The story behind the UK's newest and most inclusive car show
Colourful decor and bold signwriting was everywhere, matching the cars and the apparel of attendees, and the warmth of the sun matched that of the happy crowd – who were all invited to visit the museum's 400-car collection as part of their attendance.
A count-up of attending car-company models showed that the event had won support from Alpine, Aston Martin, Bentley, Dacia, Genesis, Jaguar, Land Rover, McLaren, Peugeot, Renault, Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen and more – all of them keen to stress the importance of diversity and inclusiveness both to the success of their businesses and the satisfaction of their employees and customers.
There were several prize winners: the butchest car was a 991 Porsche 911 GT3 (with a satanic-looking matt-grey Pontiac Catalina as runner-up) and the gayest car was a Mk3.5 Volkswagen Golf Cabrio in an almost overwhelmingly bright shade of Futura Yellow (with a tiny Lotus Europa as runner up).
But the programme-ending best story award was grabbed by a pair of blokes who had just finished rescuing and reviving an old Vauxhall Frontera from a local garden – on grounds that it didn't deserve to die – and had given it a vivid set of orange wheels to celebrate its new lease on life.
They had only just managed to squeeze it through the MOT test in time for the event and took the big prize to warm applause. Like so many tales on that sunny afternoon, it was an inspiring story of car love and optimism.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Auto Express
8 minutes ago
- Auto Express
Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra slash electric car prices
The Volkswagen Group has decided it doesn't want to wait around and see which of its EVs are eligible for the government's new Electric Car Grant scheme, and has cut £1,500 from the price of selected electric cars from Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra. The government recently announced a grant scheme for fully electric cars costing under £37,000, but it's still unclear which models will be eligible for £1,500 or £3,750 off their respective price tag. It's dependent on complex sustainability criteria – which is why we don't know which models will meet the government's grant just yet. For Volkswagen, the electric cars that fall under the German firm's new £1,500 'Grant Guarantee' include the ID.3 in Pure, Pro and Pro trim levels, along with the ID.4 in Pure and Pro - essentially excluding the GTX from both. The £1,500 grant would bring the entry-level ID.3 Pure Essential's price down to £29,360 and the ID.4 Pure Match to £38,090. Advertisement - Article continues below If the new £1,500 grant from Volkswagen isn't enough to tempt you, then check out the big savings through the Auto Express marketplace, where you'll find great deals on loads of pure-electric cars. As for Skoda, its grant covers the Elroq and Enyaq, in SE, SE L, Edition and SportLine trim. With the grant the Elroq will cost from £30,010 and the Enyaq £38,190. Cupra's grant is on the Born hatchback on V1, V2 and V3 trim levels - lowering the base price to £34,190. All three brands will run their new £1,500 'Grant Guarantee' until 31 August. Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra all say their grant 'will honour the £1,500 grant on the vehicles specified, even if the Government's grant is not awarded'. You won't be able to receive both the 'Grant Guarantee' and the Government Electric Car Grant on any of those models however. The latest moves follow similar offers or incentives from brands including Hyundai, Alfa Romeo, Kia and Leapmotor. Configure your perfect Skoda Elroq through our Find A Car service now. Alternatively, check out the best deals out there on a new Skoda Elroq from stock or top prices on used Skoda Elroq models...
