Summer car events, venues and road trips you should try in 2025
Holiday plans in a flux? Need at least some form of automotive entertainment this summer? We've got you covered
Open gallery Silverstone Festival brings supercars and F1 cars together in August
The Black Mountain Pass is one of the best roads in Wales – just watch for speed cameras
Pendine Museum celebrates land speed record cars
Close
Now that you've got your used car for the summer, where are you going to take it?
Fortunately, the UK is blessed with no end of excuses for a drive, ranging from must-see museums and events to must-tour roads. In recent years, they have been joined by a growing roster of weekend and weekday-evening pub meets and cars-and-coffee gatherings.
A great source of information for these less well-publicised events is carevents.com, on which you can search by date, city and car event.
It recently broadened its scope to also include companies offering, for example, supercar hire, karting and circuit experiences.
To set you thinking about where you could go this summer, we have compiled a selection of drives, events and destinations to consider. Happy motoring! Days out
With institutions including Brooklands, the British Motor Museum and the National Motor Museum to choose from, you'd think car enthusiasts' appetite for automotive history were sufficiently served, but there are plenty more such places to visit.
Among the newest is the Museum of Land Speed near Pendine Sands in South Wales, which tells the story of speed trials there. The Great British Car Journey in Ambergate, Derbyshire, has been open for a few years now and remains an intriguing celebration of British cars with the added attraction of being able to go for drives in some of them.
Taunton's recently opened County Classics Motor Museum is the brainchild of one local enthusiast who has been collecting interesting mainstream cars, most of them British, for years and decided to display them.
Also in Somerset, Haynes Motor Museum in Sparkford is a similar but more ambitious concept founded by Mr Haynes Manuals himself.
The British Grand Prix (6 July) has to be at the top of your must-see list, but affordable, general-admission race-day tickets are selling out fast.
Don't worry, though, because there are plenty still available for the Silverstone Festival (22-24 August), an event that promises to be just as exciting as the circuit celebrates 75 years as a Formula 1 championship venue (it was the first back in 1950) with a cavalcade of legendary F1 cars. Admission-only tickets for the Goodwood Festival of Speed (10-13 July) are selling out fast too, so get your skates on.
At least there's the Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional (26 July), a much more down-to-earth affair for which tickets are still available at reasonable prices. If one of our suggested used cars qualifies as an unexceptional classic, you and it may qualify for a display entry ticket costing just £20.
It's from the sublime to the ridiculous the following week when it's the turn of Beaulieu Supercar Weekend (2-3 August) with demonstration runs and arena performance displays. F1 champion Jody Scheckter's Laverstoke Farm in Hampshire is once again the venue for CarFest (22-24 August), featuring driving displays, track events and test drives.
Round off the summer season with your best bib and tucker for a day at Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace (27-31 August) or the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace (5-7 September).
Starting in the south, there's the 70-mile long Atlantic Highway section of the A39 from Barnstaple to Newquay, and in Dorset the 18-mile Jurassic Coast Road following the B3157 from Weymouth to Bridport (or peel off and continue to Lyme Regis).
For south-east drivers, the A272 Winchester to Uckfield is a good road with a recently opened Caffeine & Machine petrolhead stop where it crosses the A32. Turning northwards, another is the A429 Fosse Way linking the south (Cirencester) with the Midlands (Leicester).
In the west, the recently created Pembrokeshire Coast Road follows the Wales coastline for 200 miles from Amroth to Dale. Alternatively, spend a day enjoying the roads in the Brecon Beacons.
The Brecon to Llandovery section of the A40 followed by the A4069 across the Black Mountains to Brynamman and back to Brecon via Penderyn makes a good circuit.
In the north-east, you're spoiled for choice with roads such as the A171 Scarborough to Whitby, returning via the A169 to Pickering and then the A170. In Scotland, well, where to start? How about the A710 Moffat to Edinburgh or the A710/711 Solway Coast road?
