Bournemouth Wheels Festival 2014

This Bank Holiday weekend has seen the first ever Bournemouth Wheels Festival and we headed down to the beach to sample the action a couple of times over the weekend.

I adore Bournemouth Air Festival which is an event we look forward to every year and I was hoping that this would be just as good, but whilst there were similarities they are two very different events.

The beach between Bournemouth and Boscombe Piers was marked off into zones, with different attractions to see in each one.  There was also a supercar display in the BIC a Demonstration Straight along the clifftop which saw cars and bikes old and new put through their paces.

Unlike the Air Festival, where you can find a spot on the sand to park and enjoy the day plane / helicopter spotting, the wheels festival is on the ground, apart from some very mad motorcyclists, so the event does require some very sensible walking shoes and a buggy for little legs.

The kids were eager for some playtime on the beach, so we headed onto the sand.  There was a huge ramp by the side of the Pier where Dan Whitby would be attempting a Pier jump aboard his motorbike later in the day and then we explored.

There was lots of things to get involved with – Kian and Charlie tried the Rollapaluza and had a bike race.  There were also scooter, BMX and skateboard lessons happening by the Pier.

You could even take part in, or watch some wheelchair basketball, hold the Paralympic torch and Isaac, Eliza, Megan and Olive had their faces painted (for free).

All this was by the Pier, so we then headed along the beach to see what we could find.

The motorbikes were the first proper display we saw and we were all transfixed by their daredevil antics.  They must have launched themselves at least 30ft in the air, whilst doing an array of tricks to the delight of the crowd.

Once they had finished we headed along the promenade towards Boscombe Pier.  We passed numerous stalls, an outdoor cinema showing Herbie and a fairground before we found the Monster Trucks.  The arena was surrounded by crowds and we only got glimpses of the awesome machines as they roared around the arena.

The crowds were quick to disperse once they had finished, so we took our positions and waited for the next show which would be in an hour.  They were also offering rides in a Monster Truck, so Joanne from Charliemoos took the kids for a boneshaker trip around the arena whilst we waited.

About 10 minutes before the show was due to start the compere started to whip the crowd into a frenzy.  We were introduced to the drivers and then watched as they climbed up and inside the Monster Trucks.  The aim of the show was to see which truck could jump highest over the row of cars that was buried in the sand.

Although it was a brilliant spectacle to watch, we were very disappointed that the trucks only attempted three jumps each and then it was all over.

We continued along the prom to see what we could find.  There were lots of car displays to look at.  Many of the cars came and went, heading up to the cliff top to the display track.  I was very excited to spot my actual first car – a blue Morris Minor there too!  The kids were most excited by the army vehicle display though.

 

The final display arena on the sand was the Rally cars, so we stopped on the sand to have a bite to eat and waited for it to start.  We heard the announcement that the Grand Prix racing bikes were about to display on the cliff top so were torn about what we wanted to see, but as it was starting to rain we decided to wait for the Rally cars.

As there were two rally cars we assumed they would have a race, but the red one was just a safety car.  Although it was fun to watch the rally car bounce along the sand at speed, we were disappointed and the display was over almost as soon as it begun.

The rain was now starting to get heavy and the announcement came that they were closing the demonstration straight along the cliff top, so we made the decision to head home, stopping briefly to try some archery and win a teddy!

We made one final stop at the BIC to see the super cars.  Kian has put in his order for when he turns 17!

Bournemouth Wheels Festival will be back next year and although it wasn’t perfect, we will definitely go back!  Next time we will go up to the demonstration straight as I wanted to see the F1 cars in action!