Players Classic 2023

Yep, we said we'd be back and, true to our word, here we are. Of course we were going to be out in force for Players Classic 2023, it's easily one of our favourite shows, not to mention one of the coolest events on the planet.

Naturally, it doesn't hurt that we love a slice of the legendary Goodwood, either. This iconic circuit is not only steeped in history, making it bona fide hallowed ground for motorsport lovers, but it lays on a few huge events over the course of the season, including the massive Goodwood Festival of Speed and The Goodwood Revival. Although, it has to be said that, for the modified car community, Players Classic is clearly the best.

Now, last year we rocked up in style with our Liberty Walk Super Silhouette S15 making its debut right here. But, as you probably know, we've been a bit busy on the car front since then. So, this time around we brought along our wide body Nissan, along with more AF Project Cars than ever before. This included a couple that have never seen at Players Classic, probably because that have been put together since the last event. But aside from our latest Caddy creation and Pandem GR Yaris, our SR20-powered Datsun GX1200 drift machine, would also be making its first appearance anywhere in the UK… and what a place to let it loose, eh?

Anyway, aside from the cars and the logistics of getting a whole load of builds on site there's also the not-so small matter of our huge pop-up store. So, the first task was to tow that into place and get it stacked to the gills with the world's finest detailing products. In fact, as is customary at a big event like this, we even had a few of our brand-new products on sale, before they've even hit our main online store. Not least our exclusive, the limited edition TopSpeed scale models of our big, bad Silvia. Just call all this an extra special preview for all the UK showgoers. We're good like that. It's all part of the service.

Numero uno on the to-do list is setting up our AirStream pop-up store, that's a given. But not only that, we like to get it open nice and early so that other show car owners can pick up the detailing essentials they need to have their cars finished to perfection and sparkling strong before the gates open to the public.

Speaking of which, although we always pre-detail all of our display cars at the Detailing Academy before any event, they do have to travel to the shows, so we have to perfect those in record time, too. We certainly had our work cut out this year, along with our S15, Datsun and Yaris, we also had both our OG Caddy and V2 Caddy build on the stand, so it really was all hands on deck to get those up to AF standards. Only then can we get out there and start to enjoy the show…

One of our favourite things about Players Classic is that they know how to utilise the legendary Goodwood grounds to their fullest. The big tarmac bit in the middle always has huge appeal of course, especially to die hard track fans such as us. We certainly wasn't messing about this year, either. Our LBWK S15 and Pandem GR Yaris Both hit the circuit, along with our AF trackday staple - the mighty AF M2 Competition.

And then of course, there's our new Datsun build. Aside from having this one detailed to perfection and on display for all to see, it just wouldn't have been right not to get it out to tear up some tyres and the hands of our AF sponsored drift king - Archie Sugar-Harmer. Was James, boss of all things Auto Finesse, hesitant at handing over the keys to his new pride and joy - a project that's been 7-years in the making - to a 16-year old who destroyers rubber for a living, though? Not at all. Check out the pictures below and you'll see why!

As always, and this almost goes without saying, the quality of builds on display was as strong as ever. They came from all over Europe, in fact, they came from all over the world. Even the original Liberty Walk Super Silhouette - Kato-san's R34 Skyline put in an appearance. Along with the Kyza widebody E36… but obviously there was much, much more. We'll let the pictures do the talking this time, so make sure you have a good swipe through our 3-monster galleries of our favourite cars (and plenty of other goings on) to see if we spotted you.

Oh yes, we haven't had this much fun on a Sunday afternoon since… well, ever! And we know we said it last year (and if you don't believe us you can read it right here in our Players 2022 report) but we're going to say it again; we'll definitely be back at Goodwood for the next one!

Thanks for everyone who popped by the stand, and of course, cheered on Archie as he ripped up our little Datsun on the hallowed circuit. Keep an eye on the Players website for info and announcements on upcoming events and be sure to click over to the Shows section of our blog for more top event reports.