The Club MotoFest Shakespeare Run – Revival 2022 is to return in April, with organisers looking to repeat the success of 2021’s reinvented and revived event. 

Club MotoFest’s Shakespeare Run – Revival takes inspiration from the traditional Coventry Shakespeare Run, a run which celebrated the motoring heritage of Coventry’s automotive industries back in the 1980’s.

It was brought back to life back in 2020 by Coventry MotoFest, during the pandemic, and now with all restrictions removed organisers are looking forward to establishing the Club MotoFest Shakespeare Run – Revival as a major highlight of the motoring enthusiasts’ calendar.

This year’s run will form part of the next Club MotoFest event – a combined BreakFest Meet, held in Millennium Place outside the Coventry Transport Museum, followed by the Shakespeare Run – Revival. The event will take place at 9am on Saturday 30^th April.

The Run will leave Millennium Place, Coventry, taking place after a pleasant morning of owners and motoring enthusiasts enjoying coffee and cake from Esquires Coffee Shop and discussing all things two and four wheeled.

The run is open to all classic and modern cars and will follow a pre-planned route taking in the stunning scenery of the Coventry and South Warwickshire countryside.

James Noble, MotoFest Coventry Festival Director, said: “The second Shakespeare Run – Revival will take advantage of the relaxed Covid restrictions and allow owners to meet and chat in the morning’s Club MotoFest BreakFest Meet.

“Our upcoming Club MotoFest event is a perfect opportunity to enjoy the motoring innovations, past, present and future with like-minded individuals.”

Club MotoFest is the membership programme for automotive enthusiasts and MotoFest fans, giving access to all the latest MotoFest news, discounts and early access to events and hosts its own variety of smaller automotive themed events throughout the year.

More information on the combined Club MotoFest BreakFest Meet and Shakespeare Run – Revival can be found at https://bit.ly/CMFBM2022

Coventry MotoFest will also be running the UK’s largest free motoring festival, MotoFest Coventry, later this year. On 10^th and 11^th September 2022, Coventry will come alive once more in a true celebration of motoring madness with a two-day festival dedicated to the city of Coventry’s motoring heritage.

It will feature a unique blend of racing demonstrations, static displays, live music, culture and many other elements all with a connection to Coventry, transport and the City’s motoring heritage, with the theme of past, present and future.

MotoFest Coventry’s premium vintage, classic and for this year modern vehicles and motorcycle exhibition, Coventry Concours, is to return in 2022 with a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee theme, showcasing 70 years of the City’s motoring heritage.

This year’s Coventry Concours will take place on September 10^th and 11^th, as part of the main MotoFest Coventry festival weekend. This free to attend event, will once again give the opportunity for the City’s most iconic cars and motorcycles the chance to display in the iconic Coventry Cathedral Ruins.

With the Queen’s Jubilee theme for this year’s event – sponsored for the second year running by prestige classic, sports and racing car sales brand Car-Iconics – organisers are looking to attract vehicles with a Coventry heritage, ranging from the 1950’s through to the present day.

To truly celebrate the Queen’s reign, Coventry Concours 2022 will expand the curated display and include motorcycles and modern vehicles to take part, with the entry criteria going from 1950 right up to the last decade and the modern day. A genuine celebration of Coventry’s long motoring heritage and future.

As with last year’s event, Coventry Cathedral will provide an atmospheric backdrop to proceedings, enabling Coventry Concours to emulate the glamour and glitz of globally renowned ‘Concours’ such as the Salon Prive and Pebble Beach events. It will also feature a celebrity judging panel with Sarah Crabtree, of TV’s Bangers and Cash fame, confirmed as the first judge for the competition. 

James Noble, MotoFest Coventry Festival Director, said: “The Coventry Concours in 2022 will align with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, as we celebrate 70 years of both our Monarch’s reign and the City’s motoring heritage.

“While we are still looking for the best examples of classic and vintage vehicles and motorcycles, for this year we will also be accepting modern vehicles and motorcycles into the competition.

“The judging will be done in categories of each decade of the Queen’s reign from the 1950’s through to present day.

“We welcome renowned car sales brand Car-Iconics as a sponsor for the second year running and the Association of Heritage Engineers in supporting the organization of the show, we again have partners on board as prestigious as the event itself.

“It’s set to be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with beautiful, premium heritage cars and motorcycles showcasing the best of Coventry’s car and motorcycle manufacturing expertise in an atmospheric setting.”

The inaugural Coventry Concours took place last year on Saturday 24th July and Sunday 25th July 2021 and followed on from a successful online ‘Coventry Concours’ event in June 2020.

Coventry Concours was won in 2021 by a 1939 Daimler DB18 Dolphin, owned by Adrian Clarke, with a rich Coventry history. The blue and silver pre-war tourer was manufactured in Coventry’s Daimler factory in 1939, and despite suffering bomb damage during the Blitz, survived to make its glorious return to the city as the Coventry Concours winner over 80 years later.

