The 2007 British Car Enthusiasts Rally; organised by brit-cars.com; took place on Sunday 9th September at Wicksteed Park, Northamptonshire, and as last year the event supported Make-A-Wish Foundation (UK). Last years total was soundly beaten with over £1260 being raised for the children’s charity.

Since 1980, Make-A-Wish Foundation® (UK) has enriched the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. Once again the event was able to play host to two children who have had wishes granted by the charity along with their families. They were able to enjoy all of the rides and attractions free of charge courtesy of Wicksteed Park and got involved in the rally events helping judge the Pride of Ownership competition.

The day started early for the organisers and the sky was initially overcast, but as the British cars began to arrive the sun came out and things looked much brighter. Over 120 cars attended the event representing Austin, MG, Rover, Lotus, Jaguar, Riley, Triumph, TVR and others, brought along by members of various owners and enthusiasts clubs and by individuals keen to show off their pride and joy. One of the stars of the show was the Austin Allegro police car used during the filming of the TV show Life on Mars. The rare Daimler Dart's and Jaguar D-Type also attracted considerable attention.

This year marked the 3rd anniversary for the event, which brings together motoring fans from various enthusiast groups as well as members of the public into a warm family atmosphere, provided by Wicksteed Park, who were once again excellent hosts to the event. Many visitors to the show commented and praised the excellent combination of a motor show, with the surrounding facilities allowing the younger enthusiasts (and many partners) to enjoy the day while the petrol heads got stuck in.

Exhibitors on the day were headed by Ray Mallock Limited (RML), who brought along the Le Mans class winning MG Lola EX257 LMP2 car and there was an almost constant queue to sit in the car and have pictures taken. Along with RML, and at the other end of single seater racing, Dan Blyth had brought along his locally built Formula Jedi race car. Also in attendance were the MG Owners Club with the X-Power ZT500 and the RAC with their BTCC show car. Stratstone Lotus (Leicestershire) kindly allowed a regular customer to bring along their Lotus Europa demonstrator which proved very popular. Northants Fire Service arrived later in the day and spent a couple of hours promoting a road safety message while both children and adults checked out the fire engine, unsurprisingly, some of the ladies present made a bee line for the fire fighters as soon as
they arrived. Finally, Make-A-Wish Foundation (UK) were running a tombola and face painting for the kids while providing information about the work they do.

The Pride of Ownership competition had four categories fighting it out, with every driver at the show getting to choose their favourites from the array of cars present. A number of people commented on how difficult it was to make a choice when posting their votes. The categories and winners were as follows.

Category A. Best modern saloon/hatchback/estate (made after 1995) - Debbie Brown, MGZR
Category B. Best modern sports/coupe (made after 1995) - Stewart Griffiths, MGF
Category C. Best Retro car (made between 1980 & 1995) – Mr Coates, MG RV8
Category D. Best classic (made before 1980 –Mr D. Wardell, MG TF 1500

A clean sweep for the MG's in all categories, despite cars from some of the other marques running them very close in the voting. The children from Make-A-Wish were then asked to pick the best in show from the four category winners. They chose the category B winner, the MGF belonging to Stewart Griffiths, and then helped present the Best in Show trophy to Stewart.

Attention then turned to the auction of items donated by various race teams and other companies and individuals. Items for sale included a wheel and tyre from Tom Onslow-Cole's BMW BTCC race car damaged during the 2007 seasons opening race at Rockingham, signed by Tom; A pair of wheels with tyres from the MGZS BTCC race car driven by Fiona Leggate and damaged during a huge start line accident at Snetterton earlier this year, signed by Fiona and her team mate (and team boss) Jason Hughes; An Aston Martin Racing cap and copy of Autosport signed by Darren Turner, part of the driving team for the GT1 winning Aston Martin DBR9 at this years Le Mans 24 hour race.

The final act of the day was to draw the raffle. Tickets had been for sale for a few weeks prior to the event and three prizes were up for grabs. First Prize; a pair of tickets for a Virgin balloon ride, provided by Laing O'Rourke; went to Mr Ponton from Milton Keynes. Second prize; a holiday voucher provided by the Bourne Leisure group; went to Fiona Wain from Huddersfield. Third Prize; Halfords gift vouchers worth £20; went to Mrs Mustoe from Peterborough.

Event coordinator for brit-cars.com, Tony Palmer, said at the end of the day "The British car owners have once again helped us raise a good amount for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and promote the wonderful work they do. I want to say a huge thank you to all of them who turned out, it was good to see such an array of British motoring heritage. We are extremely grateful to the companies that have helped us stage this event; RML, RAC, Laing O'Rourke, Haven Holidays, Peter Best Insurance and others. Thanks must also go to all who provided practical assistance in the weeks before the event and on the day itself."

Natalie Martin-Loat, Regional Manager for Make-A-Wish Foundation (UK), also thanked everyone involved in the event saying "they'd had a great day" and looked forward to 2008.

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