Aintree motorsport club honoured in competition

AN AINTREE organisation which helps to keep the town's connections with motor racing alive has been praised in a national motorsport competition.

Aintree Circuit Club was named as one of six motorsport organisations which reached the finals of the MSA Club of the Year 2012 competition, after their work in organising motoring events in the north west, notably the Ormskirk MotorFest, was praised by the judges at the Motorsport Industry Association.

Mike Ashcroft, the club's chairman, said: "The club is delighted to receive this reward from the MIA and came very close to winning at our first attempt.

”Our motorsport display in Ormskirk alongside the themed market certainly attracted a lot of attention and promoted the sport and motoring in a very positive way as well as providing something different for visitors to the town centre."

The overall winner was the South of Scotland Car Club, but Aintree Circuit Club has been presented with £100 for reaching the finals of the contest.

The club, which has organised the Ormskirk MotorFest for the past two years, helps to promote Aintree's historic connections with motor racing, including the five occasions when the town's circuit hosted the British Grand Prix.

MIA spokesperson Helen Jones said: ”We received a number of entry forms from MSA clubs who took part, and due to the high standard of applications, this initially proved difficult for our judges to decide upon an overall winner.

“The judges were so impressed with the quality of the top six, that they feel all should be publicly commended.”

To find out more about the club, visit their website at www.aintree.org.uk or call 0151 525 9314.

Ormskirk MotorFest 2013 event confirmed for August 25

PLANS to bring hundreds of cars and bikes to West Lancashire for a motorsport spectacular have got into gear after a 2013 Ormskirk MotorFest was confirmed this week.

Aintree Circuit Club and West Lancashire Borough Council have both confirmed that following the success of the motoring event in bringing thousands of people into the market town a 2013 event will take place in the town centre and at Coronation Park on Sunday, August 25.

Mike Ashcroft, chairman of Aintree Circuit Club, told Life On Cars: "We're delighted that we've been able to get the council to ratify next year's event and to agree the date, which means we've got a head start on making the 2013 MotorFest a big success.

"The extra months of preparation we've got will help to make it an even better event than the first two MotorFests, because we can improve on what we offer visitors and we can attract an even higher quality of entries, and get some great racing cars and bikes onto the streets of Ormskirk."

The 2011 and 2012 MotorFest events helped to give Ormskirk its two best ever trading days, with this year's event bringing 15,000 people into the town centre to see more than 300 classic cars and bikes and to witness the spectacle of F1 cars taking to the town's one-way system as part of a series of parades around the town.

West Lancashire Borough Council also confirmed to Life On Cars that a date had been given the green light, and that it was keen to make the 2013 event a success.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: "The council is delighted to confirm that we will be working with Aintree Circuit Club on MotorFest 2013. The event will be held on Sunday, 25 August.

"The first two Motorfests were hugely successful and more than 15,000 people visited Ormskirk. We are confident the 2013 event will also be a fantastic event. We are talking to the Circuit Club about exciting plans for MotorFest 2013 but at this stage it is too early to talk about the details."

The council also said it is seeking sponsorship to help make the 2013 MotorFest a success. Any organisations, companies or individuals who are interested in sponsoring the Motorfest should contact the Council’s Technical Services Manager Colin Brady on 01695 585125.

Plans for Skelmersdale karting track mooted by charity

PLANS are being revved up to turn a disused industrial site in Skelmeradale into the bigest indoor go-kart track in the north west.

The scheme, which has been submitted to the borough councill's planning department proposes turning a vacant unit at Pimbo Point, on Potter Place into a karting venue.

As well as for private and corporate users it will also be used for the training and education of young people.
The Mary Poppins Foundation charity are the applicants and intend to run the site on a non-profit basis.

The charity states: “The primary business of the company is to provide a brand new bespoke designed go kart facility.

”Our company will assist young people in education aged between 14–19 years old, and other local people of various age groups, with a view to helping them into future employment.

“Our company will also develop and deliver courses in conjunction with local community groups to help improve the quality of life for local people.”

“All machines will be brand new and our track will be the biggest indoor one in the north west region.”

The karts used will be four stroke, Honda 200cc 6.5 bhp engines, fitted with additional silencers and mufflers to help reduce noise output and improve CO2 emissions.

In addition, track ‘furniture' will help to minimise the noise heard outside the building during karting sessions. The charity would also use the venue as a training facility for young people in the town, aged between 14 and 19, with additional classroom and training facilities.

The proposals, if approved, would also create around 30 jobs.

Council planners believe the proposal will be given approval, particularly as it using a site which has been vacant since 2007.

