Miles of smiles at SGMW heritage driving day

20.08.2024

A new take on an old favourite made the Southern Group of Motoring Writers’ annual heritage day a most memorable one.

This was the seventh time SGMW had held the event at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire. This year the group also opened it up as a driving day for new manufacturers which do not have heritage fleets.

SGMW secretary Chris Rees, the driving force behind the event, said: “This is my personal highlight. I love the heritage driving day.”

An excellent turnout saw 20 SGMW members joined by 29 PR friends representing 14 brands.

They enjoyed driving a total of 32 cars, including a dozen heritage models, with a varied mix of the latest electric vehicles, rugged off-roaders and pick-up trucks and a stunning array of classic heritage models.

  • Abarth – 500e Convertible.
  • BYD – Dolphin, Atto 3 and Seal.
  • Fiat – 600 Hybrid and 600e.
  • Ford – Capri L, Racing Puma and latest Puma.
  • Genesis – GV60, electrified GV70 and electrified G80.
  • Honda – Civic Type R (FK2), S2000 and latest Civic Hybrid.
  • Ineos – Grenadier 3.0 petrol and 3.0 diesel.
  • Isuzu – D-Max AT35 Arctic and D-Max AT35 Basecamp.
  • Jeep – Avenger MHEV.
  • Kia – Stinger GT-S, Picanto Strike Mark 1 and latest Picanto GT-Line.
  • Lexus – LBX.
  • Mazda – MX-5 Mark 1 and MX-30 R-EV Edition R.
  • Toyota – first generation Prius Hybrid and latest Corolla Excel 1.8 Hybrid.
  • Volvo – P1800, 262C, 850 T-5R and XC90 V8, all heritage models.

SGMW members also brought their own cars to display on the day.

The classic stars were a vintage Volkswagen Beetle Herbie tribute, a stunning Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 Ti and an immaculate Mazda Eunos.

The modern era was also well represented, with a varied mix of cars including an Alpine A110, Volkswagen Polo Blue GT, Jaguar XF Sportbrake, Saab 9-3 convertible and Abarth 595.

As is tradition, attendees voted for their favourite member’s car and manufacturer’s car of the day.

Stu Bird’s Beetle Douglas Special took the member’s best car prize, pipping Julian Rendell’s Alfa.

The Beetle stole the show with its looks, sound and wealth of fun, intricate details harking back to the original movie star car.

It completed a hat-trick of wins for Stu whose Volkswagen T2 Westfalia camper van won last year and his SEAT Terra van in 2022.

Volvo’s P1800 was best manufacturer’s car, a worthy winner that had members lining up to drive it all day long.

The SGMW quiz went down to a tiebreak question, with David Wilkins the victor over Peter Nunn.

The heritage driving day is as popular with PRs as it is SGMW members, a chance to chat and drive cars in a relaxed setting.

Simon Branney, Genesis Motor UK head of PR and communications, said: “Definitely one of the highlights of the summer, if not the whole year, is the SGMW heritage driving day.

“Even though there are no Genesis heritage products, as we have only been going for three years, the group has been very welcoming and supportive of the Genesis brand, product and team.

“It’s a super-relaxed day with super-friendly journalists and even super-friendly PR colleagues – it’s an easy win for both the group and the PRs that get to come to it.”

Tom Lynch, Volvo Car UK head of communications, said: “We have a deep and rich heritage stretching back nearly 100 years but it is also lovely to see people in the industry driving each other’s cars and getting you guys out in the cars.

“It is a good, enjoyable day out and that is why we like to come to your heritage day.”

Will Rees, Kia UK press officer, said: “It is a nice, chilled-out event and a great day out of the office.

“It is about getting to chat with other PRs and a lot of SGMW members we don’t see regularly on driving days. It is nice to catch up with everyone.”

Rachel Goodwin, head of PR for BYD in the UK, said: “It was a great day. It is really useful for PRs to drive competitors’ products and useful for us to keep in touch and see all you guys and making sure everybody is driving our cars.

“We are trying to build a brand so we need to be in as many places as possible.”

Graeme Fudge, Mazda UK PR director, said: “It is a nice day out and you get to drive a lot of competitors’ cars. Beaulieu is also a lovely location.”

Memorable motors, lots of laughs and a great setting make SGMW heritage day a winner.

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Picture captions
Winning cars – SGMW member Stu Bird with his Volkswagen Beetle Herbie tribute and Barnaby Jones, Volvo Cars UK product communications manager, with the P1800.

Hot hatches – Ford’s Racing Puma with the Honda Civic Type R in the background.

Ford brought a Capri, right, and Racing Puma, centre, as well as the latest Puma.

Toyota’s first generation Prius launched its hybrid revolution.

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For more information on this event and SGMW please contact:

Andy Russell – SGMW publicity officer
andy@andyrussellmedia.co.uk (mobile 07745 557001)

THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF MOTORING WRITERS
The SGMW represents motoring writers living or working in the region around the M25 motorway, stretching from Norfolk in the north to Portsmouth and Brighton in the south and from Reading and Oxford in the west to Kent in the east.

The group’s main role is to assist and enable communications between its members and the motor industry. It currently has 31 members working on local, regional and national newspapers, magazines, books, websites, social media and television to provide the public and specialist industry sectors with the latest motoring information.