CarFest South – Friday 26th to Sunday 28th August 2022

Words and Pictures by Adam Woods.

Who would have thought that owning a car could bring so much joy?? Here’s the story of CarFest South 2022!

After lots of discussion with our very own CarFest Supremo Ken, and guidance (of course!) from Kevin, back in November we took on the reigns to organise the club’s attendance at CarFest South! After months of registrations, and hundreds of emails with the organisers we were pleased to confirm that 7 club members participating on the Figaro Owners Club stand for 2022! Registrations complete, health and safety sorted, camping arranged and stand rota distributed, we set off from Suffolk in our Figaro Sparky for the 3-hour trip to Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire, in a mini convoy with our S-Cargo Flash who was doing the donkey work with the tent, gazebo, flags and hundreds of leaflets!

We arrived on-site at around 2 pm and after saying hello to the first arrivals from our group and getting our tent up, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, we got everyone’s passes sorted and headed over to set up the stand. By 6.30pm we were back over on the campsite to find that a village of Figgy fans had grown up around our tent, getting ready for the bite to eat we had arranged to help everyone get to know each other. We managed to get everyone into Emma’s Pao Pablo or our Snail Flash, and headed over to the White Hart in Overton a couple of miles away. It was lovely meeting members over there, having a chat and getting increasingly excited for the days ahead!

After some of us partook of a few celebratory beverages back on the campsite, we were all up and over at the stand to get our Figs in place, putting the finishing touches in place, and ready for our team briefing at 10am the next morning! With that done, we all had the chance to go and have a look around CarFest before it officially opened at 12 noon. What an amazing site it was with whole areas dedicated to different things; food, spa, kids, adventure, retro, and of course lots of car related things like the paddock and car club areas… and then there were the star and music stages!

From 12 noon on day one and 10am on the following days we had a steady stream of visitors – other members, people who already owned a Fig, people who have always wanted one, and of course those who are convinced they are Fiats built in the 60s! Our lovely members were amazing, chatting away, sharing stories, answering questions, and just embodying the love of all things Figaro! And along the way we all had a chat and a laugh – what a truly amazing bunch of people who it was an honour to spend time with! While everyone needed to spend just over 2 hours on the stand each day, none of us could help but return for more – what a fantastic Figgy family! And when it got to 7pm we could all head off to enjoy the evening and night’s entertainment, see some amazing acts and partake of a few more beverages, returning to camp to chat and smile and laugh.

Oh, and let’s not forget the little bit of track time we had and the drive out to Overton on Saturday – heading out in convoy with the other car clubs – unsurprisingly the Figaros got the biggest cheers thanks to our incessant beeping! And of course, our celebrity visitors who were invited to join us in some beep beeps over on the stand (you will have to see who in the video below).

CarFest was worth every second – not just because of the entertainment and the other stands, but because we could share the experience with some fantastic Figgy fans who undoubtedly completed the experience together as great friends, and barely being able to wait until One Big CarFest at Laverstoke Park next year!!

My goodness, Figaro life is just so flipping fantastic! Thanks to CarFest and the Figaro Owners Club for such a wonderful opportunity to experience!!

WATCH THE VIDEO