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GROUNDBREAKING INITIATIVES LAUNCHED AT NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
GROUNDBREAKING INITIATIVES LAUNCHED AT NORTHAMPTONSHIRE HIGH PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING AND MOTORSPORT EVENT LAST NIGHT
The cars and the stars of tomorrow, today
Two groundbreaking motorsport initiatives were launched last night at a celebration of the High Performance Engineering and Motorsport sector in Northamptonshire, attended by some of the industry’s best known faces.
At the event, which was hosted by the BBC’s F1 commentator Jake Humphrey, plans were unveilled for the new and exciting ‘Future Festival’. As the name implies, The Future Festival will be all about the future of the automobile and its sport, motor racing. It will feature the cars of the future, the technology that will underpin them, a new racing series- ‘enviroSportscar’ (ESC), and the racing drivers that will be future world champions.
The first annual event will be held at Rockingham Motor Speedway, in Northamptonshire, August 2011. Automotive manufacturers will be able to demonstrate the cars that will lead the way in a low carbon future and provide car enthusiasts at the event the opportunity to drive cars of today and tomorrow within the Rockingham circuit estate and on the open road.
There will also be a contest to reveal the future world champions in the ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ races. The Future Festival will invite the leaders of all the top Formula 3 series in Europe to compete in the same class of car to determine who is the next up and coming Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton. A truly unique race, with a prize of a top F1 team test drive.
“The Future Festival will be a great opportunity to demonstrate there really is no compromise when it comes to lower carbon vehicles; they are just as attractive and exciting and perform just as well as their less green rivals,” explains one of the Future Festival founders Joe Dickinson. “Moreover, it will help manufacturers move their customers over to lower carbon cars today, because they are desirable as well as being green.”
Jake Humphrey, BBC’s F1 Commentator said: “Being at the launch of the Future Festival is a real priveledge and it’s great that Northamptonshire is going to be hosting such a prestigious event.
“There is nowhere else in the world that has an event such as this. It is testament to the quality of High Performance Engineering and Motorsports companies that are based in Northamptonshire that the county is leading the way showcasing the future of automotive industry at the Future Festival. ”
There will also be fascinating glimpses into the automotive technology of the future in the ‘Technology Centre’ supported by Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited. The centre will also house exciting contributions from the county’s schools, colleges and university.
Tim Bagshaw Head of Investment at Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited said: “The news of the two new unique motorsport initiatives cement the fact that our county is at the heart of the motorsport industry. Over the last few years the county has demonstrated, with our thriving motorsport teams and suppliers, that Northamptonshire is the ideal place to be located for the industry. We are delighted that another international motorsport event will be coming to Northamptonshire that will showcase the future developments in the sector.”
There will be plenty of other reasons to put the Future Festival in the diary, on track there will be exciting low carbon car and bike racing and demonstrations, cumulating in the planned launch of the enviroSportscar Series (ESC).
Keith Bartlett, Future Festival founder of Santa Pod and the ESC explained that, “ESC will be a challenging test of circuit and drag racing combined with fuel efficiency city centre driving, which will be a R&D and marketing platform for car manufacturers. We plan to demonstrate the Series in Northampton, Rockingham and Santa Pod over the Festival next year”
“Goodwood is one of the best motorsport events on the UK calendar, attracting thousands of visitors from around the world and is certainly the greatest celebration of the sport’s glorious past. We are proud to announce what we aim to make the greatest celebration of the future”.
The dinner also marked the launch of a new High Performance Engineering and Motorsport website.
For more information about the Northamptonshire High Performance Engineering and Motorsport industry in Northamptonshire visit www.hpeandmotorsport.com.
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