In a letter to the foundation, West Lancashire borough planner Jonathan Harrison wrote: “Although the proposal is in principle contrary to Policy DE5 of the West Lancashire Replacement Local Plan and Policy EC1 of the West Lancashire Local Plan Publication Document, subject to a thorough justification being put forward it is likely that the proposed change of use would be recommended favourably and the benefits of bringing this vacant unit back into use would prevail.”

The application is due to be considered by West Lancashire Borough Council's planning department later this year.

Goodwood Revival breaks attendance records with 2012 show

MORE than 140,000 motorsport fans have helped make an automotive extravaganza with a retro twist into a record-breaking event.

The organisers of the Goodwood Revival, a celebration of motorsport of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s at the West Sussex circuit, said that this year's attendance figures made it their most successful show to date, with 146,000 petrolheads and retro fashion fans alike attending between September 14 and September 16.

I wasn't one of them but Life On Cars reader Judy Dix was, and has very kindly agreed to share a few pictures from the event:

If this trip down motoring's Memory Lane is your sort of thing, then you'll be probably be interested in a one hour documentary on the event being shown later this week. The programme will be shown on ITV4 this Thursday (September 27) at 8pm, then the following night at 7pm, and then on ITV1 at 12.05am on Wednesday, October 3.

All pictures courtesy of Judy Dix

Oulton Park Gold Cup 2012

YOU simply can't say no to the sight of a rally-prepared MK2 Escort going sideways.

Yes, I know that the Oulton Park Gold Cup was held last weekend - an eternity ago in news terms. I also know that, despite numerous invitations to go, I couldn't make it because newspapers don't really do Bank Holidays, so while everyone else was getting soaked at a race circuit in Cheshire I was in Southport, typing away at my desk.

Petrolhead and friend of Life On Cars Katie Massam did make it to the event, though, and sent these pictures over for anyone into a Scandinavian flick:

Have you got a story you'd like to share with Life On Cars send an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or simply leave a comment below...

2012 Ormskirk MotorFest set to attract thousands of visitors this weekend

THOUSANDS are expected to attend a full-throttle motorsport spectacular when it returns to Ormskirk town centre this Bank Holiday weekend.

The Ormskirk MotorFest, which is being held for the second time this Sunday (August 26) is expected to attract around 15,000 visitors as hundreds of exotic cars and motorbikes take part in displays and parades to celebrate more than a century of motorsport in the council-backed event.

Councillor Martin Forshaw, the council's portfolio holder for planning and development, said: “The Ormskirk MotorFest is a great day out for car enthusiasts and for the whole family.

"I am really looking forward to it and would encourage everyone to come along and enjoy the event. If you don’t, you will be missing out on a really special day."

A roll call of some of the mouthwatering motorsport machines are set to attend this Sunday's event, including a McLaren MP4-12C supercar, Metro 6R4 Group B rally cars, a Santa Pod top fuel dragster and classic Jaguar C-Type and E-Type sports cars among others. The bubble cars which proved a hit last year (pictured) are also set to wow the crowds once again.

This year's event will also help to support several charities, with a visit from the North West Air Ambulance - one of the mayor's charities this year - on the cards and a poignant parade in tribute to Southport superbike racer Ben Gautrey to help raise awareness of a charity set up in his memory.

Visitors to the show can also help to raise funds for the charities by entering a draw to win a ride round the town centre in one of the exciting cars taking part in the parade, while those volunteering to be safety marshals at the event will be entered into a draw to win £150.

Mike Ashcroft, Aintree Circuit Club Chairman, said: "I would urge everyone to come to the MotorFest and I am pleased we can support these charities.

"The draw we have organised will give an opportunity for visitors to ride in one of these unique machines."

The show starts at 11am, with displays along Moor Street, Aughton Street and in Coronation Park, with parades taking place around the town's one-way system later that afternoon.

A special launch magazine made by Life On Cars is now available to read on the Ormskirk MotorFest website. To find out more click here.

2012 Ormskirk MotorFest - Read the official magazine here!

IF YOU'RE looking forward to this year's Ormskirk MotorFest then has Life On Cars got a treat for you!

For the second year running I've been given the green light to team up with Aintree Circuit Club, the event's organisers, and produce the only magazine which has their official backing, and it's packed full of news, features and information all about the motorsport-themed event on August 26.

More than twice as long as previous Life On Cars magazines, it's a delve behind the scenes of the full throttle event taking place in Ormskirk on the Bank Holiday Sunday which I hope you'll enjoy reading as much as I've enjoyed creating.

See you there...

Open publication - Free publishing - More automotive

P.S: If you missed the chance to read the official magazine on last year's show you can check it out here.

