Whilst the 2021 Event Program had a very slow start, thanks to Lockdowns across the UK that made it impossible to get together until well into spring, every opportunity was taken to catch up with many events rescheduled and squeezed into a calendar that was already pretty full. I hope that you were all able to enjoy many opportunities to get together whether that was for small and local gatherings or at some of the larger events where Abarths regularly numbered into several tens and on occasion into the hundreds. There were many highlights for me, of which of course our very own Abarth Festival has sit at the top of the list, a truly special day out that delighted us all. We have every intention of repeating that in 2022 - bigger and better, learning from the 2021 event and taking on board your feedback.
We're not quite ready to announce Abarth Festival 2022 yet, but the majority of the other events that we will attend have published their dates. I've already announced most of these individually, and if you go onto the Events tab on the page, you will find details of each individual event and how to book (where this info is available. I thought you might find it helpful to have a consolidated list in one place. So here it is.
JAN
1st: Brooklands New Years Event - POSTPONED to 16th APRIL
2nd: Cheddar Gorge, in association with SWAG
16th: Project Auto, Shepton Mallett, in association with SWAG and B.A.D Abarth South Coast
FEB
Watch this space!
MAR
Also watch this space!
APR
16th: Brooklands New Years Event reschedule
18th: Provisional date for Abarth Spring Festival - Finedon
24th: Simply Italian at Beaulieu, in association with AOC SSH, B.A.D Abath South Coast and others
30th: Brooklands Auto Italia
MAY
22nd: Prescott Italia and Prescott Hill Climb, Glos
28th Italian Passion for Speed, Cardiff Bay
29th: Supercars on the Runway, Sywell, Northhants
JUN
12th: Thruxton Historic Festival
25th MITCAR (provisional date and venue tbc, likely to be in Derbyshire)
JUL
9th Northern Italian Cars, with Auto Italia, at Raby Castle, Co Durham
16/17th: Shelsley Walsh Classic Nostalgia
AUG
14th: Festival Italia at Brands Hatch
21st: Tewkesbury Classic Vehicle Festival
27 - 29: Silverstone Classic
SEPT
4th: Classic and Supercar Day at Salon Prive, Blenheim Palace
OCT
9th: Brooklands Autumn MotorSport
More events will be added to this list as further dates are announced. And that's before you add in all the events that will be organised by the Regional Groups. It has been great to watch the launch and explosive growth of a number of new ones in 2021 (B.A.D Abarth South Coast, Three Counties and Berkshire among them) and also to see yet more activity and people getting involved in the more established Groups, of which we have an awful lot.
If you see something which you think could be of interest to our members, please get in touch and we will take a look at it.
Many people have been able to enjoy the various regular summer evening or "Cars and Coffee" style meets around the country. Most of these follow a formula, such as Ace Cafe holding Italian Night on the second Thursday of the month, and Shelsley Walsh's "Cars in the Valley" being the first Thurs of the month. Many of these have paused for the darkest winter months, and have yet to confirm that they will repeat what were very popular events with Abarth Owners and others during 2022 but I am sure they will do so shortly and I will add the details to this post when they do so.
Clearly, things could yet change, not least depending on government restrictions and the on-going Covid situation. The most uptodate information will be on the individual event description and so you should continue to monitor these regularly.