It's Show Time 2020

November 01, 2020

AUTOSPORT INTERNATIONAL

SUNDAY 12TH JANUARY 2020

The New Year means only one thing and a visit to the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham for the Autosport International show. With a free ticket thanks to being a member of the BRSCC, the show is a good way to start off the year and see the health (and wealth!) of the sport we all love. The show was being opened by Monegasque Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc on this particular Sunday and in anticipation of a large crowd I arrived early at the colossal complex that is the NEC. The entrance I chose contained neither a Ferrari F1 driver or a ribbon and a pair of scissors so my entrance was a fairly quiet and subdued one! Indeed I didn't get to see Monsieur Leclerc at any time whilst in the show alas.

As you can see from the photos below I did see Finnish 1981 World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen circulating amongst the crowd during my visit.

One of the highlights of the show was a fantastic exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of the creation of Autosport magazine. From the 1950's to the present day the collection of machinery on show was breath taking and the photos below are a mere snapshot of what was displayed.

As is usual at the show I religiously collected as many fixture lists as possible in a bid to piece together the complexity of the national racing scene and create a workable 2020 fixture list! A notable absentee this year was the Historic Sports Car Club, perhaps understandable given the costs of hiring a stand and floor space. The show is at times an uneasy mix of a Motor racing show with an ever increasing leaning to the Performance car market....bling if you will! Where once there were myriad book stalls there are now stalls selling car polish and chrome...the times are certainly changing.

All in all it's good to get out and attend the show but one feels that it is a shadow of its former self sadly, in the opinion of an old-fashioned racing nerd that is!!

This tractor ploughs fields faster than normal

Formula E Gen 2 Chassis....the future is here!

The current F1 grid

Porsche 919 WEC/Le Mans Winner

Brawn BGP 001-Mercedes

McLaren-Honda MP4-4

Ari Vatanen signing autographs

Porsche 917

Lotus 49

Maserati 250F

MOTORSPORT WITH ATTITUDE

SUNDAY 2ND FEBRUARY 2020

Early February saw a trip to the East of England showground near Peterborough to see the Motorsport with Attitude show. Essentially a showcase for the short circuit Oval racing side of the motor sport game, the show also had stands representing circuit racing, Speedway and even radio controlled racing! In 2005 I somewhat foolishly purchased a Peterborough Panthers speedway season ticket. I say foolishly as the 130 mile round trip for every meeting was a test of endurance at times! The reason for the purchase though was that the Speedway track at the Showground is without doubt the best in the country and I thoroughly enjoyed the action on offer. So the way to the Showground at Alwalton on the outskirts of Peterborough was very familiar one. The show was mostly based indoors but the copious spaces of the showground were utilised and an oval circuit was created just outside the main exhibition halls so various forms of oval racing could be showcased in the raw.

Just as at the NEC the hunt for fixture lists was at the heart of my visit and was a successful one. The oval racing branch of the sport has always promoted itself way better than its circuit racing counterpart and virtually all oval racing promoters had stalls and fixture lists....even Dutch circuits!

This was an enjoyable day out and with lots to see and do there was plenty to keep everyone occupied

Another tractor that will plough at a furious pace!

The humble MG Metro...The UK's greatest ever car!!

Man pretending to be a race driver......

Seen wondering about....an old dinosaur but that's enough about me

RACE RETRO

SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2020

The final big motorsport show of the winter saw a visit to the former site of the Royal Show and the National Agricultural Centre at Stoneleigh just to the south of Coventry for the Race Retro show. This was a first visit to this particular show which has historic racing as its focal point. One of the big selling points for Race Retro is a live Rally stage on the internal roads around the venue and a huge entry was in evidence. Sunday was sunny and bright but to say the surrounding grass was wet was an understatement! Bog like would be my description, so having wondered around the show I ventured outside to have a look at the cars in action on the stage. Due to the tight and twisty nature of the stage it wasn't exactly high speed action but it was good to see some classic cars in the flesh.

The indoor part of the show was very impressive indeed and I was surprised by actually how much there was to see. 1994 World Rally Champion Didier Auriol was being interviewed on stage as you can just about see in the photos below. For the enthusiast I'd say that the Race Retro show has it all and there were loads of book stalls and memorabilia stands plus static exhibits that showcased many years of the sport.

So with 3 shows visited in 6 weeks it was time to crack on with the start of the season in March.......well that WAS the plan......!!