Coventry Motofest
has proven to be a successful event over the past few years, bringing some fantastic cars and eager fans together in the spiritual home of British car-making. This year the event will take on another dimension though, with the introduction of competitive driving thanks to the MSA's decision to allow local councils to rule on
closed road motorsport
It represents the first time that a UK city has hosted a motorsport event since the legendary Birmingham Superprix was last run in 1990. Don't expect door-to-door action however, as the event will be limited to time trial runs for 2018; some motorsport on city streets is better than none though, right?
We've had displays before - now it means something!
The cars used will be from the BARC's
various championships
, though the exact models aren't yet confirmed. Given the BARC's series include everything from Rallycross to truck racing, and Formula Ford cars to Citroen 2CVs, there promises to be plenty on display.
As for the actual circuit, Motofest Coventry has been working with designers Driven International to develop a layout. We don't know what it is yet, but the benefit of a formal configuration should hopefully allow it to be reused for sprints, time trials and road rallies in future.
Is there a BARC championship for XJSes?
Festival director James Noble said "Motofest Coventry is very excited and proud to be at the forefront of bringing competitive motorsport back to UK city centre roads." If things go well, what's to say it couldn't be extended to other cities as well?
This year's Motofest will take place on the weekend of June 2nd-3rd, with the usual range of automotive activities going on - in addition to the time trials - that have made the event so popular already. We can't wait to see how it goes!
[Source: BARC, lead image by Mike Sewell]
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