Thousands of petrolheads raise money for charity at CarFest

More than 60,000 petrolheads made the trip to Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire over the August Bank Holiday weekend for this year’s CarFest South.

The brainchild of Radio 2 presenter and Top Gear host Chris Evans, CarFest has raised more than £3.5m for BBC Children In Need since it started in 2012. Donations are still being counted from the two 2015 events, but the total is expected to rise to nearly £5m.

Evans presented all three days at the festival, which combines cars, music and food, is hugely popular with families. There was even a special edition of the BBC’s One Show broadcast live from the event on Friday evening.

Evans said, ‘It’s been the best CarFest ever. We've got to do it again, we've no choice - it's too much fun!’

As always, there was an eclectic mix of motors on display, including many from Evans’ own collection, as well as Grand Prix racers owned by 1979 Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter, the man who runs Laverstoke Park Farm.

So the crowds got to see a selection of Evans’ Ferraris, including a 1963 250 SWB, 1971 365 GTB/4 Spyder, 1989 328 GTS and the 275 GTB ‘C’ alloy, which is being sold at auction next month.

They also saw Scheckter pilot his F1 winning Ferrari 312… which he nearly binned on Saturday after getting a bit too enthusiastic on the hillclimb.

Other highlights included an Austin A30 pick-up hot rod, an F1-engined Ford Transit (the Supervan), and Colin McRae’s Subaru Imprezza WRC rally car. Plus a road-legal powered sofa driven by Edd China, another of the numerous TV personalities present.

Great British Bake Off presenters Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

Away from the on-track action, there was plenty to keep the family occupied. Great British Bake Off presenters Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood lead the food-based festivities with a competition called ‘Cakes vs Pies’ while the ‘Best of British’ tent gave show-goers the chance to sample a selection of local, handmade produce.

Kids (both young and old) got the chance to enjoy displays from the Red Barrows wheelbarrow acrobatics team, the ‘dancing’ diggers, taking part in a circus and even presenting the news – thanks to a display from BBC South West.

And as the day drew to a close, the party started with music across all three nights. There was something for everyone with performances from Jools Holland, The Boomtown Rats, Seasick Steve, Paloma Faith, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Texas and Level 42. Closing the festival on the Sunday were pop legends Take That, who were followed by a sensational firework display.

More information on CarFest South can be found on the official website at www.carfest.org

Pop band Take That closed the festival on Sunday night