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
How Hungarian Grand Prix practice unfolded
Update: Date: 17:17 BST 1 August Title: Norris tops Hungarian GP practice as Verstappen investigated Content: Andrew BensonBBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring Lando Norris headed team-mate Oscar Piastri to a McLaren one-two in Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Norris was 0.291 seconds quicker than the Australian, who leads the Briton by 16 points in the world championship heading into the last race before Formula 1's summer break. But neither driver had an ideal run in the second session - Norris had to abort his first flying lap after a mistake at Turn Two, while Piastri had heavy traffic on his fastest. Norris went again and beat the benchmark time set by Piastri, but his tyres would have not been in optimum condition. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was in 14th, and said over the radio: "I don't know what's going on. It's undrivable. I just can't get any balance." The four-time champion is also under investigation from race stewards after appearing to throw an item out of his cockpit whilst on track. Read the full report here Update: Date: 17:15 BST 1 August Title: FP3 build-up from 11:15 BST on Saturday Content: Friday in Budapest belongs to McLaren, and more specifically, Lando Norris, who has topped both session ahead of his team-mate Oscar Piastri. But the Australian has the upperhand in the drivers' championship, leading the Briton by 16 points, so Saturday's qualifying looks set to be a fascinating battle between the two drivers. Can anyone beat them? Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari has been the closest driver so far. We'll be back tomorrow from 11:15 BST to build up to third practice. And then it's full steam ahead for the fight for pole position, the final one before the summer break, which begins at 15:00. See you on Saturday! Update: Date: 17:13 BST 1 August Title: Andrew Benson Q&A: Send us your questions Content: What will be the main talking point after this weekend's race? Will it be something that can keep us satisfied throughout the summer break? Who knows. What I do know is Andrew Benson is ready to answer any of your questions, big or small, so send them through via the link here. Update: Date: 17:10 BST 1 August Title: And the rest Content: 11. Oliver Bearman (Haas) 12. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 13. Esteban Ocon (Haas) 14. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 15. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 16. Carlos Sainz (Williams) 17. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) 18. Alex Albon (Williams) 19. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 20. Franco Colapinto (Alpine) Update: Date: 17:07 BST 1 August Title: Top 10 Content: 1, Lando Norris (McLaren) - 1:15.624 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.291 3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.399 4. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.495 5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.609 6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.705 7. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.793 8. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.803 9. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.861 10. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.896 Update: Date: 17:04 BST 1 August Title: Chequered flag Content: That towel Max Verstappen lashed out of the cockpit is still on the track, and the stewards are going to investigate the incident after the session. A bit of drama at the end of the session. Lando Norris comes out of the pits but he locks up as team-mate Oscar Piastri goes round the outside of him at Turn One. Repeat that move on Sunday, lads. It's another McLaren one-two, with Norris the quicker driver once again. His top time was a 1:15.624 on the softs, over two tenths better than Piastri. Update: Date: 17:00 BST 1 August Title: Long-run corner Content: Andrew BensonBBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring Slightly compromised race data because of traffic. Hard to compare, but Ferrari look about half a second slower than McLaren. Aston Martin look pretty descent. I can't see many cars getting to that lap time apart from the McLarens. So maybe it'll be a good weekend for the Aston Martin. Update: Date: 16:59 BST 1 August Title: Post Content: Isack Hadjar is completing his long run preparation but a fiesty radio message comes in to Racing Bulls. "Is this guy doing this on purpose?!" he asks, as the Mercedes of George Russell is just ahead ploughing on with his own programme, slowly, in the eyes of Hadjar. Update: Date: 16:59 BST 1 August Title: Vasseur 'has an incredible vision' - Leclerc Content: When asked about Fred Vasseur's multi-year deal in the driver's news conference yesterday, Charles Leclerc said he was "really happy" the news was out in the open, especially as recent whispers had suggested the Frenchman's position as boss could be in doubt. "Fred has an incredible vision," said Leclerc "and I think what is difficult within Ferrari is, the emotion is very much part of the daily job because Italian people are extremenly passionate about Ferrari. "But Fred really knows how to leave his emotions aside and have a clear vivsion of where we are at, no matter how much noise there is around the team." Update: Date: 16:56 BST 1 August Title: Team principal Vasseur signs new Ferrari deal Content: Andrew BensonBBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring Frederic Vasseur has signed a new contract to continue as Ferrari team principal beyond the end of this year. The 