RACE TO SAVE CAR MUSEUM
With less than 48 hours to hit £300k target, the new exhibition celebrating Jim Clark and the classics he drove may never open
Anew museum honouring Jim Clark and the cars he drove will be axed this Friday unless campaigners can hit a £300k fundraising target by Friday (21 April). At the time of writing, the Berwickshire attraction needed more than £16,000 to get the green light. The campaign has actually raised more than £200,000 in total from private funding, £620,000 from the Scottish Borders Council and a further £645,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. If the remainder isn’t raised from a public crowd fund the scheme will also miss out on other funding necessary for work to go ahead. If the fundraising is successful, work on the museum, supported by Sir Jackie Stewart, will start later this year. Jim Clark Trust secretary Ben Smith is appealing to classic fans to help make the scheme a reality. He says: ‘If we miss the target, then the project won’t go ahead.’
Classics could soon be racing on Coventry’s ring road following changes to closed-road rules in mainland Britain.
The Coventry Motofest is one of the first events to start the approval process to get such event up and running.
The Department for Transport (DfT) approved closed road motor sport from 10 April this year following pressure from classic car enthusiasts and the Motor Sport Association (MSA).
James Noble, Coventry Motofest Festival director, says: ‘We have made no secret of our desire to host competitive motorsport on the Coventry ring road and this change in the legislation should enable us to do exactly that.
‘We will now look carefully at the legislation and will aim to be competitive as soon as the legislation allows.’
A Coventry ring road race would be around 2.25 miles in length and encompass both the old and new cathedrals as well as the city’s university.
Noble is aiming to get something in place for the free Coventry Motofest event on 3-4 of June this year, but a full ring road race is likely to happen at a future event due to the amount of time it will take to set up.
The MSA is expecting medium to large scale events to host the majority of closed road events in the future due to the scale, costs and closure orders necessary to host races.
It is already working with a ‘small number of events that have well advanced plans’.
A spokesperson from the MSA says: ‘ The organising club must apply to the local highway authority for a road closure, giving a minimum of six months’ notice after already obtaining permission from the MSA.
‘ The MSA has to vet the race route, draft a safety plan and liaise with other local authorities. Realistically a club will typically need to allow 12 months to go through the approval process.’