Top UK car festivals

What and where are the UK’s top car festivals and events?

TL;DR: Which UK car festival or event should you go to?

That depends entirely on what gets your engine running.

Whether you’re after historic racing, supercar spectacle, or something refreshingly offbeat, the UK’s car festival calendar has it covered – from Goodwood’s glamour to the gloriously niche Festival of the Unexceptional..

The short answer: Pick one that matches your flavour of petrolhead, and it won’t disappoint.

The long answer is below.

From concours elegance to supercar spectacle, the UK’s car festival calendar punches well above its weight

Whether you want to watch a vintage Ferrari thunder down a hillclimb, admire a lovingly restored classic that’s older than your parents, or simply soak up the atmosphere at one of Britain’s biggest motorsport events – there’s something here for everyone.

We’ve pulled together 11 of the best UK car festivals worth putting in your calendar.

CarFest

Cars, charity, celebrity chefs, and enough live music to soundtrack the whole drive home... 

CarFest has spent 13 years perfecting the art of giving petrolheads an excuse to bring the whole family.

Now based at Silverstone, it brings together over 1,000 cars – from iconic F1 machinery to the weird and wonderful – alongside drag, drift and track shows, FoodFest, KidsFest, and enough festival activity to fill a long weekend.

And it’s raised millions for UK children’s charities in the process. So yes, you can ogle a supercar while doing a good deed.

The moral high ground never smelled so much like burning rubber.

Goodwood Festival of Speed

If CarFest is the friendly neighbourhood barbecue of car events, Goodwood is the A-list celebrity party you somehow scored an invite to.

Held in the grounds of Goodwood House in West Sussex, the Festival has been shattering the tranquillity of English summer garden party vibes since 1993 – usually via a Formula 1 car screaming up the front drive, wreathed in tyre smoke.

The hillclimb is the centrepiece, but there’s plenty beyond it: The Supercar Paddock, the Forest Rally stage, a Cartier concours on the private lawns, world car launches in the First Glance Paddock, and the Red Arrows making their annual appearance overhead.

What makes it genuinely unmissable is the access.

More famous drivers and riders, from more disciplines, have appeared at Goodwood than any other motorsport venue on earth.

Stand close enough and you might just find yourself making eye contact with a world champion.

Concours of Elegance, Hampton Court

Sixty of the rarest cars in the world, assembled in the gardens of a former royal palace.

As venues go, Hampton Court has seen a few things, but even Henry VIII might raise an eyebrow at this lot.

What makes the Concours of Elegance genuinely special is that the winner isn’t chosen by a panel of judges, it’s voted for by the other owners on display. A nice touch that keeps the whole thing from taking itself too seriously, despite the onslaught of Fortnum & Mason hampers.

Beyond the main concours, there’s the Levitt Concours – celebrating cars owned and driven by women in honour of Edwardian racing pioneer Dorothy Levitt – and Thirty Under 30, which gives younger enthusiasts a stage of their own.

The weekend closes with the Grand Depart: Over 60 of the world’s rarest cars firing up their engines and leaving the palace gardens together.

A fittingly spectacular full stop.

Concours d’Elegance, Heveningham Hall

Heveningham Hall is already one of Suffolk’s finest stately homes.

But once a year, around 50 remarkable cars arrive on the tiered garden terraces and make the architecture work harder for attention.

The Concours displays everything from pre-war classics to mid-century icons, judged across categories including Best in Show, Performance, and Race and Rally.

A dozen historic propeller aircraft complete the picture, with the best of them competing for the Hanna Aviation Trophy.

The highlight is Horsepower Hill, a timed eighth-of-a-mile sprint along the estate’s main drive, where everything from vintage racers to modern supercars gets their moment.

It’s like if Downton Abbey and Top Gear had a baby.

Exceedingly classy, but with a healthy appetite for speed.

The British Motor Show

Part motor show, part festival, part live action spectacle – The British Motor Show has quietly become one of the most accessible events on the calendar, and it’s bigger in 2026 than ever.

The Showroom puts the latest models from leading brands under one roof, while the Supercar Paddock delivers the dream machines.

Beyond that, there’s a Live Arena packed with drift displays and stunt shows, a Ride and Drive zone where you can get behind the wheel, and Lowered and Loud for those who like their cars with added personality.

Festival Fields brings live music, street food and fairground rides into the mix, so even the person in your group who ‘doesn’t really care about cars’ will have a brilliant time.

Which, frankly, is part of the appeal.

London Concours

There’s a walled garden in the heart of the City of London that most people walk past without a second glance.

Every June, it becomes home to one of the most quietly spectacular automotive events in the country.

