CarFest 2012
The first ever CarFest South took place at Laverstoke Park Farm over the August Bank Holiday weekend, raising £750,000 for BBC Children in Need.
One of the main attractions of the two day event was a hillclimb featuring cars such as the Ferrari 458 Spider, Shelby Mustang and the fastest bed in the world! At least 7 of the cars at the festival were worth more than 1 million pounds each, including the Bugatti Veyron and Lamborghini Reventon but all of the cars were notable in one way or another.
Chris Evans opened the hillclimb in his replica Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The vehicles were shown in groups of seven – the Chris Evans Magnificent, European Supercars, US supercars, Far East Supercars, Group B rally cars, Vintage Seven, Unusual Seven and the Nick Mason Celebrity Seven.
Jody Scheckter, owner of Laverstoke Park Farm took to the hill in his 1979 F1 championship-winning Ferrari 312T4 and his son Thomas also drove a selection of race cars.
The Marussia F1 team had to be one of the highlights. They brought their cars to share the noise and excitement of F1. If you were anyway nearby when the car started up your ears were in for an assault!
A surprise visitor to the show was the Red Bull F1 driver Mark Webber who took to the hill with Chris Evans on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He was later spotted enjoying a trip down the hill on the bed.
The event also featured music from bands such as Texas, The Feeling, The Magic Numbers and Razorlight who were playing to a 15,000 strong crowd.
As well as cars and music there were air displays from the Red Arrows and the mighty Vulcan, a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, digger dancing, face painting, the final of Cakes v Pies (judged by Mary Berry and (Paul Hollywood), Welly Wanging, a car auction, bread and icecream making classes and of course delicious food from Laverstoke Park.
The first ever CarFest was a great event and one that could be enjoyed by all the family.
Chris said: “Does the organic grass of Laverstoke Park cope with torrential rain better than standard festival grass? It seems it might. After three brief but brutal weather fronts paid us a visit on Saturday, the grass soaked up any troublesome mud and the party continued. Historic fly-pasts overhead, aerobatic displays from The RN and The Blades and The RAF Red Arrows, more fab live music than might be good for one person and the thousands of kids present self-policing the event. It was awesome. Thank you to the local council, the local constabulary and all those wonderful Overtonians who came along and joined in the fun.”
Jody was equally pleased with how the event turned out. He said: “It’s much better than I ever thought it would be! It’s worked really really well. “