For those wanting to apply to enter their car or motorcycle for Coventry Concours 2022, please check out the criteria and application details at https://bit.ly/CovConcours2022. Applications for entries close at 5pm on Wednesday 18th May.

As part of MotoFest Coventry 2022’s past, present and future theme, there will be the traditional classic car, modern modified car and motorcycle static displays across the city entre. There will also be a significant future technology focus, with a showcase of the latest alternatively fuelled vehicles, electric cars and advanced automotive technology. 

MotoFest Coventry is a two-day festival dedicated to the city of Coventry’s motoring heritage, taking place on Saturday 10^th September and Sunday 11^th September 2022. It will feature a unique blend of racing demonstrations, static displays, live music, culture and many other elements all with a connection to Coventry, transport and the City’s motoring heritage. For more details about MotoFest Coventry, visit https://www.coventrymotofest.com/

MotoFest Coventry is back for 2022, with the return of its unique Ring Road circuit, new dates and a look into the motoring future among the highlights for this year’s festival.

Following last year’s scaled down format due to Covid restrictions, MotoFest Coventry 2022 will return on Saturday 10^th September and Sunday 11^th September 2022, with its biggest and boldest show yet. It will host a full events programme, based around the past, present and future theme.

This will include the return of the unique Sprint Circuit carved out of the city’s Ring Road and other dedicated urban spaces showcasing dynamic, live motorsport across the city centre.

The 2022 festival will also provide the finale for Our Future Moves, a project involving Coventry City Council, MotoFest Coventry and other regional partners, dedicated to showcasing the region’s work in world leading transport innovation, though a year-long celebration of events and activities.

Our Future Moves was officially launched in July 2021, with a major exhibition at Coventry Transport Museum. It also formed part of the first weekend of MotoFest Month 2021, held last year, which also included motorcycle and car themed events.

James Noble, MotoFest Coventry Festival Director, said: “We are delighted to announce the full return of the MotoFest Coventry 2022 festival.

“This year MotoFest Coventry will be back bigger and bolder than ever, with a non-stop cultural celebration of the city’s motoring past, present and future. We will welcome the return of traditional MotoFest favourites such as the unique Ring Road Sprint Circuit, live motorsport displays and motorbikes, both on and off the track, to name just a few of our most popular attractions.

“What will be new are the event dates of 10^th and 11^th September, replacing MotoFest’s traditional dates of the first weekend in June. We have made the decision to move from the June weekend this year as it plays host to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and other events in Coventry.

“By moving to September, we won’t clash with other events in the city and gives MotoFest fans the opportunity to enjoy the full, high-octane spectacle of the festival as it returns to its traditional one weekend format.

“With this year’s MotoFest Coventry weekend providing the finale to the Our Future Moves year-long celebration of transport innovation, we again look forward to putting on the UK’s biggest and best, free to attend, motoring festival.”

Cllr Abdul Salam Khan, Cabinet Member for Events, at Coventry City Council added: “I’m delighted to hear about the return of MotoFest Coventry for 2022 as I know how popular this event is in both engaging Coventry residents and encouraging people from outside the city to visit and enjoy their weekend here in the city.

“Coventry has an amazing history and ongoing exciting story to tell on transport, innovation and how we are at the forefront of automotive design and technology.

“MotoFest is another great event for Coventry to host and I’m sure the weekend will be a roaring success later this year.”

As part of MotoFest Coventry 2022’s past, present and future theme, there will be the traditional classic car and modern modified static car displays across the city entre. There will also be a significant future technology focus, with a showcase of the latest alternatively fuelled vehicles, electric cars and advanced automotive technology. 

MotoFest Coventry is a two-day festival dedicated to the city of Coventry’s motoring heritage, taking place on Saturday 10^th September and Sunday 11^th September 2022. It will feature a unique blend of racing demonstrations, static displays, live music and anything else with a connection to Coventry, transport and the city’s motoring heritage.

We have had a very busy and exciting year despite Covid with the adaption to our main motoring festival and many other automotive themed events.

Coventry Moves – City of Culture’s Opening Event

The first event for MotoFest in 2021 was supporting Coventry UK City of Culture with their opening event. This saw residents, artists and professionals all coming together to deliver an extravaganza of everything Coventry.

 You, Club MotoFest, came out in force to support and show the variety of Coventry designed and manufactured vehicles to highlight ‘People Power’ within the city’s roots, supported by Ska, Irish and Bhangra dancers performing along the route.

MotoFest Month 2021

With the ever changing Covid restrictions and the need to keep all of our team and audience safe, we switched up our traditional motoring festival into separate weekends spread out over a month during summer 2021.