The Mini show at Santa Pod was a drag for all the right reasons

YOU really needed earplugs to watch the jet car. The sound it made as it screamed past was utterly magnificent, but so loud it was actually painful.

Yesterday I thought I'd do something completely different to get my petrolhead kicks, which is why I jumped in the back of a mate's Saab for the long journey down the M1 to Santa Pod in Northamptonshire. The UK's home of drag racing was having one of its ‘Run What Ya Brung' days for Mini owners, called Mini In The Park.

The event does pretty much what it says on the tin - you pay a couple of quid, line your pride and joy up alongside someone else's pride and joy at the start of a quarter mile dragstrip, and see who gets to the other end first.

Even though I wasn't driving it was a joy to watch, particularly because there was definitely an unofficial element of Mini (the cheeky Brit runaround I've owned a couple of) versus MINI (the BMW-engineered city slicker of today). It was genuinely close stuff in some of the races - yes, the modern motor's got more power as standard, but the older cars came with all sorts of weird and wonderful modifications to make them go even faster. When one new MINI made a blistering start, only to make a large bang and deposit several expensive-looking bits of intercooler along the run, I wasn't sure if I was meant to laugh or cry.

A really quick run in a hotted-up Mini was somewhere between 10 and 15 seconds, but to appreciate the difference between really quick and a proper dragster you just had to see the jet car, a machine which manages to bend time because it's so brutally fast. I simply cannot believe it did a quarter of a mile in less than FIVE seconds, but it did, doing 265mph when it crossed the line! To put it into perspective, that's nought to the top speed of a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in a quarter of the length of Lord Street in Southport in less than the time it'll have taken you to read this sentence. Surreal stuff.

Even though I'll make sure I bring some earplugs again next time, drag racing's definitely worth the 350 mile round trip. In car nut terms it was like Christmas had come early, only there was a different sort of Santa involved.

Life On Cars took these pictures of the event:

Ormskirk MotorFest 2012 preparations move up a gear

PREPARATIONS are well under way for a motorsport spectacular later this month - and you're invited to join the action.

With less than three weeks to go before the Ormskirk MotorFest rolls into town in Sunday, August 26, the borough council and organisers Aintree Circuit Club are making final calls for volunteers to act as marshals and for owners of racing machines from the 1950s and 1960s to bring their vehicles to the event.

Councillor Martin Forshaw, the council's portfolio holder for planning and development, said: “We are all getting very excited about this year’s Ormskirk MotorFest. Make sure you put the event’s date in your diary and don’t miss a thoroughly enjoyable event.”

Last year's MotorFest helped Ormskirk enjoy its busiest ever trading day, with more than 10,000 visitors packing into the town centre, and this year the council, Aintree Circuit Club and main sponsors The Belfry Group are determined the event will be even bigger.

Among those who have already offered to help are members of residents' group New Way Tenants and Residents Association, who told Life On Cars that they would be volunteering as marshals to the positive impact the car and bike spectacular has on Ormskirk.

Group member Jane Thompson said: “The MotorFest is an excellent day out and I am in full support.

"This is an excellent event which puts Ormskirk on the map. Members of NWTRA are volunteering to help promote Ormskirk market town."

Organisers Aintree Circuit Club have also launched their new Friends of Ormskirk MotorFest scheme this week, which for a membership cost of £5 gets visitors a collector's badge, a specially-produced event brochure - and the chance to get a ride in one of the event's more exotic entrants around the streets of Ormskirk.

Signed up to appear are supercars and competition motorcycles, including one ridden by the late Joey Dunlop, a former world motorcycling champion. There will also be MG racing and rally cars, Metro 6R4, Group B rally cars and racing motorcycles, and the Santa Pod Raceway Top Fuel Dragster. Some of the vehicles will take part in parade laps around the town, and static displays will be on Moor Street, Aughton Street and Coronation Park.

If you have a competition car you'd like to enter, would like to volunteer as a marshal or would simply like more information about the event, visit the official Ormskirk MotorFest website at www.ormskirkmotorfest.com

Why can't karting be an Olympic sport?

AT LEAST one of the Simister clan's spent the weekend in Weymouth watching Team GB set sail in their quest for medals.

It's just a shame I don't share their enthusiasm; I'm not militantly anti-Olympics by any means, just relatively indifferent in much the same way I am with any global sporting spectacular that doesn't involve engines. The only horsepower at London 2012 is the sort Zara Phillips enjoys.

Which got me thinking; why can't motorsport feature in the Olympics in future? If you count the first modern Olympic Games as the IOC's efforts in Athens in 1896, then the games aren't even as the old as the car itself, a chap called Karl Benz having invented his first runabout a decade earlier. Almost as soon as Karl had finished did someone suggest it'd be sporting to race one of these newfangled horseless carriages against another, and as a result motorsport has generally been regarded as a proper form of competition for more than a century.

