Beaulieu Pride and Joy Show
Posted on: 24/06/2014Last month, Southampton's historic Beaulieu Motor Museum hosted the 3rd annual Pride and Joy show - organised by one of the leading automotive forums Piston Heads.
The show is basically a get together of some truly fantastic cars and their proud owners and promised to provide plenty of entertainment for car fans all across the country, all in order to raise money for Naomi House Hospice who provides care for children and young people with life-threatening and life-limiting diseases.
Just to add to the excitement, Beaulieu was also hosting a world record attempt for the longest chain of toy cars on the same day. This wasn't easy with hundreds of people walking around the grounds trying not to step on 20,000+ toy cars snaking their way around the museum both in and outdoors! With the cars themselves being donated by those attending the show and sponsors it was fantastic to experience the enthusiasm shared by people of all ages!
The main show hosted over 200 cars including a few car clubs such as the Lamborghini, TVR and Noble owners' clubs. However the range of tasty motors on show was stunning, certainly something to everyone's taste. Everything from Nissan GTRs, to Porsche 911s were in attendance and also the biggest faction of Ferraris around! There were also a few rare beasts playing too such as the Marcos Mantis and even a Koenigsegg.
As well as owners' cars, a number of dealerships were present with a range of their latest vehicles including the brand new McLaren 650s, Ferrari F12 and Bentley Supersports. And to add to this multi-million display of supercars, a number of traders were also on hand to show off their products and provide expertise to the public. Among these were top valeting company KIK Customs, Snap On tools and a number of others.
In order to raise as much money as possible for the great cause above, the organisers prepared a raffle with some amazing prizes. V8 coffee table, anyone? Or how about 2 tickets to see Top Gear being recorded? There were certainly some lucky winners out there! In addition to this a number of supercars were available for passenger rides for a small fee. It's a good thing the weather was dry as driving a V12 Lamborghini Murcielago around the Beaulieu grounds would have been rather tricky otherwise! And for one hour during lunch, the price of these passenger rides dropped to just £10!
Seeing these beautiful cars being taken out during the day really brought the show to life as it's one thing looking at a powerful supercar but another to watch it drive by, hear the sound of the exhaust and smell the burning rubber. Definitely every petrol head's dream! At one point the generous owner of the Pagani Zonda agreed to take a passenger out for a drive if £100 was donated to the charity. Within minutes there was a queue of 3 very lucky but also kind individuals lined up and ready to go for a spin (not literally!). There were also a few fantastic opportunities available to have a picture taken with a one of the Museum's most prized possessions - a 1920s Rolls Royce. An inspiring sight at the best of times but even more so seeing this wonderful piece of engineering being driven around the grounds as it was originally intended to.
The whole day was a great success from start to finish, with the fantastic weather and venue an added bonus. The organisers announced a few weeks after the show that over £8400 has been raised towards Naomi House so far, and that's not including the 20,000+ toy cars which are still being sold with a few special signed ones going out for bidding. It was also pleasing to see the record attempt resulting in a success too!
