More than 4000 motorsport fans visited the Banbury headquarters of the Subaru World Rally Team this weekend (14/15 July), as Prodrive opened its site to the public for two days to raise money for Oxford’s Children’s Hospital.

Subaru World Rally Team driver Chris Atkinson was one of Saturday’s star guests and enjoyed the carnival atmosphere, signing autographs and meeting the legions of SWRT supporters who had travelled to the British home of the team.

Chris got the chance to drive his Impreza WRC2007 as part of three rally servicing demonstrations, during which the SWRT service crew set a new record for changing a gearbox – an incredible 5 min 48 secs from the time the car stopped, to when it was driven off again.

“It’s been a fantastic day and a great opportunity for all of us at SWRT to spend time with some of our team’s most hard-core supporters,” said Atkinson. “I knew today was going to be pretty special when I saw the number of Imprezas parked on the approach roads to the HQ – it looked like a car show! And once we were in, the place had a terrific atmosphere. It was a bit strange to see the rally workshops full of children with painted faces, but I’m assured our rally Finland cars were safely out of the way!”

Elsewhere on site The Aston Martin Racing team, fresh from its GT1 class win at Le Mans, carried out pit stops on the DBR9, while team drivers Johnny Herbert and David Brabham smoked the tyres on the Le Mans-winning 009 car.

Prodrive also opened up workshops and other working areas across the whole site, so fans could the see the comprehensive engineering that goes into the company’s rally and race programmes. The weekend was also a major success for Prodrive’s nominated charity Oxford Children’s Hospital, with more than £60,000 raised over the two days.