It's about time motorsport finally featured in the Games and I've got just the thing lined up; karting. Because it's the stepping stone to almost every other form of automotive competition, it's the fairest and purest form of motorsport, giving everyone from the ballsy beginner to the hardened Le Mans veteran a fair crack at the whip.

All sorts of Olympic sports involve some sort of technology by their very nature, from Bradley Wiggins' bike to Rebecca Adlington's swimsuit, both of which I'm sure are more sophisticated and scientifically developed for speed than their supermarket equivalents. Karting, I know from personal experience, puts everyone on a level playing field and sorts out the wannabes from the truly quick - and there's no room for racing driver excuses.

It'd also finally answer one of motorsport's trickiest questions - who, truly, is the fastest? It's hard to argue Michael Schumacher is undisputably the best driver of modern times if his string of championship wins were backed up by the might of Ferrari married to the technical genius of Ross Brawn (we'll gloss over Michael's ‘difficult third album' drives for Mercedes). But if he beat Ken Block, Sebastian Loeb, Lewis Hamilton (pictured) and The Stig in identical karts to take the Olympic Karting gold medal, we'd know for sure. Providing there's no doping involved, of course.

I know you're probably thinking it's a sport that involves more machine than man but if you gave the cream of the world's drivers identical karts and set them off on an identical London 2012 track, it'd be fair game. And - to me at least - even more watchable than the beach volleyball.

Burning rubber at the Jaguar Land Rover factory

IT’S NOT every day one of Britain's biggest car companies lends you an enormous factory car park to play with.

Yet that’s exactly what Jaguar Land Rover did when they lent Aintree Circuit Club the use of part of their Halewood factory – home of the Range Rover Evoque – for an AutoSolo event earlier today, as part of the club’s calendar of motorsport events.

AutoSolo is a great form of entry-level motorsport and a bit of a petrolhead thrill in its own right, because you can enter in pretty much anything in have and blast. The inaugural event at the Jaguar Land Rover factory attracted a pretty eclectic entry list, with everything from cheap ‘n’ cheerful Micras and Corsas, hot hatch classics like the Peugeot 205 GTI and the Golf GTI, and rear wheel drive roadsters like the Caterham Seven and the Mazda MX-5.

The event, held in the factory’s 50th anniversary year, saw an expansive car park converted into a twisty course, which more than thirty cars took a crack at trying to complete.

The competitors made the best of the changeable conditions and used the damp course to get some of the more colourful entries seriously sideways – for me, the highlight of the day was watching one driver drifting his diminutive Suzuki Whizzkid!

If you’d like to find out more about AutoSolo events in the near future, visit the Aintree Circuit Club website for details of forthcoming fixtures.

Aintree Circuit Club are also organising this year's Ormskirk MotorFest, which takes place on August 26. Keep an eye on Life On Cars over the coming weeks for special coverage of the event...

Jaguar Land Rover factory to host exciting Autosolo event

ENTHUSIASTS are being given the chance to get behind the wheel at Jaguar Land Rover's home in the north west at an event next weekend.

The new facility at the firm's factory in Halewood will play host to an Autosolo event next Saturday (August 4) - and there's still time for petrolheads to enter into the event and put their own cars through their paces.
Aintree Circuit Club, which is organising the event, said: "We are indebted to the management of the factory for allowing us the use of one of the car parks. Jaguar Land Rover are celebrating their 50th anniversary of the plant this year so we hope to see a good turnout to thank them.

"The event will follow a similar format to other AutoSOLOs, with open flowing tests on various surfaces, a handbrake will not be essential to get round the course. If you haven’t seen an AutoSOLO before then rest assured that this is not a memory contest. Although there is no passenger the tests are laid out with numbers and markers to help you find the way round.

"We are running a dual permit event, the National B event being a round of the ANWCC Autosolo Championship. The BTRDA have invited us to be a round in their Autosolo Championship as well as in the Newcomer’s Autosolo Challenge, which is open to Juniors under 25 and those who have not held a MSA competition license in the past ten years. Running in parallel will be a PCA counting towards the ANWCC Junior PCA Championship.

"Remember that the event is only open to road legal cars driven to the event. The Clubman entrants don’t need a competition licence but make sure that your club membership is up to date. You can always join Aintree Circuit Club on the day if you wish to compete. National B competitors must have a 2012 competition licence. We are hoping for a good entry so please get your entry in as soon as possible."

