A “tumbling car”, which simulates the experience of overturning or entering a rollover collision, will make its UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to demonstrate the importance of wearing a seatbelt.

Visitors to the event, from 29 June to 2 July, will be able to test the car at the GEM Motoring Assist and Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (SSRP) stand (Number 409), where it will be positioned on a rig. Volunteers will be invited to get in, buckle up, and experience what it would be like in a vehicle that turns upside down, then rolls over and over in a collision.

The car is on loan to GEM Motoring Assist and SSRP from Belgian authorities.

GEM road safety officer Neil Worth said: “Whilst our tumbling car may not be as fast as its supercar cousins, it will be the only one at the Festival of Speed where you can perform several 360-degree loops and live to tell the tale!

“Being upside down in a car, or rolling over several times, is hopefully a situation most drivers are unlikely to have been in before, and the main purpose of this is to let them find out for themselves just how vital a standard three-point seatbelt is in providing them with effective protection in a collision.

“By putting visitors into this situation, where they can feel what it would be like if they were to roll a car, and to appreciate how a seatbelt looks after you, we can really start to get an understanding of why cars have these safety features, and why the law says you must wear a seatbelt.”