A scorching new track show of speed, style and stunts will prove the centrepiece of this summer’s CarFest extravaganza.
The action gets underway next weekend (July 29-31) with the popular carFest North, now at Bolesworth in Cheshire, and continues on to CarFest South (August 26-28), at Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire.
Since being dreamed up by Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Chris Evans in 2012, the festivals have raised more than £6m for BBC Children in Need.
This year’s double header promises to be the best yet, with the high octane track action rounded off each evening with the live sets from star names like Bryan Adams, Faithless, Travis, The Corrs, Will Young, Status Quo, Foxes, Richard Ashcroft, Rick Astley, Ronan Keating and the Stereophonics.
And to help cater for everyone from hardcore petrol-heads to those who prefer the more classic models, the parkland roads around Bolesworth Castle have been upgraded with 1,000 tonnes of asphalt to ensure a perfect surface.
Among the dream machines in action will be movie star Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the LaFerrari hybrid supercar with its 210mph performance and £1m price tag.
New for this summer, the Time Tunnel will take CarFest visitors through a timeline display of 40 models covering a century of automotive history.
It includes cars like the Oldsmobile Curved Dash and Model T Ford, Bugattis, Topolinos, Messerschmitts and Bentleys plus a glimpse of the future with the latest Tesla Model X and radical Riverside Rasa Hydrogen Fuel Cell prototype.
Upping the tempo, there’s a grid of motor sport icons featuring winners from the worlds of both racing and rallying.
That means NASCAR and Formula 5000 race cars, Michael Schumacher’s F1 Benetton, a Penske IndyCar raced by Emerson Fittipaldi and Red Bull Racing’s 2011 world title-winning RB7 driven at both CarFests by ex-Toro Rosso Grand Prix driver Sebastien Buemi.
For the fifth consecutive year, Laverstoke is a complete sell-out and, similarly, all weekend and camping tickets for Bolesworth Castle were snapped up almost as soon as sales commenced.
Some tickets remain for Friday at CarFest North, giving visitors the chance to see a new Track Sprint show and enjoy performances from Travis, Texas, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Kim Wilde, ABC and Faithless.
Friday adult admission costs £64, while entry for children between six and 16 is priced at £12. Tickets are available from the official http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey website, with a minimum of 25 per cent of the ticket price going directly to BBC Children in Need.
