alternative parallel parking techniques

This time we've been off to Jody Scheckter's farm at Laverstoke in Hampshire. The Carfest South event is like an open air festival, with music, tents, food and cars. Lots of them, with some fairly unusual ones zooming around a track.

Just like most modern festivals, there's also a good supply of street food and specialty drinks available from local traders as well as the increasingly sighted bigger players like Marks and Spencers and Waitrose. I'm guessing it won't be long before Amazon start to show up to these events. Order with Amazon Now and pick up at the event?

Actually M&S had a mix your own smoothie on a bicycle component, whilst Waitrose had a deconstructed Ploughman's Lunch on a cheeseboard served with Prosecco.


As well as the big stages and music, there was a notable array of fancy cars on show too. A chance to try out the latest Maserati or even one of those Jaguar SUVs, which can go up an almost vertical incline. In Scalextric fashion, I reckon they are really Range Rovers with a different shell.

Unlike my brochure illustration above, a notable trend among the new cars on display was to have the entire chrome work painted black, as well as blackened wheels. Whatever the reason, there were lines of people waiting to try out the new F-PACE and take it up and down the slopes.

They seemed to be doing better than some of the cars going along the straight bits, like this little blue number which managed to ride up the grass just in front of me. Difficult keeping some of these cars going in a straight line, although, come to think of it, other cars more or less defined straight lines and it was difficult imagining them turning in less than a field width.

Also a chance to catch a few new cars whizzing around, like this one, with its understated exhaust system and special smoking tyres.

And entertaining moments watching the antics of three bright yellow cars which seemed to be able to complete the equivalent of a parallel parking manoeuvre at about 50 mph.

Don't try this at home, as the announcer mentioned.

I'll remember that as I head over to the buffalo ice cream tent. Come to think of it, I'm not driving today, so maybe even a Pimms before listening to some music in a field.