BEST LIVE CLUB EVENT

POP-UP CENTENARY ALVIS OWNER CLUB

Highly commended XJS CLUB NATIONAL DAY MG CAR CLUB SOCIAL

Club gatherings remain central to our hobby, and though many of our favourite events were forced to move online in 2020 there have still been more than enough shows, runs, rallies and celebrations before and between the lockdowns to produce a bumper crop of entries.

Both of our commended events were held at the same venue, whose expansive site allows for efficient social-distancing measures, even with a healthy turnout of visitors. That was proved by the MG Car Club, which celebrated its 90th birthday in 2020 with a Covid-compliant social event at the British Motor Museum in September that drew more than 300 MGS. All eras were represented, from the T Register – celebrating 75 years of the TC – to tributes to the late Don Hayter and 25 years of the MGF.

A month earlier, the BMM also played host to a hugely impressive 150 Jaguar XJ-SS to mark the Coventry coupé’s 45th anniversary, along with a special display of unique models from the Jaguar Heritage collection.

Our winner, however, was a rare highlight in a difficult year for the Alvis Owner Club, whose plans for a vast marque centenary party were repeatedly scaled back and in many cases have been postponed to 2021. But in August, the club mustered a fantastic display of more than 40 cars spanning the whole of Alvis production for a pop-up centenary show and cavalcade at Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire, including a selection of important and unusual cars courtesy of their host, Alvis enthusiast Dan Geoghegan.