Aston Martin at Pentillie Castle

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2014 Pentillie Festival of Speed

The next Pentillie Festival of Speed is scheduled for 23rd and 24th August 2014.

Whilst we are not hosting the Festival this year, we would like to make some much needed improvements such as extending the competition hill to 1.2km (making it one of the longest hill climbs in England!), and creating a new corner in the hill climb track.

We do need investment and sponsorship to make these improvements, and enable the 2014 event to go ahead, so if you know of anyone that can help we’d love to hear from them!

Tel. Ted Coryton or Kate Pollard on 01579 351210 or email drive@pentilliefestivalofspeed.com.

2013 events!

Our motorsports calendar is starting to fill up with a variety of events for 2013. Coming up…

Sun. 14th April – Drive It In Cornwall scenic charity drive:

Experience a day’s drive on some of Cornwall’s best routes, and finish with a cream tea at Pentillie Castle. Organised by the Truro Rotary Club, the event is in aid of Cornwall Air Ambulance, Cornwall Hospice Care and The James Parkinson Centre for Cornwall. For more details and to enter click here.

Sun. 21st AprilThe Cornwall Military Vehicle Trust (CMVT) will be at our garden open day, displaying some fantastic vintage vehicles from WWII through to the Cold War era. £6 entry per person (children under 12 free). No booking required. 11am-4pm.

Sat. 22nd-Sun. 23rd June – UK Alpine Challenge Classic Car Regularity Rally:

We are delighted to announce that The Alpine Challenge Club are hosting the start of their inaugural UK Alpine Challenge Classic Car Regularity Rally at Pentillie Castle.

Entrants will meet at the Castle on Sat. 22nd June at 8am for breakfast, a briefing and then off across the border for a day’s driving!

The winning team will awarded their prize on the Sunday at the Fox & Hounds Country Hotel, Eggesford, Devon.

To find out more information or to enter the Rally please click here.

 

The future of motorsport at Pentillie

After a successful Pentillie Festival of Speed, it is clear that there is an appetite for more motorsport events in Cornwall.

So vroom vroom!… we would love to host more bespoke events for car clubs, businesses and ‘petrol heads’ alike in 2013. We are thinking that car launches, rallies, motor club AGM’s and other social events might ‘tickle your pistons’. We are of course open to all ideas! The Castle also has luxury B&B accommodation giving guests the opportunity to enjoy a drink or two without worrying about the drive home.

If you are a car enthusiast, motor club or business and would like to host a motorsport event at Pentillie Castle please do get in touch. Tel. 01579 351210 or email drive@pentilliefestivalofspeed.com.

In the meantime if you haven’t already signed up to our Pentillie motor events newsletter, click on the red button link above.

Pentillie Festival of Speed update

Thank you to everyone who completed our online survey and sent us feedback. We have had really positive feedback and interesting suggestions on improvements, such as moving the competitors paddock to a flatter location and extending the start line to the Hornifast Paddock. A new and challenging corner could then be created. These changes would vastly improve the spectator experience, as would building a bridge over the hill, re-surfacing the paths, hardening the car park entrances and putting a track into what was the Display Car Park. All simple solutions, but also costly! We estimate that a bridge would cost around £20,000, and a track extension for the hill would be in the region of £30,000.

We are currently applying for a funding grant and looking at investment opportunities to make these improvements happen – fingers crossed! Of course any suggestions for funding or sponsorship would be welcome.

While the 2012 event was clearly a great success, and your feedback suggests that you want more, we want to improve the spectator and competitor experience and weather proof the event as far as possible before we attempt to host another Pentillie Festival of Speed. We are aiming for 2014!

We will keep you updated as things develop! Do keep an eye out for our other motoring events in the meantime and contact us to discuss any ideas you may have. Tel. 01579 351210.

With many thanks for all your support.

2013 event

We can now crack onto planning The Pentillie Festival of Speed 2013! We’ve had a huge amount of feedback from spectators, Hill Climb entrants, display car owners and exhibitors, all of which will be a big help towards planning an even better motorsport event for next year.

Keep your eyes peeled on the website for more details, and of course dates for your diary…

In the meantime if you are interested in becoming a sponsor or exhibiting at next year’s Pentillie Festival of Speed please don’t hestitate to contact Kate Pollard or Ted Coryton at drive@pentilliefestivalofspeed.com, tel. 01579 351210.

A big thank you!

Phew! Well that was some weekend wasn’t it?

We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped out over the weekend. Firstly, the Plymouth Motor Club who overcame the weather on Saturday to put on a fantastic hillclimb event on Sunday. We’ll never forget the sights, sounds and smells of the cars hurtling through the woods and past the Castle!

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Sunday 26th August

Thank you all for attending the inaugural day of the Pentillie Festival of Speed. Thank you all for your amazing patience while we dealt with the inevitable glitches of a) the first ever event, and b) the worst weather imaginable. The event tomorrow WILL STILL BE GOING AHEAD, albeit to a slightly scaled down extent.  We will continue to update Facebook, Twitter and the website if there are any further changes. Thank you all again.

Dusk Refuelling a great success

On the 8th July, we hosted our first ever Dusk Refuelling at Pentillie Castle. It’s essentially the same as Dawn Refuelling, only with a more sociable meeting time!

Around 60 cars gathered on the lawn in front of the Castle and we enjoyed a few hours of rare sunshine. The main talking point was of course the forthcoming Festival of Speed, but with Andy Murray playing Roger Federer at Wimbledon and the British F1 Grand Prix finishing just a few hours earlier, chat soon spilled over into other sports!

On show was an original 1963 Shelby Cobra, a Sylvia Riot, Frazer Nash, Volvo Amazon and a rather lovely Westfield Lotus 11 Replica. Those with a taste in more modern cars were rewarded by the site of a Nissan GT-R, MINI JCW and even a Chrysler Delta.

There was also a chance for visitors to walk the hill for the first time as well as enjoying some al freso dining courtesy of the barbecue.

Everybody left eagerly anticipating the main event which is now just over a month to go.

The tension is building!

For a chance to see what the event was all about, have a look at the gallery below. Thanks to Andrew Rowe Photography for the pics and to everyone who came along to the event.