Join our WhatsApp community and be the first to read about the latest news and reviews wowing the car world. Our community is the best, easiest and most direct place to tap into the minds of Autocar, and if you join you'll also be treated to unique WhatsApp content. You can leave at any time after joining - check our full privacy policy here.
Next
Prev
In partnership with
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
10 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Minibuses for rural routes are in production
It was interesting to read the letter (13 June) from Mike Parker regarding rural buses, making the argument that minibuses suitable for rural routes should be manufactured. And that such a business would be ideal for an entrepreneur. Ironically, it was only a few days before that letter, on 4 June, that Rachel Reeves made her transport funding announcement of £15.6bn from the premises of Mellor Bus in Rochdale, which, along with its sister company, Treka Bus in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, make a range of buses, including 16-seater ones suitable for rural routes. Mellor and Treka are both part of the Woodall Nicholson group. That group's business was acquired in 2023 by a Belgian entrepreneur, Guido Dumarey, to add to his portfolio. So there are suitable buses and there is an entrepreneur – let's hope he keeps those businesses manufacturing in the UK. It is a pity that the chassis used for the buses are of European origin (Mercedes and Iveco/Fiat) as there are no UK manufacturers of suitable chassis – now there's an opportunity. But, as both Ford and DAF stopped making that type of chassis in the UK years ago, I can't see any obvious candidate. Maybe Renault/Stellantis would or could make one available from their Ellesmere Port factory. Richard BramallSheffield Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Fresh blow as MORE 20mph speed limits are rolled out in UK – are you impacted?
DRIVERS have been dealt a fresh blow as more 20mph speed limits get rolled out in the UK - are you impacted? Fife Council has confirmed that several towns and villages in the North East will soon have lower speed limits implemented. It follows requests from local communities and the new Scottish Government initiative to introduce 20mph speed limits on all appropriate urban roads by the end of 2025. Cllr. Jonny Tepp said: "The introduction of these 20mph speed limits in our towns and villages is the best way to improve road safety and reduce the number of casualties on our roads. "The evidence is clear that a pedestrian hit at 20mph is less likely to be seriously or fatally injured than if hit at 30mph. "We want to make our towns and villages safer for everyone, especially our children and older or more vulnerable adults. "Reducing the limits ensures that drivers have more time to respond to unexpected events and significantly reduces the risk of fatal accidents." In the East Neuk, 20mph speed limits will be introduced on the A917 through Elie, Pittenweem, Anstruther, and Cellardyke, as well as on the B913, St Andrews Road, in Anstruther. Main Street and Station Road will also have the reduced speed limits introduced. In Newport, 20mph speed limits will be introduced on both Cupar Road and Kirk Road. The council also revealed that a limited waiting parking restriction will be introduced on High Street, Elie, following a request from the Elie and Earlsferry Community Council. Starting Monday, motorists will only be allowed to park for one hour between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Saturday. Major Speed Limit Changes on Scottish Roads Once that hour is used, they must wait at least another hour before returning. The council claims this will allow easier access to shops and businesses for customers. It comes after thousands of UK drivers will face a huge speed limit change under new road rules - is your route affected? The Welsh Government announced plans to lower the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph, in 2023. The decision sparked major public backlash, with hundreds of thousands of locals signing petitions calling for the rule to be scrapped. It appears residents were heard, as the Government later confirmed that councils could opt out by restoring some roads to the original 30mph limit the following year. This prompted fresh discussions, as local authorities began working with drivers to decide which roads should return to the higher speed limit. Some areas have since reverted to the 30mph limit, while others are still in the process of making the change.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Labour scraps £950m EV rapid charging fund first announced by Conservatives
