‘It’s changed my life’: Car meet organiser explains what the events mean to attendees

Craig Longman set up South Coast Cars eight years ago, and it has grown to become one of the largest car meet groups in the South of England, with more than 10,000 people on its Facebook page and attracting international attendees.

The 35-year-old from Havant claims the car scene has ‘changed his life’ by giving him a sense of purpose and helping meet ‘good people’.

He added that he understands noise complaints and concerns about safety, but says that his events are ‘family friendly’ and ‘respectful’, and feels that “a small minority ruin it for us all''.

Speaking to the Gazette, Craig said: “We get a small minority in the car scene that absolutely ruin it.

“I have a team of 13 of us that try and marshal the meets. We are always high-vizzed up and if we see people breaking the speed limit we take their number plates and if they are doing it regularly we do report them. I am a first aider, and we are always in contact with Hampshire Police.”

He continued: “I can see it [the annoyance[ when people are making such a noise, but when we set up an event we at least be respectful. It’s a static meet, and we are a family event and we have kids present.

“Whatever we seem to do, we always upset somebody, and we get that no matter what we do. But it’s just a small minority.”

South Coast Cars' events can attract up to 700 vehicles

Craig’s own 15 and 13-year-old children regularly attend and have become interested in the car scene.

“It’s something that we can do that’s not going to cost an absolute fortune. We invite every type of person to come along, and they get to see their dream car and their dream modification, and it gives them ideas.

“A lot of people have a passion for cars and they choose to spend money modifying their cars and doing them up, just like some people choose to go to the pubs and clubs.”

Craig said that South Coast Car events can attract as many as 700 vehicles, and that his main focus is finding venues which have enough parking spaces to avoid blocking roads, while also steering clear from very residential areas wherever possible.

Expanding on why car meets are so popular, Craig continued: “It’s become very huge again, it’s coming back.

“The ‘Max Power era’ is coming back, and it’s coming back quite strong. There’s quite a hype at the moment because people have not been able to do anything with Covid over the last year.”

However, he worries that the increased popularity has led to more groups popping up, some of which fail to seek the relevant permissions and give the car scene “a bad name”.

“With social media now, it’s so easy for anybody to create a group and they can run a meet and can be totally out of their depth running that meet,” he said.

“We take a lot of things into consideration, whereas some groups just pitch up and it gives groups like us a bad name.

“95 per cent of the people at the car meet are very approachable people and are considerate. They do understand that people do live in the area and they don’t do it to p*ss people off. We are quite easily branded as boy races, but the vast majority of us aren’t, because we’ve spent too much money on our cars to be boy racers!”

Craig says that car enthusiasts enjoy sharing their modifications, and getting ideas from others

He added: “We tend to have good relationships wherever we go, and that’s because we are respectful. We encourage everybody to have a look, have a walk around and see what we are doing.”

For Craig, getting involved in the car scene has been more than just your usual hobby, as he credits it with changing his life.

“I have met so many good people through it. Eight years ago, I was not in a good place. I was a very horrible person,” he said.

“The car scene has helped me turn my life around. It’s given me something to focus on, and changed my life. And it does that for a lot of people. It does good for people, and it’s so nice to see.”

For more information on South Coast Cars, including details of their upcoming meet on August 13, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/362190465499413