These things are important – and not everyone seems capable of getting to grips with this simple notion. We love old cars and really like to get as close to them as possible – to really take in their sights, smells and sounds.

    I’ll admit that at the press preview day, I questioned the face-lifted circuit’s atmosphere – but I’ll be the first to admit I was very wrong. Silverstone doesn’t need to resort to retro-tartery to forcibly cultivate motorsport ambience. Fangio raced here. Clark raced here. Both Hills raced here. Gilles and Senna raced here. Our Nige mugged Piquet here, and – thankfully – the great Sir Stirling Moss still races here.

    In addition to the heaving race programme there was a massive club display area that was full of superb cars but it really did punished our feet. Well, once we'd stopped for a pie ’n’ chips lunch served from a superb old Austin van! The blisters though were worth every last twinge. Where else could you see a fantastically preserved 1958 Lancia Appia Furgoncino (or little van), a mint Alfa Romeo 90, a beautiful line-up of Frazer-Nash models, the Savonuzzi-designed, Ghia-bodied 427 Cobra coupé or a beautiful ‘woodie’ Healey Shooting Break? All to the roaring soundtrack of classic motor-racing machinery: sports cars, touring cars and mighty F1 legends.

    You know, it took me a day to get my hearing back properly! Utterly. Fabulous. Unsurprisingly, the 2010 Silverstone Classic gets a full marks from Dep-O, as it rises to the top of Britain’s classic motorsport calendar.

    Anyway, that’s enough from me – it’s time for the photos...

Above: Beautiful beasts. But apparently still cursed by Italian electrics - the Miura required a jump start from the Espada at home time. But hey, with looks like that, you could forgive it anything...

Above: The Silverstone Classic is a full-on petrolhead sensory overload, and not just in the pits and on the track. In the clubs area, desirable metal could be measured by the acre.