57-year-old Frenchman's deal was due to run out at the end of 2025, but he has agreed what the team have called a "multi-year contract for the coming Formula 1 seasons". Vasseur joined the team at the start of 2023 on what was then a three-year deal. "I'm grateful for the trust Ferrari continues to place in me. This renewal is not just a confirmation - it's a challenge to keep progressing, to stay focused, and to deliver," he said. "Over the past 30 months we've laid strong foundations, and now we must build on them with consistency and determination." Update: Date: 16:53 BST 1 August Title: Post Content: What is going on at Red Bull? Even Max Verstappen is clueless as to why the car is, in his words, "undriveable" today. Balance has been mentioned again, so note that down for the Friday debrief. Update: Date: 16:52 BST 1 August Title: Post Content: Telemetry is back at Williams! The message to Carlos Sainz was quite frantic: "Box, box... no, stay out, it's back!" cried his engineer. Liam Lawson wasn't too happy with the Spaniard's positioning on track, but he was quickly informed Sainz was dealing with an issue, so no need for any complaints. Update: Date: 16:49 BST 1 August Title: Post Content: The medium tyres are on for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri - the top two so far in second practice - but Carlos Sainz and Williams are in a spot of bother. The team are trying to tell the Spaniard they've lost telemetry, but can he actually receive their messages? He's still out on track, so maybe not. Update: Date: 16:44 BST 1 August Title: Alonso moves to P5 Content: Fernando Alonso's sore back isn't hindering the 44-year-old in this session. He pops up with a 1:16.233 on the softs to go fifth behind team-mate Lance Stroll. Amazingly, Aston Martin were the only team not to score any points during last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, which was also a sprint event. Even bottom side Alpine picked up one point. Update: Date: 16:42 BST 1 August Title: Leclerc goes P3 Content: Charles Leclerc, on a track he says is his worst of the lot, finds some extra pace on the soft tyre to go back to third spot on the timesheets. The Ferrari man is 0.399 seconds away from the McLaren of Lando Norris. Speaking of Norris, George Russell had the best view of the Briton running wide on to the grass after dipping a wheel at the final corner. Russell is on the radio to his Mercedes pit wall to express his surprise. Update: Date: 16:39 BST 1 August Title: Post Content: Max Verstappen throws a rogue item out of his cockpit. It doesn't look like a visor tear-off, maybe it's a towel? Whatever it is, it shouldn't really be in there. And where did it land? Who knows. The Dutchman is down in 13th place, in a Red Bull that has already been flagged with balance issues this session. Update: Date: 16:36 BST 1 August Title: Stroll improves Content: These are encouraging push laps by Lance Stroll. Charles Leclerc briefly went P3 ahead of the Canadian but Stroll improves on his next soft run to return to the top three. The Aston martin has pulled out a 1:16.119, which is now 0.495 seconds away from Lando Norris best time. Update: Date: 16:34 BST 1 August Title: Norris beats Piastri's time Content: That's a rapid time by Lando Norris. The Briton places his McLaren above team-mate Oscar Piastri by 0.291 seconds. The papaya cars are way ahead of the field; Lance Stroll's marker in third, which is a great effort, is still nearly six tenths off the pace of Norris. Update: Date: 16:32 BST 1 August Title: Post Content: Andrew BensonBBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring We expect Aston Martin to have a better weekend. Expect Alonso to qualify closer to the top 10. Update: Date: 16:31 BST 1 August Title: Piastri quickest Content: The track is packed with red tyres. Kimi Antonelli slips into third place with a 1:16.520 in the Mercedes but that McLaren rocket ship is on thte prowl, lifting Oscar Piastri to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:15.915, which is three tenths faster than Lance Stroll's time in the Aston Martin.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Alexander Albon: There's nothing I'd do differently at Red Bull
In 2018, George Russell, Lando Norris and Alexander Albon finished first, second and third respectively in the Formula Two championship. The following year, they made their debuts in Formula One. Russell and Norris have since emerged as two of the finest drivers on the grid at Mercedes and McLaren and have 12 race wins and 57 podiums between them. Albon's path has been rougher. The 29-year-old had a tremendous first 12 races for Toro Rosso in his debut year. So good, in fact, that he was chosen by Red Bull to replace the under-performing Pierre Gasly alongside Max Verstappen midway through 2019. Albon fared better than his predecessor in what is surely the toughest job in F1, but was dropped at the end of 2020 after 26 races with the team. After that came a year out of F1, racing touring cars, before returning to the grid with Williams in 2022 when he replaced Mercedes-bound Russell. Since then he has steadily rebuilt his reputation whilst the team have done similar, both rebounding from turbulent times. After 13 rounds of this season Albon has 54 points and nine top-10 finishes. The only men above him in the standings drive either a McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull. Is this, then, the high point of his time in the sport? 'I'd say so, I think it's my best season,' Albon tells Telegraph Sport. 'We've had quite a few challenging races this year where it's been in mixed conditions as well. I think about Melbourne, Miami, Spa, Silverstone, and we always seem to have been able to get away with good points. 