The Commonwealth Car Club officially kicked off on 16 March, 2024. But our story started when Birmingham, hosted the 22 Commonwealth Games. Back in early April 2022, the organisers of the games were looking for 72 drivers to take part in the opening ceremony on 28 July, 2022. The catch? They had to own a red, white, or blue Birmingham-made car. Rehearsals for the opening ceremony started on 12 June, 2022, at the old Longbridge works. It’s easy to guess why Birmingham wanted red, white, and blue cars. But here’s the thing: all the volunteer drivers were sworn to secrecy. During the first rehearsal, they met a very special person who would help them get ready for this big moment: Paul Swift. Paul is a legend in motorsport and automotive entertainment. He’s known as a professional stunt driver and has been in car shows and exhibitions all over. He’s especially famous for his incredible driving skills, like drifting and stunt moves. He’s even been on TV shows and events that show off automotive talent. His work always gets people excited and on the edge of their seats, so he’s a big deal in the automotive world. On 12 June, 2022, Paul announced that the volunteers would use their cars to represent the UK Union flag inside the Alexander Stadium. The rehearsals then switch to the stadium on Sunday, 10 July. The first dress rehearsal was on 24 July, and the second dress rehearsal was on July 26th. The grand opening ceremony was on Thursday, 28 July, and everything went off without a hitch! Everyone involved made some amazing memories, made some new friends, and the performance will be remembered for years to come.

The Commonwealth drivers decided to get involved at car events, so people could see the cars used in the opening ceremony and meet the drivers. The first event that the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Drivers Group was involved in was the Pride of Longbridge on 15 April, 2023. After that, we had calls from people wanting to join the group, but we wanted to keep the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Drivers Group for the volunteer drivers. So, we created the Commonwealth Car Club on 13 March 2024. A month later, April 20, 2024. Our first club show was at the Alexander Stadium. We thought it would be small, but it was amazing how many cars showed up! New members and Commonwealth Games drivers had the opportunity to have their photos taken in front of the gates, where some Commonwealth opening ceremony drivers had left the stadium after their performance. It was a great event. The club had another event on 3 August, 2024, and it was just as successful. We even gave out the Best In Show award, which was voted by members and visitors. Jonathan Cotterill and his Mini won Best In Show! Both events had a vintage Daimler bus, which was provided by National Express West Midlands. Because both events were so popular, we decided to rename them Retro & Refined. This name covers both old and new cars, including American cars, camper vans, and motorbikes.

We want to change how people think about car clubs. Our first goal is to make sure our members feel welcome and friendly. Our slogan says it all: “Fuelled by Friendship.” We want everyone, no matter what kind of car they have, to feel at home with us.

As a club we’re going to focus on having our own twice a year shows at the Alexander stadium instead of meeting every month like most other clubs. We know people have busy lives and don’t always want to go to car shows every month. So, we’re going to have two big shows each year instead.

But we also had a cool idea called “Connect.” This lets us support other car shows and events. There are so many great events to choose from all year, so we’ve picked a few that our members might like. We’ll put them on our calendar.

We also have an incentive called “Roadrunner.” This is for extra club activities, like road trips to amazing places like the Peak District. We’ll also take day trips to theme parks and other fun places. Roadrunner is a chance for us to go to car events and shows where we don’t have to show off our own cars. Our goal is to be more of a part of the events than just showing off our cars. Not only that we will be organising charity events, our first being a climb up mount snowdon to raise money for Ben - Support for Life.