STAFFORD SHOW 2020: Stuart Graham announced as guest of honour for April outing

Stuart Graham, a winner on both two and four wheels, has enjoyed a successful and unusual racing career and will share his stories in front of a live audience at the 40^th Carole Nash International Classic MotorCycle Show on April 25-26 at Stafford County Showground.

Born into a racing family, Stuart’s father was 1949 500cc World Champion and IOM TT winner Les Graham. Although Les was killed in the 1953 IOM TT, Stuart was not deterred from following his own racing dreams and went on to achieve great success.

Racing motorcycles from 1961-1970, Stuart progressed from 250 Aermacchi to 350 AJS 7R and 500 Matchless G50 racing in his first IOM TT in 1964. Impressive performances in the early 1966 GP, including placing second to Agostini in the 500cc Belgian GP at Spa, soon earned him a place in the factory Honda team as team-mate to Mike Hailwood on the fabulous 250cc Honda six cylinders.

By 1973, Stuart had embarked on a second very successful career in car racing, winning races in his first season in the British Touring Car Championship. Stuart’s big V8 Chevrolet Camaro was the car to beat, and when he won the prestigious RAC Tourist Trophy race he became the first person since Freddie Dixon’s pre-war victory to win both bike and car TTs.

Despite bringing a 1940s theme to the event in homage to the 75^th anniversary of D-Day in 2020, the show will remain a core classic bike enthusiast weekend. There will be thousands of classic motorcycles to see, a huge indoor and outdoor autojumble and more than 900 traders in attendance, all forming an important part of the show. The Bonhams auction will be as spectacular as ever, with exciting news on the lots on offer coming soon.  

Further highlights for the weekend include a 1940s-themed hall, with a Spitfire and Hurricane taking centre stage, surrounded by an abundance of privately owned classic motorcycles and incredible displays from owners’ clubs too. Organisers have been in contact with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight to hopefully secure a flypast from the Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane and Dakota with confirmation due in March 2020.

Advance tickets are on sale now, with a 20% saving on the gate price: https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/stafford