Veloce: all-change for 2020

As Covid-19 sees another Goodwood trackday cancelled, so charity organisers think laterally for new September event

A LEADING charity event has reinvented itself due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And despite having to resort to a Plan B, organisers of the Veloce trackday are still optimistic of raising £100,000 for Hope For Tomorrow and The Halow Project.

Masterminded by well-known collector Peter Neumark and Chris Bucknall of V Management, the Veloce day has traditionally been a star-studded occasion where people receive hot(ish) laps of Goodwood in priceless dream machinery with the likes of F1 World Champion Damon Hill, Le Mans legend and

columnist Derek Bell, or young gun Jamie Chadwick at the wheel.

To replace the 70-person trackday in which each guest gets a trio of three-lap sessions in a range of cars (see 186), organisers have come up with two new activities.

First of all there will be a photoshoot – but no ordinary photoshoot – during Salon Privé on 23 September. Guests will be able to have professional photos of themselves and their car taken at Blenheim Palace along with two of the event’s star drivers, with the roster of names likely to include Damon Hill, Derek Bell, Richard Attwood, Ross Brawn and Marino Franchitti, with others yet to be confirmed.

The cost is £285 for a framed and signed photo, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. It does not include entry to Salon Privé. There should also be a static display of Veloce cars from iconic Ferraris to Le Mans Jaguars.

The second fundraising drive will be via an online auction next month. Veloce will be offering 12 spectacular online auction lots on collectingcars.com for seven days from midSeptember (precise dates to be confirmed). Lots pledged so far include paddock passes for the 2021 Silverstone Grand Prix (plus possibly lunch with Ross Brawn and other F1 luminaries), seven nights in a six-bedroom villa in the South of France to coincide with the 2021 Grand Prix de Monaco Historique (and including four grandstand tickets in Casino Square), one of Damon Hill’s racesuits, and a long weekend in an apartment overlooking Lake Como at the same time as the 2021 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.

For full details, regular updates and to register, visit v-management.com and then follow the link to Veloce.