Bake-Off judge brings Hollywood glamour to Coventry Motofest
Coventry’s motoring heritage is being celebrated this weekend with the return of the popular two-day automotive festival, Motofest 2017.
The event is now the largest free urban motorsport festival in the UK and is expected to attract around 125,000 visitors to the city.
Set in the spiritual homeland of the British motor industry and utilising a section of the city’s ring road specially closed off for the event, Coventry Motofest features a blend of racing demonstrations, static displays, live music and lots more.
One of the highlights of the 2017 festival will see organisers pay tribute to the late Sir Roger Moore with the original Aston Martin DBS he drove in The Persuaders TV series going on display at Coventry Cathedral during the weekend.
The Aston Martin DBS will be among a host of intriguing and exotic machinery on display, which also includes a Ferrari 488 GTB driven to Motofest from Maranello in Italy by automotive vlogger Sam Fane.
The event will also be a celebration of Jaguar, a marque so long synonymous with the city, where a collection of the Big Cats will roar around the street circuit.
There will be an opportunity to experience fast laps, courtesy of the Jaguar Experience F-Type sports car, while visitors will also be able to see the XJR9 1988 Le Mans winning car and the rare XJ13, a prototype racing car built in the 1960s and the only one of its kind in the world.
Paul Hollywood, set to be celebrity driver at this year’s Coventry Motofest
Another highlight will be the Power Maxed Racing’s British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) Vauxhall Astra, which will be doing runs on the circuit with celebrity driver, Great British Bake-Off judge Paul Hollywood, at the wheel.
The Power Maxed BTCC car will be supplemented by an array of classic touring cars from past series and McLarens past and present will also be represented on track with a McLaren 12c Spider and a McLaren 650s Spider from the McLaren Owners Club.
Organisers will also be paying tribute on track to late rally driver Timo Makinen, who passed away in May, by running the Finn’s 1965 Monte Carlo Rally winning Mini Cooper S on the ‘Bennetts Sprint Circuit’.
