The race is on at MOTOFEST!
A FIRST FOR CITY AS LICENCE GRANTED FOR RACING AT ANNUAL SPEED FESTIVAL
COVENTRY will be the first place in the UK to host competitive motorsport in its city centre for almost 30 years, it has been revealed.
Motofest Coventry will be held on June 2 and June 3 this year, and the event has been granted a motorsport licence to allow drivers to race against the clock during time trials on the city’s roads.
The decision of the Motor Sport Association also clears the way for Motofest Coventry to host sprints and specialist road rally stages at the festival in the future.
A series of time trial events, drawn from the British Automobile Racing Club’s (BARC) various championship series, will be hosted on roads in Coventry city centre during Motofest.
The unique city centre sprint circuit will be carved out of Coventry’s ring road.
It will be the first time competitive motorsport has been hosted on a UK city centre circuit since the Birmingham Superprix in 1990, after the Motor Sport Association’s (MSA) agreed to issue a licence for the Motofest Coventry 2018 event.
Motofest Coventry has been working closely with the MSA and Coventry City Council to host a competition event since April 2017 when the MSA, and its sister governing body for two-wheel UK motorsport, the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU), were made the authorising bodies for closed road motorsport events.
James Noble, Motofest Coventry festival director, said: “Motofest Coventry is very excited and proud to be at the forefront of bringing competitive motorsport back to UK city centre roads.
“We have made no secret of our desire to host competitive motorsport on the Coventry Ring Road and we are now in a position to make this a reality.
“The Motofest Coventry team would like to thank the MSA, Coventry City Council and the BARC for all their support and assistance in enabling us to bring competitive motorsports to Coventry, the UK’s spiritual home of motoring.
“After Coventry’s recent winning of City of Culture status, being the first to host competitive motorsport since the legislation changes is another superb achievement for the city.
“We look forward to putting on a great show filled with the thrills and excitement you would expect of the UK’s largest free urban motorsport festival.”
Since 2010 the MSA has called for a change in the law to allow local authorities to suspend the Road Traffic Act for authorised motorsport events, without requiring individual Acts of Parliament.
Primary legislation providing the framework for closedroad motorsport was passed in the 2015 Deregulation Act and since then the MSA has worked closely with the Department for Transport (DfT) on the secondary legislation required to make this framework available to event organisers. This comprises an impact assessment with the commencement order.
The commencement order names the MSA and its sister governing body for two-wheel UK motorsport, the AutoCycle Union (ACU), as the two authorising bodies for closedroad motorsport events from April 10, 2017 and onward.
Motofest Coventry is a twoday festival dedicated to the city’s motoring heritage, which this year takes place on Saturday, June 2 and Sunday, June 3.
There will be a range of automotive activities taking place from pop-up and demonstration events to static displays and fringe events at Motofest Coventry, now the largest free urban motorsport festival in the UK.
We look forward to putting on a great show filled with the thrills and excitement expected of the UK’s largest motorsport festival. James Noble