and crackles.

As an owner I do wonder sometimes what percentage of my V-Power simply passes straight through the engine and is combusted instead as part of the car’s soundtrack? Not that any answer, either mathematical or monetary would make me want it any other way. I love the sound.

This Focus ticks all my boxes as it’s a hybrid of my current FRS and my old FRST. White with black wheels is just perfect and the cage and buckets set this apart from the many others that sport this colour combo.

Normally the rear section of the cage would be invisible from outside the car but the standard dark tinted rear screen and quarters have been replaced with lightweight, clear plastic glass.

Last year we had Russ Swift, this year his son Paul. This area contained a few Mustangs and one each of the three generations of Focus RS. I’m not sure what they were doing with them though.