Districts was an all new car show concept, held right in the heart of Belfast at the old B&Q site on the Boucher Road, now called S13. Promising a relaxed vibe, and an enormous variety of cars from classic to stanced to motorsport there was to be something for everyone.
I was kindly invited to bring my Lotus to the event and spent two days at what transpired to be an excellent, and for a first outing, well organised event indeed.First up the Districts Show layout, and the team behind I Love Bass did a great job in ensuring there was plenty of space to see around the cars, coupled with great signage and lighting.
Each district of cars looked excellent and with a stringent vetting process prior to the show this meant the standard of cars was exceptionally high. It was clear though some entrants couldn’t make it on the day – I think even more cars could have been fitted into the exceptionally large DIY store.
Even BTC Team Norlin Racing brought a fantastic stand to the event. including two cars and race truck for fans of the British Touring Car Championship.
This Lamborghini Aventador SV750 was of course on the many highlights of the Districts Belfast Show, only making an appearance on the Sunday but as having made an appearance in the slick promo video that went out ahead of the day. We all heard it leave as it’s sheer volume seemed to rattle and reverberate around every panel of the building, much to the delight of the crowds.
McMillan Porsche had a superb customer car stand with an array of stunning 911s on show. Other trade stands were impressive in other ways, the Auto Finesse Stand with their stacked crates of product worthy of particular mention, along with the likes of Automanic, Blackwater Graphics, Blok51, Kleen Freaks and Airlift Performance who brought along some great vehicles as well.
There was a clear effort to make the Districts Show a family day out, with some really fun things for youngsters including RC drift cars, a skateboard park and bikes to play on. Outside and along with a great off-road display stand with particularly dirty Land Rover Defenders there was great food and even a bar.
So then the Districts Show was a great first outing for the new event and everyone seemed to really enjoy their days out. We hope it will return in 2018, although it remains to be seen what will happen to this fantastic venue. With the Kings Hall no more, there’s no closer venue to the city centre to hold a car show of this scale…
