BRITISH DRAG RACING HALL OF FAME CELEBRATES FIFTY YEAR ‘DRAGFEST’ FESTIVAL ANNIVERSARY WITH ITS FIRST GALA AWARDS DINNER
The Savill Court is an amazing Jacobean styled Manor near Windsor in Surrey and currently one of Southern England’s finest 
hotels with 140 rooms, beautiful grounds and full leisure club facilities. This is the chosen venue for the 2014 British Drag Racing Hall of Fame’s first Gala Awards Dinner in association with Beech Underwriting – an event marking fifty years since Sydney Allard organised the first British International Drag Racing Festival.
It is without doubt a fantastic venue for such a historic celebration. The first tangible evidence of the house that preceded the Manor goes back to 1815. It has developed over the years but the most dramatic change took place when German Banker Baron Schroder bought it in 1910. He extended the house and included an inner courtyard. It was sold in 1980 and work was soon started on conversion to today’s magnificent event venue that is part of the Macdonalds Hotels and Resorts Group. The courtyard was used as the base for a fabulous domed feature that is now the Great Hall used for many prestigious private and industry functions.
It is this Great Hall that is being used for the 2014 British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Awards Dinner. November 22nd 2014 is the date for this ‘Black Tie’ Awards Event; an occasion that will see all existing Hall of Fame inductees invited, along with the new 2014 inductees, members of the press, sponsors and celebrities from the world of motor sport. Limited tickets will be available to fans at £60.00 per person with corporate tables for ten an option at £580.00. This includes a welcome drink, table wine and the full meal. Special room prices have been negotiated for those wishing to stay – discounted by up to 60 per cent. And private cocktail bars can also be organised for teams or corporate hospitality.
Chairman of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Stu Bradbury said,
“2014 marks a very important event in the history of European drag racing. Fifty years ago Sydney Allard organised the 1st British International Drag Racing Festival that featured the cream of American racers. It launched the sport into Europe and provided an exciting inspiration for those that went on to lay down the foundations for drag racing to grow – first in the UK and Sweden and then throughout other countries on the European Continent and Scandinavia”
“Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Geoff Stillwell of Beech Underwriting, along with the constant support of U S Automotive and the Santa Pod Racers Club, we are able to celebrate this anniversary with the most ambitious awards celebration ever held in British drag racing. A Gala Awards Dinner that will rival anything organised for other forms of motorsport. As well as being an ideal evening to entertain sponsors and team members it will be a fitting tribute to those who built the sport”.
“We will be releasing more information during the next few months but I would advise those wishing to attend to let us know ASAP. We have already received our first bookings for corporate tables”.
The awards to be presented are;
British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Membership sponsored by the Santa Pod Racers Club (winners to be announced in July 2014)
Sydney Allard Trophy for best drag racing photographer of the year in association with Octane magazine
Sydney Allard Trophy for best drag racing writer of the year in association with The Guild of Motoring Writers.
For advance booking of tickets contact BritishDRHOF@aol.com or telephone Stu Bradbury on 01933 279102. No deposits will be required until the summer but if other plans come together this will be an early sell-out event.
The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is sponsored by many businesses and associations. Without this support it could not exist. They are Beech Underwriting; U S Automotive; Power Race Graphics; Santa Pod Racers Club; Pennine Drag Racing Club; Eurodragster.com; Avon Park International Racing Association, Shakespeare County Raceway; Santa Pod Raceway; York Raceway.
