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Rob Austin joins Coventry Ring Road demo event with BTCC Audi

British Touring Car Championship race winner Rob Austin will demonstrate his Audi A4 on the Coventry Ring Road this weekend as part of a fledgling motorsport festival

The organisers of Coventry MotoFest have worked with the British Automobile Racing Club and the local council to create a circuit that will use part of the city's A4053.

Austin's BTCC Audi will take part in the demonstrations in addition to cars from the Renault UK Clio Cup, the 1963 gas turbine-powered Rover-BRM Le Mans prototype, drift and rallycross machinery.

"What a fantastic event - as soon as I was invited I jumped at the chance," said Austin.

"Who wouldn't want to run their touring car at an event like this?

"We all remember the BTCC street races at the old Birmingham Super Prix events in the late '80s [pictured] and the BTCC city centre events in the mid-noughties.

"Putting on events like those have become near impossible since - the closest I've come is racing my '70s Surtees F1 car on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in the historic event there.

"I'm really looking forward to putting 'Sherman' [the A4] through his paces on Coventry's Ring Road - it will be a unique challenge but what an opportunity to put on a show for the crowds."

The new 1.5-mile sprint track is formed on the Ring Road between Junctions 6 and 4.

The course, which comprises 17 corners, begins just prior to the slip road to junction six and then heads east to Junction 4 before looping around to finish just before the Friargate Tunnel back at Junction six.

It will also have a paddock underneath Junction 8, with modifications being made to the central reservation to create a turning point in the dual carriageway. There are eight marshal points and six dedicated spectator areas around the route.

Competitive sprints were targeted for this year, but that has not been achievable.

Organisers remain determined to host competitive motorsport in 2016 though, a target that could be more likely once the British government finalises changes to closed-road legislation, believed to be completed later this year.

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