CarFest – Thursday 22th /Monday 26th August 2024

Words, Pictures and Videos Adam Woods – Eastern Chapter Coordinator

We are honoured to have organised the Figaro Owners Club attendance to CarFest again for our third year. There are always last-minute things that need done, but you know that it’ll all be worth it, not only for the fantastic visitors you meet, and the lasting friendships you make with other Figgy Folk, but because CarFest is all about raising money for children’s charities! Sadly CarFest consolidated into one event last year, making the previous CarFest South the sole event for now. The legend that is Ken Graham gave me lots of fantastic advice when I started doing this for the Club… and maybe one year we’ll persuade him down if it continues down near Basingstoke. This year’s event which has over 100,000 attendees or around 35,000 each day

This first story of CarFest is all about the Figgy Folk, the Stand and the Visitors. Last year, we were capped at 12 cars, and again had the full contingent of cars and members! One particularly lovely thing is catching up with those who have attended past years, while also having the opportunity to meet new Figgy Folk and introduce them to the joys of CarFest!

Last year we had hoped to win Best in Show for Car Clubs… but didn’t… So this year we asked the class of CarFest 2024 to come up with ideas for decorating the stand. Debbie, Kate and Mandy duly stepped up and did a fantastic job of getting everyone’s help building on a Japanese theme! Every car had information on a Figgy Fact, along with speech bubbles to encourage engagement from passing visitors… But more of that in a moment.

First, we had to get everything set up, so as is now tradition, nearly everyone made it down for dinner on the Thursday night; a great opportunity for people to get to know each other! The following morning we all converged on the site, and a new location near the entrance which undoubtedly saw greater footfall. From 10am we were getting the cars into position, dressing the stand, and all ready in time for 12 noon when the gates opened. Friday was a pretty blustery day, but my goodness, the stand was so very busy!

That busy theme would continue throughout the whole weekend with a fantastic mix of people who always wanted a Fig, those who were seeing them for the first time… and of course those who had seen them in previous years and either bought one, or are making plans to buy into some Figgy happiness.

Over the weekend we handed out around 300 club leaflets, and what was particularly wonderful was to behold the enthusiasm club members have for the cars and chatting with people. Not surprising when the Figs spread so much positive energy, but it’s still ever so gratifying to see that shared enthusiasm at work.

The only downer was Saturday morning. After a blustery Friday, Saturday was rather wet… but members were out with brollies chatting to visitors, braving the elements! But, soon enough those frowns were turned upside down, as everyone’s hard work paid off! Delighted to report that CarFest recognised Figaro Owners Club as “Best in Show” across the 17 car clubs in attendance! What an amazing achievement – we are so very grateful to all our wonderful members for helping us to achieve this!!

Sunday is always Fancy Dress Sunday, and again it was brilliant to see everyone embrace this. Particular tributes go to Rachael and Matt with their Gin and Tonic… And of course Ray and Mark whose dinosaur costumes were hilarious! We all certainly helped raise a smile or two from visitors, ending the weekend on a real high!

Of course, these are just some of the highlights… The event itself is huge with so much to see with seven festivals in one… And we were also honoured to participate in the Overton Drive Out on Saturday and the Parade Lap on Sunday. We’ll cover more info about all these things in other articles and videos coming soon from the Figaro Owners Club.

In the meantime we hope you enjoy the images and 3-minute video celebrating the club’s attendance at CarFest 2024 and of course that “Best in Show” award!

Watch Our Video

PART TWO – THE DRIVE OUT

CarFest landing in the area each year is very exciting for the local community but can be ever so disruptive too! CarFest fully appreciates this and makes it clear in the various documents we work through each year how appreciative they are of the local community and endeavour to ensure as little disruption as possible.

One way they like to thank the local community is to arrange a drive out which is both lovely for club members and, more importantly, a really important thank you to the local community as the drive out passes through the nearest village.

To create as little disruption as possible, only half the cars in each car club can attend, so as part of our preparations we ask members to choose between the Overton Drive Out and the Track Parade.

