With 2025 now upon us, I’ve been reflecting on my past year of Speedhunting.
While I experienced car culture in all its forms last year, the 2024 car shows really stood out. To be honest, after years of covering events, I thought the novelty had started to fade. But I’m happy to report that 2024 proved me wrong, delivering (almost) nothing but phenomenal shows, with two standout events from my UK favourites: Players Classic and Rollhard.
Players is now a globally recognised brand, but today, I want to shine the spotlight on the underdogs at RollHard.
Daniel Bryan Allard and his team have transformed what began as a small gathering of friends into one of the UK’s premier modified car shows. I thought I’d give you an insight into what it takes to pull that off.
MC: Tell me a little bit about yourself, Dan.
DBA: I’m Dan, I’m 37, and I like cars. I grew up in a typical ’90s British household. Dad worked, Mum kept the house tidy, and I was very fortunate to have a stable upbringing. My day job is as a green-keeper/mechanic on a golf course; early start but an early finish, which allows me to have more time on my brand. I have an incredibly supportive fiancée and two amazing daughters, who are the reason I still push on with Rollhard.
MC: What started your interest in cars, and tell me about what you have in your stable.
DBA: My Dad has always been into cars. Not to our extent, but he had a long list of cars and a sense of pride in keeping them clean and well-maintained. My brother, Dad, and I would often go to the British Motor Show (when they were good) and from a young age, the bug bit me, collecting models and new car brochures. Looking back to where modifying and customising started, I never stuck to the instructions with LEGO and K’NEX, so it was a natural progression to customising cars when I started driving.
Currently in the stable is a family road-tripping Volkswagen Tiguan and a red (now pink) Vauxhall Astra that was handed down from my fiancée’s Grandad and is too good of a crap car to not daily. My B16A2 MK1 Golf is back on the road and nearly complete, and lastly, my dream project: a patinated 1971 Datsun 240z, which will be started this winter..
MC: Tell me about some notable things you may have done during your time in the car scene.
DBA: Some will laugh, but my first build was quite well-known back in 2009. It was the fallout of the Max Power era, and I had a new Vauxhall Corsa D. The car was built to what was called ‘Euro look’ at the time: low with smoothed bodywork and an interior retrim. That car took me to Europe and helped build many friendships which have lasted until today. My most notable car was ‘Bricky’, a Volvo 240 Estate on air suspension and BBS RFs. It was built and then driven straight to Wörthersee. The reception the car got was insane. Now it’s with my good friend Eden being reincarnated for its next chapter.
MC: What are some of your favourite events you’ve been to?
DBA: Wörthersee will forever be at the top of my mind when it comes to events. The first time I drove to the lake and saw the local towns embrace car culture was incredible. Players Classic is another highlight in the calendar. We’ve not missed a single Classic since the first; for me, it’s the perfect blend of top-tier organisation, vibes and car quality.
MC: Okay, let’s get to the topic at hand – what is Rollhard, and how did it start?
DBA: Rollhard was founded in 2010. We liked low, clean cars, but that style was only really seen on VW’s in the UK. Almost none of us owned a VW, so we started to hang out together and gave our group the name Rollhard; there were a few awful names before that…
It was never intended to amount to anything, but the more events we went to, interest in us grew. People started to ask for stickers and t-shirts and then to host meetings and events. We travelled to shows as a group, documenting where we had been on social media and on that new one at the time – Instagram. We respected the events and built a good reputation.
MC: How did it grow over the years?
DBA: Rollhard has grown organically. We have never forced the brand to grow, slowly picking up like-minded people along the way. We’ve always kept one foot out of the modified car scene, which I believe has shown that we are genuine car enthusiasts; always staying true to our humble beginnings, we don’t sell a fake lifestyle. We go to various events, such as the Goodwood Members Meeting, which gives us different ideas to inspire the brand.
MC: When did you put on your first show?
DBA: Our first meet was pre-Players North Weald 2012. We hosted it at a friend’s garage, and I fabricated an old 100L oil drum for a BBQ. We had a great mix of cars and people there, which set the tone for future events and the growth continued.
MC: How have you seen the show change over the years?
DBA: After our initial success, we outgrew our past venue in Essex, so we started with a clean sheet at Bicester Heritage. We looked around at other shows at the time and saw a recurring theme: sponsors. Instead, we set out to build a neutral show that would remain unsponsored, that way, people from the industry could come and enjoy car culture as much as the car owners and general public, unless they wanted to come and trade.
