Homepage News

MotoFest Coventry will return in 2024 to its traditional first weekend in June with a series of special anniversary celebrations set to be among the highlights of next year’s festival.

Organisers of MotoFest have officially announced Saturday 1 June and Sunday 2 June as the main festival weekend dates with the traditional motorcycle Ride In again set to be the curtain raiser to the weekend’s core festival programme.

MotoFest Coventry 2024 will host two major anniversary celebrations with MotoFest celebrating its 10-year event anniversary and also pay tribute to the Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) as they mark their 90th anniversary. While the official celebration of VSCC’s 90 years will occur later in the year, a prelude will be presented at the MotoFest Coventry weekend.

The VSCC is active in every aspect of motoring and motorsport for pre-war cars and is one of the largest and best-regarded motoring clubs in the world. As part of their 90th anniversary year, VSCC members and their cars will attend MotoFest 2024 to take part in a series of dynamic and static displays, in what is set to be one of the most spectacular highlights of the festival.

James Noble, MotoFest Coventry Festival Director, said: “We are delighted to announce the new date for MotoFest 2024, which will be a particularly special year as we celebrate ten years of MotoFest Coventry.

“From its humble beginnings in 2014, MotoFest Coventry has developed into the UK’s largest free-to-attend motoring festival, with over 200,000 visitors at this year’s event, and we are very proud of our achievements.

“Alongside our own anniversary celebrations, we are honoured to have the Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) join the party, with their own 90-year anniversary commemoration. We look forward to seeing VSCC members and their incredible cars take to the MotoFest sprint circuit for what will be one of the most amazing spectacles of next year’s show.

“As well as providing a showcase for Coventry’s motoring heritage, we will also be working with event partners such Coventry City Council to demonstrate the best in sustainable transport, low carbon motoring and advanced automotive and electric vehicle technology at next year’s show.

“We look forward again to the electrifying prospect of a special anniversary MotoFest Coventry in 2024, with our Past, Present and Future theme providing the foundation for the spectacular return of the UK’s biggest and best, free to attend, motoring festival.”

Tania Brown, Club Secretary for The Vintage Sports-Car Club, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of MotoFest Coventry’s 2024 celebration. The Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) has a rich history of promoting and preserving the heritage of pre-war cars and motorsport, and to attend this iconic event in our 90th year is a true honour.

“Many marques important to the Club have links to Coventry, and we can’t wait to showcase our cars and share our passion for classic motoring with the wider community.

“Moreover, we are also excited to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability within motorsport, as we believe in both preserving the past while embracing the future of automotive technology.”

Councillor Abdul Salam Khan, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Events at Coventry City Council, added: “I’m delighted to hear that MotoFest will be returning to Coventry in 2024 following the success of this year’s event.

“MotoFest is not only a key event in Coventry’s calendar, it’s a celebration of our city’s motoring heritage. It’s also a great way to show the city’s current transport projects and future plans.

“Next year the event will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. I expect we will see many residents attend the spectacular event as well as visitors from outside the city.”

The parade of VSCC member cars on the unique MotoFest Sprint Circuit will be one of the flagship events of MotoFest Coventry 2024 classic vehicle programme. This will also include the ‘Coventry Concours’ premium car show and the traditional classic car displays across the city centre.

MotoFest Coventry’s celebration of the city’s motoring heritage through its classic car element of the show has been formally recognised this year with nominations for two prestigious national classic car event awards. MotoFest has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Historic Motoring Awards ‘Concours of the Year’ award and for the Royal Automobile Club Historic Awards 2023 ‘Motoring Spectacle’ category.  

Dominic Taylor-Lane, Founder and Managing Director of the Association of Heritage Engineers, (AoHE) said: “It is an absolute privilege for the AoHE to co-host the Coventry Concours event.

“Being nominated for the two most prestigious awards in the industry in only its second year is really quite exceptional and a tribute to the event, the iconic venue, judges, entrants and the amazing team I am so proud to be a part of.”

As with the 2023 festival, the 2024 event will also have a significant future technology focus, with a showcase of the latest alternatively fuelled vehicles, electric cars and advanced automotive technology.

The new future technology zone which debuted in 2023 and is located in the main Greyfriars Green festival site, will again see exhibitors committed to showcasing the latest electric vehicles and motorcycles. Many of those two and four wheeled exhibits will also take part in dynamic displays on the main sprint circuit and the motorsport and drift arenas.

MotoFest 2024 will see the return of the unique Sprint Circuit, carved out of the City Centre Ring Road, and the new drift arena, launched at this year’s festival. This will be further supplemented by an events programme that includes dynamic and static vehicle displays, music, entertainment and exciting new additions to be unveiled in the coming months.

MotoFest Coventry is a two-day festival dedicated to the city of Coventry’s motoring heritage, taking place on Saturday 1 June and Sunday 2 June, 2024. 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.

For more details about MotoFest Coventry, visit https://www.coventrymotofest.com/.