It really is a lovely experience and this year the Figaro’s were right and the front “because we are fun” which is a real honour. We departed CarFest, down the country roads giving the odd beep and wave to marshalls and passing cars… but this only served as preparation for the rapturous welcome we knew we would receive in Overton itself where the local community comes out onto the streets to see the cars! And our beeps and waves are so very much appreciated as we get such a fantastic welcome as we pass through – even a few cheers this year! So much of the joy of these cars is the smiles they spread, and as we all know, as occupants we are in the hot seat to enjoy people’s appreciation!

Heading out from Overton we set out across the country, and at one stage can see CarFest across the fields… and also the other cars following. Of special note this year was the Citroen Club and a 2CV complete with a giant yellow rubber duck on top!

And so, we head back, winding our way through the countryside, back to CarFest and back to the stand. Everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable experience was glad to thank the local community for their support

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the images and 3-minute video celebrating the club’s participation in the Overton Drive Out for CarFest 2024!

WATCH THE DRIVE-OUT VIDEO

PART THREE – THE PARADE

As mentioned in one of the other Stories of CarFest, this year half of our club members could participate in the Overton Drive Out, while the other half could participate in the Track Parade.

The Track Parade is a really great experience to enjoy! The Track is a permanent feature of Laverstoke Park Farm, owned by 1979 Formula One World Champion, Jody Scheckter, and sees a huge range of vehicles parade during the CarFest weekend from vintage cars, to modded vehicles, to supercars and even beds on wheels!

Car Clubs have had their own session on the Track for the last couple of years, enjoying 2 laps around the track, where we can head out with the Figs in convoy, beeping and waving at the crowds! Not only that, but we have with unique experience of driving around the track ourselves, which is something everyone really enjoys, passing through the starting line, with a marshall waving their flag and the Figs swooping around the track.

While other cars may do doughnuts, you’ll be reassured to read that no one attempted that from the Figs this year… to be fair it would have been very difficult to achieve! But the experience was just wonderful, especially for some of our members’ kids who were completely in awe of being on the track where they had seen so many other cars going around throughout the weekend!

This year’s Track Parade took place on Sunday and effectively marked the closing of the Car Clubs area as we moved the six participating cars offsite. Members all returned to help with dismantling the stand so that we could get the rest of the cars offsite and enjoy the final night of what was again a brilliant CarFest!

We hope you enjoy the images and 3-minute video celebrating the club’s participation in the Track Parade for CarFest 2024!

WATCH THE PARADE VIDEO

PART FOUR – THE FESTIVAL

Every year CarFest seems to get bigger and bigger! With seven festivals on site, it would be difficult for anyone not to find something to enjoy; AdventureFest, FoodFest, KidsFest, RetroFest, SpaFest, StarFest… and of course lots of Live Music which this year included Olly Murs, UB40, Deacon Blue, Johnny Marr, Sam Ryder, Beverley Knight, Jake Shears, Scouting for Girls, Judge Jules, The Feeling, RPJ and Furnace and the Fundamentals!

But the one thing throughout is the cars, and this year it felt like the cars were even more prominent than in past years with many manufacturers attending to showcase their vehicles!

I also mentioned about StarFest. Many of our members were very excited to see Tom Ellis (Miranda, and Lucifer, would be there and had a cardboard cut out of the actor which they managed to get him to sign. As you may have guessed they were very excited!

The whole experience of CarFest is memory-making… and it’s wonderful that we can make such wonderful memories with our Figs. This year our members enjoyed some lovely gifts from GarageFK10 and SteveBLaser, and we also made sure they all had CarFest Buddies badges which would see them enjoy discounts on some stalls, and potentially meet some celebrities (although we didn’t manage to see any ourselves this year). The majority of members camped which is so lovely as we invariably all met back at the campsite each night for a drink or two, and helped to get to know each other better.

Every year we are so pleased to meet other lovely Figaro Owners, and this year was no exception as it was great to catch up with people who have attended previously and meet Figgy owners we hadn’t been lucky enough to meet before.

We will look back on 2024 as the best CarFest yet – and of course, the club winning Best in Show Car Clubs! While the weather was a bit hit-and-miss, no one allowed that to get in the way, and one member even made an art installation out of it as you can see in the attached video!

We have tried to capture the scale and experience of CarFest in the images and 3-minute video celebrating the club’s attendance at CarFest 2024! Enjoy!

WATCH THE FESTIVAL VIDEO