The Salone Events Story…
I often get asked how Salone Events started, how long I have been running the business, and what got me into motorsport in the first place, so I thought it would make sense to write a little blog about it…
WHERE DOES MY PASSION OF MOTORSPORT COME FROM?
Motorsport always brings people together regardless of what else is going on in. It is always an occasion, an event where people find common interests with one another, laugh, and build relationships whilst talking over the bonnet of a car. What else do you get that with?
Motorsport is something that has always brought our family together. On a Sunday, no matter how busy everyone was, Mum would pop back from running her own business to come back to the house, Dad and Papa would stop whatever mad DIY project they were working on at the time and they would all join myself, my two sisters and my nan on the sofa for the Formula 1 race. With nibbles on the table and cup of tea in our hands, we would all stop for those couple of hours and enjoy the race together.
For me, organising and hosting motorsport events is about just that. Bringing people back together and creating memories.
However, motorsport is much more engrained in our blood then that. Our Papa was a racing driver who drove in many race series, including the Wendy Wools Special Saloon Championships. He was so into his racing that he ended up founding Revolution Wheels, as there wasn’t anything suitable on the market at the time. In the office we have various different race programmes dated 1968/69 and it’s amazing to flick back through and see nans handwriting, making note of his fastest times.
The history of Salone Events
I started Salone Events in June 2018, after leaving my corporate job where I was managing events. Salone Events started as a general event management company with a strong focus in the motorsport sector, a big part of which was Goodwood. I have always lived near to Goodwood and I love every aspect of it, so it only made sense to me to involve Goodwood in what we did.
When COVID hit, we were quite limited to what events we could host to say the least, and the normal events we did could no longer take place. Whilst scrolling through Facebook one afternoon, I saw that Goodwood Motor Circuit had reopened following the lifting of certain COVID restrictions. I called up, booked a date in the diary for a few weeks after the phone call, and I really had no idea what I would do with the date – I was just desperate to do an event!
Because I was so used to dealing with corporate events, I had imagined that we would end up hosting an event at the circuit for one of our corporate clients. However, after putting the information out to our clients that we had the track for a day, we were inundated with requests from individuals who were wanting to bring their cars on track, so that’s what the day ended up becoming.
It was an amazing day, and definitely a turning point for us. We ended up hosting another 5 track days that year, and in October time it felt natural to completely pivot the business, rebrand, and made track days the core of what we do. Of course, we still do other experiences and events around motorsport too!
Why Salone Events?
A very common question! As mentioned already, my Papa used to race in the Wendy Wools Special Saloon Championships. Papa is a huge part of why I love motorsport and why I wanted my own business. I wanted to combine Papas background with my other grandparents who were Italian. Saloon cars in Italian is Salone, hence Salone Events!
Bernadette Palombo, Director