Held across three days at the Honourable Artillery Company headquarters – a short walk from Liverpool Street – the London Concours brings together over 130 of the world’s rarest cars across eight curated classes.

There’s everything from hypercars and restomods, to American muscle and wildcards. Each day has its own rotating theme: 2026 opens with a Porsche celebration, moves on to a Jaguar XK showcase, and closes with Supercar Day.

Champagne, gourmet street food, live music, and luxury brands fill out the rest.

It’s a garden party that happens to have some of the most extraordinary cars on the planet parked on the lawn.

Salon Privé, Blenheim Palace

If there’s a more glamourous setting for a car show than the birthplace of Winston Churchill, we’ve yet to find it.

Now in its 21st year, Salon Privé runs across five days on the South Lawn of Blenheim Palace.

From the Concours d’Elegance, where the UK’s only professionally judged multi-marque concours draws some of the rarest cars in the world, to Supercar Saturday, where over 1,000 privately owned sports and hypercars descend.

Ladies’ Day brings a Best Hat competition and Boodles jewellery into the mix, to make a proper day out of it.

Fair warning on the dress code: Shorts and t-shirts are not permitted on any day. Think Royal Ascot. A blend of formal attire and seasonal comfort (and excellent hats).

The cars are extraordinary – the people-watching isn’t far behind.

Festival of the Unexceptional

Every other event on this list celebrates the rarest, the fastest, and the most valuable cars in the world.

The Festival of the Unexceptional does the opposite – and is all the better for it.

Run by Hagerty, the Concours de l’Ordinaire puts the spotlight on everyday cars from 1971 to 2001. Think the Vauxhall Chevettes, Datsun Sunnys, and Proton Saloons that once filled driveways across the country, and have since become genuinely rare through sheer collective indifference.

Entries are judged on originality and the story behind the car.

Which means a lovingly preserved 1992 Skoda Favorit (2025’s winner) carries as much weight here as a Ferrari does at Concours of Elegance.

If you’ve ever felt a surprising pang of nostalgia for your parents’ old Astra, this is your event.

Held annually at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, it’s proof that unexceptional, given enough time, becomes quietly extraordinary.

British Grand Prix

The oldest race on the Formula One calendar, held at the spiritual home of British motorsport – and these days, it’s a four-day festival that’s about far more than what happens on the track.

Silverstone drew a record 500,000 visitors across the 2025 weekend, which tells you everything about the scale of the thing.

The racing is the main event – sprint qualifying, sprint race, and the Grand Prix itself across legendary corners like Maggotts, Becketts, and Abbey – but the mainstage, Fanzone simulators, Silverstone Museum, and a lineup of headline music acts mean there’s plenty to keep everyone entertained.

After Lando Norris took a first home win in 2025, the dedicated Landostand is back for 2026.

Bigger, louder, and precisely what you’d expect from a circuit that’s been doing this since 1950.

Goodwood Revival

This isn’t just any classic car show. It’s three days of pure vintage magic where the clock stops at 1966, and everyone’s invited to join the party.

The world’s most spectacular historic motorsport event transforms Goodwood into a living, breathing museum where the cars aren’t just for show.

They’re here to race.

From thundering Cobras to screaming Ferraris, every vehicle has earned its place through decades of motorsport history. No modern vehicles are permitted within the circuit perimeter all weekend, and that commitment to authenticity extends to everything: The fashion, the music, the food, the theatrical sets.

The 2026 theme is La Dolce Vita.

Mid-century Italian style, passion and romance woven through the entire weekend. Which means the fancy dress bar, already high, has been raised considerably.

Fair warning: You might find yourself seriously considering whether that vintage racing jacket is a need, not a want.

We won’t judge.

Classic Motor Show

Every classic car season needs a Grand Finale, and the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at Birmingham’s NEC has been providing one since 1984.

It’s the world’s biggest classic vehicle club event – over 3,000 cars spanning 120 years of motoring history, from British classics and vintage motors to American muscle and retro hot hatches.

Over 310 clubs attend, making it as much a community gathering as a show.

Beyond the cars, there’s the UK’s biggest indoor Autojumble for anyone chasing a rare part (or just something cool to hang in the garage), a Dealer Hall for those who can’t resist going home with something new, and a Meet the Experts Theatre featuring the likes of Richard Hammond and Mike Brewer.

The DadCars Family Zone and Mini Rovers off-road course mean the kids are well catered for too.

It’s the one that wraps up the season. And it does so with considerable noise.

There you have it – 11 of the best car festivals and shows the UK has to offer, from concours elegance on royal palace lawns to classic car heaven at Goodwood.

Whether you’re planning one highlight or building a full season around them, there’s a festival for every petrolhead out there.

The only real question is where to start.