There's still time to enter - the deadline is 8.30am on Saturday, August 4 - with entry costing £23 or £25 depending on the exact event entered. For more information call 0151 525 5060/07821 230961 or send an email at mja@aintree.org.uk

Aintree Circuit Club is also looking for volunteers to act as marshals to help make the event a success. If you'd like to get involved, send an email to nickstafford@mail.com.

300mph dragster and glamorous rally driver both ready for Ormskirk MotorFest 2012

IMAGINE rocketing from a standstill to 300mph before you can finish reading this sentence.

That's what the top fuel dragster - one of the fastest accelerating vehicles on earth - is capable of, and organisers of next month's Ormskirk MotorFest confirmed this week it will be returning to the town after proving one of the biggest crowd pullers at last year's event.

Councillor Martin Forshaw, West Lancashire Borough Council's portfolio holder for planning and development, said: “The Top Fuel Dragster was incredibly popular with visitors last year and I am really pleased it is coming back for this year’s Ormskirk MotorFest.

"It is one of many fabulous vehicles that will be lined up on our streets on a fabulous day out for all the family. So put the date of 26 August in your diary and come along."

The top fuel dragster, which can reach 100mph in less than a second is one of just hundreds of exotic machines headed for the market town on August 26, with many set to take to the town's one-way system for a series of parades.

Glamorous rally driver Becky Kirwan, the current BRC Challenge Ladies Champion, will also be at the event, to show how young enthusiasts can enter motorsport and succeed.

Mike Ashcroft, Aintree Circuit Club Chairman, said: "The Ormskirk MotorFest entertained a huge crowd of all ages last year and this year it promises to be even bigger and better.

“We have a fantastic line up of two and four-wheeled machinery spanning nearly a century of automotive history from vintage classics to modern supercars and bikes.”

Anyone wishing to enter their classic car or motorcycle has until August 11 to get in touch, while this week it has been announced that any marshals will be entered into a draw with a top prize of £75 for one lucky volunteer.

 

To find out more about the event, to book a trade stand or to volunteer to be a marshal, go to the event's official website at www.ormskirkmotorfest.com

Aintree Circuit Club calls for volunteers to help make 2012 Ormskirk MotorFest a success

THE organisers of this year's Ormskirk MotorFest are calling on a small army of volunteers to help make sure the motorsport spectacular runs smoothly when it revs up next month.

Aintree Circuit Club, who are organising the August 26 classic car and bike event, said it is looking for volunteers to act as stewards and marshals at the event when it draws hundreds of vehicles and thousands of spectators into the centre of the West Lancashire market town.

Mike Ashcroft, club chairman, said this week: "This year’s event will be bigger and better than 2011, with over 250 cars and bikes already registered with a special feature being a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the 1962 British Grand Prix, which was held just seven miles away at Aintree.

"As ever, an event of this magnitude will require a small army of volunteer marshals and stewards and I would like to invite you to assist us in the running of the event and register as a marshal for the day. We now have a super online registration system that will only take a few minutes to complete and you can also download and print forms, which you are welcome to distribute to family and friends who do not have internet access or just prefer to use a pen and post!"

Last week The Champion reported that preparations are already well underway for the August Bank Holiday event, which is also being supported by the borough council and lead sponsors the Belfry Group.

The club has also confirmed that even though it has yet to close the door on entrants hoping to bring their vehicles to the event the 2012 MotorFest has already attracted more entrants than last year's inaugural event, with more than 300 cars and motorbikes expected to take part.

As a token of thanks for the support volunteer marshals will give to the running of the event all volunteers will be provided with refreshments and a special souvenir pin badge, which will only be given exclusively to marshals and not offered to other visitors and participants in the event.

Life On Cars has followed the Ormskirk MotorFest closely since the event's inception last year, taking part in the inaugural in a 1972 MGB GT.

For more information about how to volunteer to be a marshal go to the Ormskirk MotorFest website.

Ultimate Classic Car Show 2012 at Oulton Park

All pictures courtesy of Gareth Connerty

IF YOU'VE ever wanted to put your pride and joy around a race track and check out scores of lovingly-restored classic cars, then today's been your lucky day.

Thousands of fans of all things automotive took up the chance to head to the Oulton Park circuit, in Cheshire, to do just that at the Ultimate Classic Car Show - but thanks to the show clashing with a friend's wedding Life On Cars wasn't among them.

Luckily, longtime reader, Ford Capri fan and Life On Cars' friend in the trade Gareth Connerty did manage to get his car into the show, and has just sent these pictures of some of the weekend's highlights over for you to enjoy:

 

If you've got an event or motoring story you'd like to share with Life On Cars, get in touch by looking at the About Us section or simply leave a comment below.