I believe that a lot of the industry first saw it as a negative. We have gone against the narrative, and now I believe our event is considered one of the best in the UK. We’ve also started to see a change in attitude towards the show where people are now understanding what we’re trying to achieve.
MC: Tell me, honestly, what it’s like to put on a show so big?
DBA: Honestly, it’s as stressful as you make it. If you go out claiming to be the biggest and best, you’ll scale up too quickly. Or, if you don’t have the numbers, you’ll stress trying to fill a venue without enough people to make it look busy. Our top priority with Bicester was to over-organise from day one and organically grow the show year on year. The show is mostly organised by me and Matt with help from Jonny. We keep the yearly growth sensible and plan two to three years ahead to keep the event fresh. I see Rollhard as a large meet rather than a show, as most people do.
MC: What are the biggest challenges to putting on a car show?
DBA: Marketing. Some will happily flood the internet to grow fast, but this comes at a cost. Equally, some don’t grow at all due to their brand look and message. We learned the hard way how to control marketing back when we were based in Essex. Unbeknown to us, our poster was pushed out across Essex County, which resulted in the show becoming flooded with unexpected attendees.
When we started afresh with Bicester, we drew up a plan for not only the event but for the brand to help paint a wider picture and build the case for why our show would not only grow but stand the test of time.
MC: Tell me some things that you need to consider as an organiser that the attendees probably don’t think about.
DBA: Time, location, team and protecting the venue. An event will eat your time, so be prepared to vanish for the month leading up to it.
Location will make or break an event. Yes, the overall look of it is important, but what are the access roads like? Do you have room to scale? Are there enough toilets? It’s the boring stuff that determines the spectators’ experience of the show.
We’re very fortunate to have the best group of friends to help. Everyone is on the same page and enjoys the experience. It’s a hard weekend for the team, and the reputation lies with them on the day, as they are the ‘front of house’, and they do us incredibly proud promoting the brand message.
Protecting the venue and brand is key. We’ve built up a great relationship with Bicester over the years, but it wasn’t easy to secure the venue. At face value, custom car culture can have a negative image to the wider automotive industry. We wanted to change that, build a network of trusted owners and have a clear message: drive like an idiot coming to, in or leaving the venue, you won’t be coming back. I’m proud to say we’re on the right path, and we’re getting recognised for it.
MC: What’s your favourite part of putting on the shows?
DBA: What nobody sees: the back-end planning. We’ve seen events of a similar size or smaller with a bigger team of people doing half as good a job of organising. We’re incredibly proud of how the brand and event present themselves, built in the evenings and weekends around our day jobs. While Matt and I handle the admin and planning, the event would never materialise without our incredible group of friends who help on the day. Rollhard is a group of genuine car enthusiasts doing it for the love of car culture.
MC: How has the car scene changed over the years?
DBA: We’ve seen a lot of trends come and go, and I think for the first time since starting Rollhard, we don’t have a dominant style or theme [in 2024]. The stance movement has slowed down, and a lot of micro-movements are thriving side-by-side.
When we started out, you’d see genuine hate for opposing marques of cars and styles, but we now see multiple all-marque events throughout the year and appreciation for all makes and models. Personally, it’s a great time for car culture. There will always be ‘clout-chasers’ who dip in and out of the scene to get their attention fix, but if you dig a little deeper and hang around, you’ll cross paths with some incredible people.
With the variety of cars getting built at the moment and the ability to connect with like-minded people across the planet, I think we’re in a golden era for custom car culture. I’m just unsure of how long it’ll last.
MC: What does the future have in store for Rollhard?
DBA: With the event now established, our attention has turned back to our apparel, as we want to become known for that again. It’s part of how we started, and we’re excited to get back into that side of the brand. We’ll also be focusing our YouTube channel on what goes on behind the scenes and our own builds. The end goal for the brand is to have a permanent home, but we’ll see what the future has in store.
I’m excited to see how Rollhard evolves in the coming years. While I have no affiliation with the brand, I truly admire the dedication Dan and the team pour into their passion project. I’ll summarise the show with my most honest praise: Rollhard is one of the few car shows I’d attend on a day off just to enjoy the vibe.
Mario Christou
Instagram: mcwpn, mariochristou.world
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