Full throttle towards Great Yarmouth’s ninth Wheels Festival

 

• More than 60,000 people expected for Great Yarmouth’s ninth Wheels Festival on June 21-22

• World-class headliners motorcycle team Bolddog, BMXTRAS and the Red Dragon Monster Ride Truck to deliver non-stop seafront action

• Free event delivers significant positive economic – for every £1 invested in last year’s event, £49 was spent in the local economy.

 

Fast, free and fun – the mega two-day extravaganza of all-things wheels is revving up to take over Great Yarmouth’s seafront again this month attracting tens of thousands of visitors.

The mighty Wheels Festival celebrates its ninth year with a line-up of world-class acts performing jaw dropping stunts, a cavalcade of hundreds of cars from classic to weird and whacky, souped-up trucks, customised bikes and Europe’s only race framed Monster Ride Truck on June 21-22.

With crowds expected to top last year’s 60,000, organiser Visit Great Yarmouth is serving up a high-octane programme of guaranteed end-to-end family entertainment along Marine Parade.

Car and bike club bookings are up on last year when more than 900 cars and 650 bikes, ranging from classic and sport to quirky creations, lined up on Marine Parade over the weekend creating a 1.5km display of vehicles, superbikes, trucks and emergency and military vehicles.

Headlining is the UK’s number one motorcycle display team, Bolddog, which will bring the world’s first mobile landing system to St Nicholas car park, where the UK’s top ranked motocross riders will perform two mesmerising shows a day packed with daring extreme skills, including the 75ft jump, that they take around the world.

Renowned for pushing the boundaries, Bolddog riders deliver on-board commentary to the crowds while flying through the air performing tricks above the industry’s first high tech mobile ramp equipment where they base their famous Superman Seat Grab, Indian Air and Kiss of Death stunts, taking hands off their handlebars  and ‘flying’ out of their seats while rotating in the air wowing the crowds.

Team manager Dan Whitby – who started riding motorcycles at just five years old and met his team mates as young motocross riders- promises a high adrenalin “non-stop show that will entertain everyone.,”

Between displays, the public can meet the riders from the Norfolk homegrown team – based in Harleston – and look more closely at the bikes on its interactive stand.

With Bolddog at St Nicholas car park all day both days will be ride-on Monster Ride Truck Red Dragon, standing 11 ft high, 12,5 ft wide and 19 ft long weighing about five tonnes and crushes cars in its path. Visitors over three foot tall can ride for a charge.

Whizzing up and down the seafront on her baby grand piano on wheels causing hilarious havoc will be Musical Ruth with her comedy and music show. The madcap nun will mix and mingle with the crowds with her unique mix of dance moves, sound effects and her version of old favourite songs in three 30-minute shows along the seafront.

Adrenaline, precision and excitement combine for the stunt shows by UK top riders BMXTRAS. The high-energy 25-minute shows will be at the Marina Centre car park four times a day with heart-stopping skills of BMX and scooter stunts, jump box shows, air bag landings, mini kicker performances.

The team debuted the very first BMX show at Disneyland Paris. Its experience spans international events to top-tier film productions and live television shows. Also, at the Marina Centre car park throughout both days is the jet powered Jet Hearse.

Visit Great Yarmouth funds the Wheels Festival as part of its events programme. Latest data shows the positive economic impact the two days has on the local economy. For every £1 invested in last year’s event, £49 was spent in the local economy. The event in 2023 drew the largest crowd to the seafront since 2018.

Asa Morrison, CEO of Visit Great Yarmouth, said: “Where else can you enjoy such variety of high-octane stunts, incredible and unusual vehicles for free than our fabulous Wheels Festival? We have carefully curated the programme to ensure there is something for everyone in the family promising a great day out along the full stretch of Marine Parade.

“In 2023, 50,000 people visited and last year it attracted 60,000. Every year we aim to make the programme bigger and better, drawing in visitors from far and wide as well as locally to spend time on the seafront, enjoy the shows, get up close to some of the world’s most amazing vehicles, stunts and thrills and make the most of our diversity of seafront businesses while they are there.

“It’s an event for people to enjoy but also for our local businesses, cafes, arcades, attractions and shops to benefit from. Our work is all designed to benefit our destination and the businesses and people in it.

“Tourism and visitor economy brings in more than £641m to the local economy. Visit Great Yarmouth’s main purpose is to attract people here and organising the Wheels Festival is always a fantastic draw for more and more people every year.”

Nathan Race, Visit Great Yarmouth chair, said: “Great Yarmouth’s Wheels Festival is a must-not miss event in our destination’s calendar. It delivers the perfect mix of spectacle and fun with a real wow-factor. Once again, this year promises to be another massive event to remember for our destination. The seafront will be packed with people enjoying everything about “wheels”. Most importantly this event creates an electric atmosphere for the borough whilst supporting our seafront businesses to bring in extra custom over this amazing weekend.”

Alongside the 1.5km-plus vehicle line-up– featuring everything from American classics and souped-up saloon to British icons and all bells-and-whistles bikes – will be pop-up stalls, attractions, and entertainment, all adding to the atmosphere.

Also expected is a Red Arrows flight simulator on the central seafront.

And Lego lovers will have the chance to build vehicles to take part in a car jumping competition in Great Yarmouth Scout groups’ LEGO Car Challenge. Completed LEGO cars will be displayed to create a small ‘mini wheels festival” area, adding extra fun and involving all ages.

Great Yarmouth Scout groups will also be running a Pit Stop Challenge for kids and adults. Adults will be challenged to change a trailer tyre on a specially-built rig as fast as they can. Children will change wheelbarrow wheel.

Music fans are also being served up treats with the award-winning Pink Fusion FX and DJs Rulebreakerz, X-Static and Michael Angelo, with dancers Twisted Bliss, performing a taster for its Celebrate Ibiza show with face-painting and airbrush tattoos all day on June 22 next to the Marina Centre all day.

Marine Parade will be closed to non-event traffic throughout.

Wheels Festival will run from 10am until 6pm on Saturday and 10am until 4pm on Sunday. For the full events and display schedule and more information visit: https://www.visitgreatyarmouth.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-and-major-events/great-yarmouth-wheels-festival