'I am very happy. I don't think it's been such a different year to my other years, more just that the team itself has made a big step forward and I've been able to execute races with good points.' Albon has come a long way since those difficult times at Red Bull. The second seat at that team would be very few drivers' idea of a good time right now. It has been a problem since Daniel Ricciardo left for Renault. This year Liam Lawson lasted two races and incumbent Yuki Tsunoda has finished no higher than 12th since the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in May. All despite Verstappen's persistent brilliance. Does Albon, then, reflect on those 181 points and two podiums across 26 races in a more favourable light now? 'My time there – it's quite difficult to judge. I had 1½ years in the car and it was a difficult car at the time to drive. I was relatively inexperienced for the role, let's say,' he says. 'That's in many ways external as [to] how people view my Red Bull job. 'Realistically it is a difficult seat. You are up against one of the hardest, most talented drivers possibly to ever have been in Formula One. We are lucky that he's here racing on the grid with us now and I was very inexperienced at that time,' he says. Albon is frank about his deficiencies in those seasons, despite a tricky car. In 2020 he scored 105 points to Verstappen's 214. Last season Sergio Pérez, who replaced Albon at Red Bull, scored 152 to champion Verstappen's 437. In fairness, Albon was perhaps a victim of his own success after proving so adaptable and fundamentally quick in that initial stint at Toro Rosso. 'I didn't understand what areas I needed to improve on, whether it was on track, off track, my feedback; the engineering side of Formula One I wasn't up to speed with,' he says. 'You look at it back, it was a massive talking point. I remember my second race in 2020 is kind of what Liam had, people calling for my head and I was finishing P5 and P6 in most of my races,' Albon recalls. 'Now I am far more of a complete package so there's a lot of ifs and buts and maybes of my time at Red Bull. But when I look back at it, there's nothing I could have done differently. Experience is learned, it is not earned. You just have to go through these tough times and understand it, which took time for me.' Time and experience have served Albon well. With 117 grand prix starts he is now able to get the best from the Williams FW47, which is a more predictable and stable beast than its immediate predecessors. In previous seasons, Williams's limitations on certain tracks could make scoring points almost impossible. Albon says that they have managed to 'iron out' some of the negative DNA and characteristics of those cars. This means that he can trust the car he has beneath him more. In 2024 there were just four top-10 finishes. This year he has already had nine, not that he gives any extra validity to his performances. 'A super weekend last year would have been P10, P9. A tough weekend would have been P17, P18. This year it's more like if you have a good weekend it could be a P6, P7, and then a difficult weekend is P11, P12,' he says. 'When I joined Williams in 2022, it was clear to me that the perception of what a good weekend is is totally different to what it is to other people. It took me a while to adjust to it as well. 'A great executed weekend feeling like I am driving well, performing well, could have been a P17, P18, in fact. No one was excited about it – the team wasn't excited about it, I wasn't excited about it.' There is reason to be excited now. This year was always going to be an important one for Albon's reputation. Whilst he has been comfortably the best Williams driver since he joined, the benchmark of his team-mates was not high from 2022 to 2024. First there was Nicholas Latifi and then Logan Sargeant, who both ended up well out of their depth and ultimately out of F1. In 2025 the arrival of Carlos Sainz – a four-time race winner who pushed Charles Leclerc close in their four seasons together at Ferrari – means there is nowhere to hide. So far he has measured up well against the Spaniard, scoring 54 points to 16 and leading 10-6 in qualifying. 'We've been very positive, he's been helping me out even in races like Melbourne, for example,' Albon says of their relationship. When I put it to him that Sainz is having a better season than his results show, he is unsure. Not because he disagrees with the premise, but because it is not something he pays attention to. 'I'm trying to even think about it, but I am so on my own side of my own performance, that it's hard for me to say,' he says. Albon makes it clear that he gives no credence to the perception of his performances or his reputation. Neither does he give any more validity to his performances just because he has scored points. He also pays no attention to the noise that inevitably comes with being an F1 driver. 'I do ignore it – it's not 'try to' ignore. Everything about racing is internal so how you perform and execute a weekend, how you drive, even in terms of pushing the car to the limit and staying in your zone and in your flow state, let's say, it all comes from focusing on yourself. 'Of course, in moments, I will look across the data and, for example, compare with Carlos and figure out where I need to improve as a driver. But for the most part it's just making sure I am delivering the best I can. 'The results, whether it's P5 or a P11 in Bahrain, it's still the same, it's still the same process. I guess you get rewarded differently in terms of a points system, but I still go about my racing in the same way.'