Labour ministers have scrapped a promise by the previous government for a £950m fund for installing electric car chargers near motorways, instead setting aside a smaller sum mainly for on-street charging points. The rapid charging fund (RCF) was first announced in 2020 by Rishi Sunak, then Conservative chancellor, with the aim of supporting upgrades to the grid so that more electric vehicles could be rapidly charged at the same time. However, it was mired in delays amid concerns it could unfairly benefit some motorway service companies. The Department for Transport said the RCF had never formally been included in budget plans, so the promise was unfunded. The Guardian revealed in March that ministers were considering directing proposed funding away from motorway services, amid criticisms of the fund's design from industry. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has committed £400m over the next five years 'to support the rollout of charging infrastructure' in this month's spending review, after announcing £200m for charging at the autumn budget. It is understood much of the spending will support on-street charge points in poorer areas, where private-sector investment has lagged behind. However, some people in the charging industry said the government should have honoured the £950m pledge in full, even if the money was redirected towards other incentives for people to switch to EVs. John Lewis, the chief executive at which operates on-street chargers, welcomed the £400m pledge. However, he said: 'The key question now is: couldn't the full amount have been directed towards the EV effort – whether through the continued rollout of on-street charging or other consumer incentives – to give people greater confidence to make the switch to electric?' The number of electric car chargers in the UK is rising rapidly, passing 80,000 in May, according to data company Zap Map. That represented a 29% increase compared with a year earlier, while the number of rapid chargers with power above 50kW rose by a third. Not all chargers are created equal More and more people are buying electric cars, and are having to grapple with charging for the first time. However, not all chargers are created equal, and the profusion of units can cause confusion. Charging speeds are measured by power output in kilowatts (kW), while battery capacity is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). For example, a Nissan Leaf has 39kWh of battery capacity, while a Tesla Model Y has 60kWh. Recharge times vary depending on battery size: divide the battery size by the power to get a very rough idea of how many hours it will take to charge. (E.g., a 60kWh battery at a 22kW charger would take about three hours.) The quicker the charge, the more it tends to cost. Slow: up to 8kW Common at homes, on-street chargers and places cars hang around like car parks or hotels. Suitable for charging overnight. Plugging in with a UK three-pin plug to the mains at home will deliver about 2.3kW – although it is not recommended. Fast: 8kW to 49kW Found at urban sites like supermarkets, shopping centres or car parks. Capable of charging a smaller battery in a few hours. Rapid: 50kW to 150kW Typically found close to big roads for journey charging, but also increasingly found in locations such as supermarkets or gyms with short dwell times. 50kW could give 80% charge in less than an hour. Ultra-rapid: 150kW and above Most chargers being installed at motorway services or dedicated charging hubs are now at least 150kW. Many newer cars can now handle 150kW, and several can charge at speeds of over 300kW, adding hundreds of miles of range in around 10 minutes. Increasing the number of public chargers is seen as crucial to persuading people to switch to electric cars. However, the focus has shifted from rapid chargers, which can allay 'range anxiety' on longer journeys, to the slower on-street chargers needed for car owners who do not have private parking spaces. Ian Johnston, the chief executive of Osprey Charging, said: 'New funding should be more effectively deployed on projects in prime locations where the grid connection costs render the site unviable – whether A roads, underserved regions or the small number of motorway locations with unviable grid – rather than gifted to all motorway sites regardless of the costs, as was envisaged under the RCF.' Johnston also called for changes to road signage permissions to allow charge points to be easily advertised to drivers. Quentin Willson, the founder of FairCharge, a group campaigning for cheaper charging, said the full £950m should have been spent on accelerating the switch to electric cars. 'Withholding unused RCF funds and not diverting them towards other EV charging initiatives isn't a great look for government,' he said. 'It opens them to the obvious questions about their commitment to the EV transition.' Willson, a former presenter of the Top Gear TV programme, said the government should also cut VAT on public charging to match the lower rates available on home electricity. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'The rapid charging fund was designed to support the rollout of charging infrastructure on motorways and major A roads – but the previous government did not set out detailed plans to deliver this. 'Since the fund was announced in 2020, the market has changed significantly, with the number of open-access rapid and ultra-rapid charge points within one mile of the strategic road network almost quadrupling in the last three years alone.'