Our first weekend save the launch of Our Future Moves, a year of Transport Innovation highlighted with an exhibition within the Coventry Transport Museum. This project not only helps our city and region to continually be the leaders in automotive development, but helps MotoFest highlight the future outlook of our three perspectives (Past, Present and Future).

Were you able to visit the Our Future Moves exhibition? If not, you can still visit the online Our Future Moves exhibition here.

Motorcycles at MotoFest Month 2021

Weekend two saw the roar of hundreds of Motorcycles ride once more into Coventry City Centre after a scenic ride in from Coombe Abbey taking in the beauty of the South Warwickshire countryside.

Once in Coventry, our riders helped fill the new City of Culture event space – Assembly Festival Gardens. We saw individuals, clubs and small businesses all thriving under the newly released Covid restrictions.

We also welcomed the return of the Fox Family Wall of Death which wowed visitors with their death defying stunts. Alongside, MotoFest Team member Paul Malin, taking on the challenge of the Wall of Death for the first time ever, to raise money for some incredible charities! Read more about this here.

Coventry Concours at MotoFest Month 2021

MotoFest Month 2021 saw the first physical Coventry Concours competition, after the event had to go digital in 2020.

Coventry Concours is an authentic Coventry take on the traditional Concours D’Elegance format.

The event began with all participating vehicles driving through the City Centre, before parking up on display in the world-famous Coventry Cathedral ruins as part of the two-day extravaganza. We had an esteemed panel of judges who reviewed all the vehicles, why not check out who our Concours winners were here.

Drive Ins at MotoFest Month 2021

During the final week of MotoFest Month 2021, we hosted a variety of Drive In events including a cinema experiences to celebrate Coventry, as City of Culture. Featuring the BBC Four documentaries, Classic British Cars: Made in Coventry and Coventry Cathedral: Building for a New Britain.

We were then joined by families to honour our love of all things automotive with the showings of two iconic films – Disney’s Cars and Blues Brothers. 

Finally, for one night only, we hosted a live stage show packed with awesome music, guest interviews and plenty of laughs, plus appearances from the Riley Car Club and Victor Riley, grandson of the firm’s founder William Riley.

MotoFest Car Weekend at MotoFest Month 2021

The final weekend of MotoFest Month 2021 saw Broadgate, in the centre of the city became a showcase for classic Bentleys, Daimlers, Lotuses and many more famous marques, including some fine examples of the city’s most iconic motoring marvel – the Jaguar e-type.

The car clubs and individual enthusiasts had driven from as far afield as Manchester and the South of England, all drawn to Coventry by the clarion call of MotoFest’s annual homage to the city’s motoring heritage.

Just a short stroll from Broadgate, Coventry marque Riley celebrated its 125-year anniversary with a display of vehicles that showcased its own rich automotive history outside Coventry Cathedral

Alongside the classic metal on display in the city, there was also plenty of high octane, turbo charged car fun for the modern, motoring enthusiasts. The Modern Modified, modern classics and modified cars under 30 years old, took part in a Modern Modified display in the former Ikea car park.

Heroes Hour Parade at MotoFest Month 2021

On the final day, MotoFest celebrated the local unsung heroes of the pandemic, as 15 individuals took part in a special ‘Heroes Hour’ vehicle parade. The community heroes were taken on a tour of Coventry in a vehicle parade featuring Ecto1 the famous converted American ambulance from the Ghostbusters film escorted by an array of American Police cars and a military vehicle of the type featured in Ghostbusters.

Our Future Moves Events

After an adrenaline fuelled summer, the team turned their attention to the future view of MotoFest. We joined with Coventry and West Midlands based partners to host a series of Our Future Moves outdoor events highlighting the amazing technologies and innovations we have available right now in our city and region.

With trial areas, local businesses on display and not forgetting breakfast being served by Esquires. We saw Millennium Place, come to life with bicycles, e scooters, classic cars, electric vehicles and motorcycles showing us a glimpse of how our future streets might look.

Christmas Carols Under the Arches

The final event for MotoFest this year, has been our much loved Christmas Carols Under the Arches.

Back by popular demand, we adapted our previous Drive In only format to allow for a standing audience too. Partnering with our friends at Jubilee Church and City Church we were able to host two memorable evenings of Christmas fun and music.

Looking forward to 2022

As we look forward to 2022, the team at MotoFest Coventry are deep into planning and finalising the dates and details of our main festival in summer 2022. We will also be running a series of exclusive and early access Club MotoFest events.

Find out the latest on all this and more by following us on social media using the buttons below and catch our first Club MotoFest News of 2022 on 26th January.

Until then, heres to a Happy and Healthy New Year!

The Association of Heritage Engineers (AoHE) has launched a new initiative in collaboration with its members, AoHE trade specialists and supporters aimed at engaging with a wider public audience. 

