Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional took the honours for Motoring Spectacle of the year at the 2021 Royal Automobile Club Historic Awards. Adam Sloman, Events Manager for Hagerty International, collected the award from Duncan Wiltshire at the RAC Club, London.
Hagerty created the first Festival of the Unexceptional in 2014 as a celebration of long-forgotten everyday family cars from 1968-1989, now fondly known as the ‘Unexceptional Era’. The 2021 selection offered one of the best concours lawns in seven years of the festival, with cars arriving from across the nation to be judged as one of the best of the best. The grounds of Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire provided a stunning backdrop for many Unexceptional cars on display, and delighted thousands of Festival fans who attended the event in July.
Founded in 2019, the Historic Awards was created to recognise achievements within the historic arena, judged by a panel of independent experts. The Historic Awards complement the Royal Automobile Club’s series of internationally recognised trophies and medals celebrating motoring achievements, including the Segrave Trophy, the Tourist Trophy, the Simms Medal, the Dewar Trophy and the Torrens Trophy.
Describing the event, the Royal Automobile Club said, “A regular showgoer can quickly become immune to truly mouth-watering machines and stumbling across a long-forgotten marque can thrill as much as a rare Ferrari. The video provided as supporting evidence for the Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional had our judges cooing as they picked out Toyota Tercels and Hyundai Stellars from a collection of 3000 once-rubbish cars at regal Grimsthorpe Castle.”
The panel of esteemed judges added, “Defying its name, this brilliant event was truly exceptional in 2021. Not only does such a gathering of the mundane create a wonderful spectacle, but we also felt that Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional is capturing the zeitgeist of the classic world and introducing legions of new fans into the joys of owning old cars. Affordable, accessible and inclusive, this event turns the everyday into the extraordinary.”
Hagerty International Managing Director Mark Roper concluded, “The Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional was created to recognise that car enthusiasts come in all shapes and sizes, and no matter what they drive, the passion for driving and our hobby is the same. The car community is a special one, and this award goes out to all those that take part and strive to preserve driving for future generations. We can’t wait to do it all again next year.”
Festival of the Unexceptional will return in 2022, with details to be announced early in the New Year.
