It’s rare to find an occasion where you can not only gaze at a sea of rare and special cars but also have bucket loads of fun… And support children’s charities all at the same time. Well, it turns out that such magical moments do exist in life. Here in the UK, we call it, CarFest. Oh yes, it’s that time of the year again and it’s now 10 years old.
To you, CarFest, we wish you a happy birthday. If you’ve been around here long enough, you might remember that we had a man on the ground at CarFest 2019. It could’ve been a running theme, but we all know what happened in 2020. Come late August 2021, CarFest became among the first such large-scale and open events to be held in the UK post-COVID, and what a sight it was.
Wait, What’s CarFest?
For those of you who haven’t heard of it before, CarFest is an annual event launched by Chris Evans, of Top Gear fame. There are usually two separate CarFest fun-for-the-whole-family gatherings every year. One’s held up North, while our most recent visitation was CarFest South, held at Laverstoke Park Farm, in Hampshire. In the last 9 years, CarFest has raised over £16 million for charity.
It’s an astounding figure. Mostly, its fundraising events are centred at children’s charities. These include raising much-appreciated funds for BBC Children in Need, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, Rainbow Trust, Starlight Children’s Foundation, Teenage Cancer Trust, My Black Dog and Comic Relief and the local Hampshire-based charity, Naomi House/Jack’s Place.
So. Much. Fun!
While you’re helping out the children in need, there’s always something at CarFest at every turn that keeps you wanting more. This year is no different, with stars and celebrities aplenty. Ever wanted to be rick-rolled by Rick Astley in person? Or, perhaps a bit of pop here, some oldies love songs there, and the occasional dropped beat in the middle.
But the festival of joy that is CarFest isn’t just hosting musicians. Celebrity chefs had a chance to duke it out with their cookery skills. It’s as if the food there wasn’t already delectable enough! For something less glitzy, CarFest has an endless sea of activities that you can enjoy with your family, too. Would anyone like to hone their skateboarding skills, or shoot bows downrange?
Petrol-Infused Fun
But… You’re not here just for the family-friendly fun, are you? You’re in luck, as the namesake CarFest is a festival built around cars, and you can celebrate the beauty of automobiles in the droves. There were plenty cars on the lawn, everything from the finest F1 racers and rally winners, to hot rods and drift cars.
If it’s not the show cars that they’ve brought along, even the carpark makes for gleeful entertainment for any petrolhead. It’s not every day that you get to see a six-wheeled Tyrrell F1 car sat next to a Cinquecento, is it? While the shootout track isn’t as intense as the run up the hill at Goodwood, it got a bit hairy at CarFest, more than a few times.