Many in the driven heritage and classic vehicle community have done their best to minimise their impact on the planet over decades, the community is already quite exceptional at recycling, repurposing, restoring and repairing. The AoHE feel that now is the time to share the community’s credentials more widely as well as demonstrating that we all realise the world is changing and we need to play our part moving forward. 

Those involved so far include ‘tuning guru’ Iain Tyrrell, Coventry MotoFest and AoHE members the Vintage Sports Car Club, Classic Project Shop, Classic Performance Engineering, Blue Diamond Riley Services, The Classic Engine Workshop, TyreDox and Vintage Tyres.

Dominic Taylor-Lane Founder and MD of the AoHE said: 

“As various political agendas move forward I feel it wise that we set and control our own rather than wait for any to be imposed and we certainly need to be both progressive and certainly not be seen as belligerent. AoHE is very privileged to have a number of high profile supporters from both politics and the media prepared to help us, providing our message is both level headed and in tune with what is happening. 

As the initiatives title suggests, it is about encouraging those within our community, owners and businesses, to make classic vehicles as efficient, safe and ‘clean’ as they can be, that, on top of the data from the 2021 FBHVC survey detailing owner habits and spending, will I hope, make a compelling case moving forward for our place in a new future. 

We aim to involve all our AoHE specialists in the initiative from those in engines and carburettors to tyres, oils and fuels.

We will also have the support of, amongst others, Iain Tyrell. His YouTube channel currently has 104k subscribers, over 6 million views, his videos on tuning in particular have really caught the public’s attention worldwide. This is not about sensationalism, but an attempt to the best we can be, responsible and aware of the public’s perceptions and concerns about our industry. 

The initiative is open to all those AoHE members and supporters wishing to take part.’

MotoFest Coventry’s Car Weekend saw hundreds of classic cars on display across the city as this year’s new month-long format was hailed a ‘success’ by organisers of the festival.

For Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th August, the Broadgate area in the centre of the city became a showcase for classic Bentleys, Daimlers, Lotuses and many more famous marques, including some fine examples of the city’s most iconic motoring marvel – the Jaguar e-type.

The car clubs and individual enthusiasts had driven from as far afield as Manchester and the South of England, all drawn to Coventry by the clarion call of MotoFest’s annual homage to the city’s motoring heritage. 

Just a short stroll from the city centre display, those attending the Car Weekend were further rewarded as Coventry marque Riley celebrated its 125-year anniversary with a display of vehicles that showcased its own rich automotive history.

With the city’s iconic Coventry Cathedral providing a wonderfully atmospheric backdrop, the city’s University Square was filled with an array of the coupes, tourers and saloons that help shape Riley’s reputation as one of the city’s most famous car and bike manufacturers.

James Noble, MotoFest Coventry Festival Director, said: “We are delighted to have rounded off this year’s new month-long format with the Car Weekend, a great success and a fitting finale to the festival programme.

“It’s amazing to see so many people travelling from all over the country to visit MotoFest Coventry. One such example is a gentleman from the Gay Classic Car Club, who travelled down from Manchester in his Bentley turbo R on Saturday morning and drove home Saturday evening. He enjoyed the day so much he drove back to Coventry again the next day!

“That’s the attraction of MotoFest Coventry, even in a Covid disrupted year people still make the effort to attend the festival and we thank all of them for their support.

“It’s been a difficult event to stage this year due to the challenging circumstances but our incredible MotoFest team, the City Council and all our sponsors and supporters have helped make it a great success. We will return bigger and better next year, with the Ring Road Sprint Circuit and various arenas all set to return, with new elements to the show that will continue to celebrate the city’s rich, automotive heritage.”

Alongside the classic metal on display in the city, there was also plenty of high octane, turbo charged car fun for the modern, motoring enthusiasts. The Modern Modified, modern classics and modified cars under 30 years old, took part in a Modern Modified Show and Shine competition and the ‘MotoFest Underground’ evening display.

On Sunday, MotoFest celebrated local unsung heroes of the pandemic, as 15 individuals chosen through a public nomination process, took part in a special ‘Heroes Hour’ vehicle parade. The community heroes were taken on a tour of Coventry in a vehicle parade featuring Ecto1 the famous converted American ambulance from the Ghostbusters film escorted by an array of American Police cars and a military vehicle of the type featured in Ghostbusters.  

Following the parade, Ecto1, the American Police cars and military vehicle all parked up as part of the Modern Modified Car display.

MotoFest Coventry is dedicated to the city’s motoring heritage, taking place in 2021 across three weekends in July and August as part of the new MotoFest Month 2021 schedule.

As the largest free motoring festival in the UK, it brings live motorsport, including dynamic motorsport displays, classic and modern vehicles, and the cutting edge of automotive innovation right into the heart of the UK’s Motor City, free for everyone to enjoy across three weekends.