Grassroots motorsport continues to thrive in the United Kingdom, and with a packed schedule of Sprinting, Autotesting and Hillclimbing last weekend, it’s clear to see why.

We’ve picked out a few of our favourite events to bring you in this edition of ‘Out in the Field’:

Curborough Sprint Weekend – Nottingham Sports Car Club

The Nottingham Sports Car Club held a two-day weekend filled with events for sprint lovers: the Curborough 8 and the Curborough Long. The Curborough 8, held on Saturday was a unique sprint course in which drivers had to attempt a figure of eight in the middle of their run which was challenging for many drivers.

The Curborough Long sprint was, as the name suggests, a longer sprint taking competitors around 1 minute and 30 seconds to get around the track with plenty of twists and turns to test your skill but also a couple of straights to get some full speed as they open up the taps and cars go through their paces

Sprints can be an affordable form of motorsport with some events not even requiring a Roll Over Protection System in the car. All you will need to get started in sprinting is an Interclub licence, a membership to a club, and some Personal Protective Equipment such as gloves, overalls and a helmet.

To find out more on how to get started in Sprints, visit our website here.

June Autotest – Camel Vale Motor Club

The Camel Vale Motor Club held a June Autotest over the weekend for motor enthusiasts in Cornwall and the surrounding areas. The club hosts by a large array of disciplines over the year such as hillclimb, rallying, autotests, 12 car rallies and navigational scatters.

An Autotest is one of Motorsport UKs StreetCar disciplines where competitors tackle a number of tests, which they must memorise the course in which they will be driving beforehand. An Autotest may include tight turns, advances skills and reverse manoeuvring so it is a great way to put your driving skills to the test.

If you would like to find out more about StreetCar and Autotesting visit our website.

Goodwood – Festival of Speed

This weekend’s Festival of Speed was just as exciting as any other. The crowds were spoilt for choice with an incredible line-up of cars and motorcycles from every era of motorsport.

With many disciplines being demonstrated over the weekend, such as hillclimbs, rallying and drifting all on offer to a capacity crowd. Up the hill, spectators were thrilled vehicles old and new alike from the Mercredes AMG Project One and the 2000hp Ford Supervan, to the Subaru Impreza WRC that was once driven by the late, great Colin McCrae.

Crowds were also delighted to see Drift Pro Championship driver Tessa Whittock throw up some dirt during her Driftkhana round. Separate to the main Drift Pro Championship, Driftkhana is an exciting new take on the now infamous gymkhana events. Drift Pro drivers must carefully navigate an exhilarating, but technically challenging Driftkhana course packed full of drift-based obstacles whilst also competing against the clock. Formula 1 fans were thrilled to see 1989 Ferrari 639 with Nigel Mansell driving the car up the hill himself.

There were also a couple of launches over the weekend with the launch of Porsche’s new Le Mans racer: the Porsche 963. Its race debut will be at the 24 hours of Daytona in January 2023, and it’ll slot into the endurance racing’s new LMDh rules – a class which will have comparable performance to the new Hypercar category. Celebrating 50 years of the M Sport cars, BMW also revealed their long-awaited BMW M3 Touring which was a long time coming for many.

The weekend was not just special for four-wheel motorsport, but also two-wheelers as Wayne Rainey took centre-stage up the Goodwood hill on his MotoGP bike and the first time he has ridden a motorbike in 29 years due to a career-ending crash. Rainey was reunited with his Yamaha YZR500 on his journey up the hill.