Caper 2026 Review

We had the perfect day for our 20th Cotswold Caper, a lovely sunny day, a few clouds about and no rain forecast, in fact it was a perfect day for driving a classic car through the Cotswolds. Our start and finish venue this year was the Cirencester Football Club and as usual our small army of helpers arrived at the Football Club at 7.15 am and set about getting everything ready before all the entrants arrived on site.

The Pink Ladies, soon got to work in setting out the registration stations, raffle ticket sales, distribution of water, cable ties, rally plaque suckers and the display of raffle prizes, whilst outside the marshals were busy erecting the gazebo, start banner, club flags and directional signs. Once set up we all had time to enjoy our bacon rolls and a well deserved cup of tea or coffee.

Alan and Andrea from CALM, our nominated charity arrived around 9am and utilised a pub bench outside as a focus point for their charity with collection boxes and leaflets. Rory with his mum, dad and sister together with Alex, Rory’s therapist arrived around 9.30am with Rory very excited to be waving the cars away from the start, although he did get a lot of help from his sister.

This year we had 103 cars signed up to take part, of which we had 88 turn up on the day, with entrants arriving from 8.30 onwards. With Sue welcoming the entrants as they arrived they made their way to the registration stations where they were greeted by Alison, Dizzy and Shelia, with Wendy and Myn selling raffle tickets, and Lynn managing the bacon rolls and drinks.

As usual, entrants had come from far and wide, with crews travelling from Maidstone, Manchester, Reading, Battle and Newcastle under Lyme to name a few. A prize of a bottle of wine was presented to entrant Colin Love, from Callington, Cornwall, who was the person who had travelled the furthest (171 miles) to take part in the Caper.

The event is not restricted to just MGs, although the majority are MGs, but this year we had 6 Aston Martins, 5 Jaguars, a few Mazda MX5s, a Morgan and a returning Gilbern Invader signed up. A good variety of MGs were on display from a few MG TA & TCs , lots of MGBs & MGCs through to a Cyberster Trophy. Andy did a great job in photographing all the cars, both at the start and on the return route as they passed through Tetbury.

At 10am the first cars were sent on their way, with Rob releasing the cars at suitable intervals and with Rory, and his sister enthusiastically waving them off with the Union Jack.

The entrants headed off on the first leg of the route which took them south through the Cotswold Water Park, passing through Ashton Keynes and onto Royal Wootton Basset.

The route then proceeded to take the entrants through Broad Town, passing the Heckpen White Horse, one of the four Wiltshire White Horses featured on the route. The entrants then passed through Avebury, famous for its Neolithic Stone Circle and travelled out of Avebury down the Stone Avenue. After driving through the scenic Wiltshire countryside, passing through Alton Barnes and Bishops Cannings the entrants arrived at the Atwell- Wilson Motor Museum in Calne for the halfway stop.

Adrian, Phil and Lindsay were on hand to marshal the parking and the museum had kindly offered all entrants a reduced entrance fee, and many took the time to look around the museum, who had also arranged for a burger van to be on site for the event.

The return route headed through Calne and across country roads towards Sutton Benger and onto Great Somerford, before passing through Malmesbury. It then continued through Shipton Moyne, which involved a last minute diversion following a road closure which we were made aware of on the previous day.

Crossing the Fosse Way the drive headed to Tetbury where there was a photo opportunity passing through a ford, which unfortunately was dry. A few of the entrants did miss the turning right directly after the ford, but soon realised and back tracked to get on course. Leaving Tetbury the route took the entrants across to Crudwell and onto Oaksey before passing through the Cotswold Water Park again before the final few miles heading back to the Cirencester Football Club.

Once back the entrants were able to see if they had won a raffle prize, and partake of refreshments from either the Football Club bar, or the tea or coffee station. Wendy provided a cake stall with a selection of home cakes to help raise money for CALM.

Everyone was so pleased that Steve and Marion were able to join us at the end of the Caper for a chat plus a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

So that was our 20th Cotswold Caper, and another successful one thanks to all the members involved in organising the event and all the members who helped on the day. All the returning entrants we spoke to, really enjoyed the route and we received a numerous amount of positive feedback.