CarFest was a dream of cars, music, food and masses of family fun conjured up by Chris Evans in early 2012 for BBC Children in Need. The hugely successful, sell-out festivals held to date have wowed more than 500,000 visitors and are now firmly established as one of the summer’s most family-friendly and fun-filled festivals. More importantly the intoxicating mix of amazing cars, great festival food, drink and live music – devised by Chris to create his own personal concept of the perfect festival – has so far raised £7.4m for BBC Children in Need.
In 2013, the North event moved to MSV's own Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire. The venue's picturesque setting and excellent facilities lent themselves to the event perfectly, and it was a tremendous success. MSVR was tasked with overseeing the on-track activity, which was a new venture for the club, being a world away from the high-stakes race meetings the team are used to! The cars ranged from priceless Ferrari road and race cars to a motorised shed - with the performances enjoyed by the thousands of festival-goers from the many vantage points on offer at the circuit.
For 2014, MSVR was asked to oversee the action at CarFest South, in addition to the North event. Based at Jody Scheckter's Laverstoke Park Farm, this event was even more unusal for the MSVR team (venturing outside of our usual race circuit comfort zone!) but, ably supported by a superb team of marshals and support crews, the event was another great success.
MSVR has continued to be involved in both events every year since, with CarFest North moving to a new home at Bolesworth Castle in 2016. 2017 saw a modified track layout at South, which was a hit with drivers and spectators alike. Roll on 2020!
For more information please visit the CarFest website at www.carfest.org