Thousands attend Coventry Festival of Motoring at Stoneleigh

Families and motoring fans arrived in their thousands for what was billed as the biggest ever Festival of Motoring at the weekend.



Stoneleigh Park was its new venue to host around 1,000 classic cars worth millions of pounds.

The festival also put on the largest one-day classic car run of its type anywhere in the world through south Warwickshire on Sunday.

Starting on Saturday, the event was expanded over two days for the first time in its 27 year history.

“It was also the first time it had taken place over the August bank holiday weekend.

“We wanted to expand the whole experience,” said Clive Skelhon, head of marketing at organisers Coventry Transport Museum.

“We had to find a venue which could take more cars for the classic car run. This is a Mecca for car fans, young and old.

“We have vehicles going back to the 1900s and it’s a chance to see cars we would normally only get to see on TV or in books.”

Vehicles arrived at the park in their hundreds to be judged, including car and motorbike clubs as well as individual enthusiasts.

A fun fare was on offer for the youngsters maybe bored by their parents trips around the craft and market stalls.

Certainly not boring for anyone were the Wall Of Death stunt event, or the 4x4 challenge which was open to drive over.

The Future Of Transport indoor exhibition took pride of place and hosted a huge array of state-of-the-art engineering and design.

It included vehicles from Liberty Electric Cars – which brought along exhibits from Modec, Mercedes, Lexus, Alpine Audio, Toyota and Lexus. Coventry University also put on a stall to showcase the products from its innovative skills base.

Pride of place in the Envisage Manufacturing group area was its Bentley Zazagato GTZ – one of only nine in the world and worth £1.2million.

Paul Sullivan, Envisage managing director, said: “We’re highlighting all the different vehicles we’re involved in and the different skills we have.

“These cars we have here are all hand made. Also promoting Coventry is a big factor for the event.”

There was no Festival of Motoring last year, but for most of the previous decade it has been held at Coventry’s War Memorial Park.

Around 600 classic cars parading through south Warwickshire on Sunday, including the 1963 Daimler Dart owned and driven by former Top Gear presenter Quinton Wilson.

The Historic Vehicle Run passed through a host of towns and villages including Southam, Northend, Fenny Compton, Radford Semele, Priors Marston and Cubbington. H&H auctioneers held a classic car auction on Sunday from midday.

Despite all the expensive and innovative vehicles on display, one of the most popular for snap-happy families to be pictured next to was the Reliant Robin from Only Fools and Horses.

Ken Bull, from the H&H team, said: “When I was driving it here people were veering all over the motorway trying to take pictures of it. People almost crashed in to us a couple of times.

“The interest in it has been amazing.”

Festival of Motoring at Stoneleigh Park hailed success as 20,000 visit

DESPITE the wet weather organisers have hailed more than 20,000 visitors who flocked to the Festival of Motoring over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The event had been moved to Stoneleigh Park to provide more space for the 1,000 vintage vehicles and the culmination of a 50-mile classic car rally.

The number of festival-goers matched the previous event at War Memorial Park two years ago despite a number of downpours.

The festival had also been extended into a two-day event for the first time.

Gary Hall, chair of the Festival of Motoring Organising Committee, said: “We’re exhausted but delighted.

“It was a huge undertaking to move the festival from one day to two, as well as moving to a new venue and changing the date from early September to August bank holiday.

“We were hoping vehicle owners and visitors would embrace the move and come with us on an exciting journey.

“They didn’t let us down.”