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This was a one-off event on 10 Dec 2011, held with the encouragement of the local council. The whole of Midsummer Boulevard, running for about 1km from the shopping centre to the railway station, was closed to traffic and used as a track for high-speed demonstration runs. Allegedly the speed limit was set at 70 mph. Locals also point out that the intersections are quite bumpy.
In view of the large predicted turn-out, I decided to travel by train to the conveniently sited CMK railway station. I didn’t arrive too early as the weather was clear but cold and I was hoping a promised parcel might turn up.
I arrived about 15 mins before the show was due to start and found that a very large crowd was already lining the track about 4 deep on both sides. (Some reports put the attendance at 60,000). Accordingly this isn’t so much a report on the Home Run (there are some excellent amateur videos on Youtube) as a report on the difficulty of seeing or photographing anything.

I was hoping to position myself near one of the giant TV screens, but the one nearest the station was throughly obscured by tree branches and the next one was across the road from a long Press stand on the trackside, so that was no use either.
I positioned myself a few hundred yards from the railway station and hoped for the best. In the end, I got to see the Red Bull stunt biker Chris Pfeiffer, the F1 car driven by Mark Webber, the Red Bull NASCAR saloon driven by David Coulthard, the F1 car driven by Sebastian Vettel, and finally both F1 cars and drivers driving side by side. In each case (except the stunt biker) I saw them for about a second as they whizzed past. To get a photo in such a situation it is necessary to start pressing the shutter before the audible but unseen car appears, a near impossible task.
A F1 car is noisy, but less ear-splitting than I expected. The most exciting noise was made by the NASCAR driven by Coulthard.
After that I went home to de-frost, passing up the chance to visit the paddock or see a static F1 car display in the shopping centre. Reportedly, retail takings were up.

Rhythm Festival 2011 – Logistics Report.
I bought a day ticket in advance for the Sunday of this 3-day festival. The ticket arrived in good time by post. On arriving at Old Warden on the Sunday morning I found there was no festival traffic, so had to cruise through the village looking for the festival entrance. There wasn’t any trail of temporary signs. There was adequate parking on a field close to the arena entrance.
The festival boasted five stages: the primary outdoor stage, a second outdoor stage, an indoor stage in a marquee, and two more inside buildings. The land in the arena is unusually hilly, which provided complete visual and sound separation between the primary, second and marquee stages. If you want to sit, bring a folding chair. There was a huge beer tent (a handy place to retreat to during a rain shower), and the provision of toilets and catering was also adequate. Interestingly, on the ridge at the back of the primary stage spectator area was a line of tented booths for privileged spectators (corporates or paid extra). In case you needed something else to do there was a cinema marquee and a funfair on site as well.
As for the music, I’m no music reviewer but I enjoyed the music which, headlined by Toots and the Maytals, was clearly aimed at older rock fans. Attendance was of the order of 5000.

Rhythms of the World Festival 2010 – Logistics report.
The festival was held at the Priory Park in Hitchin, a green space near the centre of the town. Note that this is a day festival (2 days) and you can buy a ticket for either day, or both. There is no camping.
Parking is an issue here, and the organisers encourage attendees to come by public transport. Hitchin railway station is a mile from the site. There is no on-site parking, and even drop-off outside could be a problem, because of the narrow streets. The official parking was at Butt’s Close, another large green space in the town some 10 mins walk away. For your future reference, the vehicle entrance to Butt’s Close is from Fishponds Road. You will exit on foot from the far end of the parking area. Of course, there are also pay car parks around the town centre.

Before you get in, there is a bag check for excess alcohol, etc.
Once inside, there are at least five stages to choose from. The “World Music” acts all appeared on the main stage, and were generally of a high standard. I saw a Touraeg band from North Africa – wish I could have got a CD of them. Supporting acts on the other stages were a variety of rock, pop, folk, or unclassifiable, and mainly of local, i.e. home counties, origin. Only one of the stages (the church-sponsored one) had seating or cover for spectators.
Considering the quality World Music and the ticket price of under £10 per day, superb value for money. Toilet and catering facilities were adequate.