Autosport Show, NEC, 15-18 January 2010

Crisis? What Crisis? Oh, yes, that Crisis. A cynic went to the NEC.

You might have noticed that there's a recession. Actually, it's supposed to be ending. It was just about noticeable at the Racing Car Show last year, but this year, despite the economic indicators showing an upturn there were signs that my fellow bean counters in many companies have chucked a few less beans at the marketing departments. Some just weren't there. The Engineering Hall was a bit smaller than usual, blocked off by partititons, and in the public part of the show the F1 showpiece was down to around half a dozen cars with no flashy backdrop. Obviously, nothing from the new boys like Virgin Manor (is that a team or a stately home?) or Pretend Lotus. This meant you could get closer to them, but a bit of the mystique went away. Similarly, 60 years of Autosport, which should have been a bit jaw dropping was just 6 cars - albeit beautiful, iconic cars. Some of the stands were smaller, some of the tyre firms who in the past have had stands larger than a Central American republic weren't there, and there was a distinct dearth of freebies. One very pretty girl offered me a logo'd hat for £2 (for which she said she got 50p commission), and Dunlop hats were available if you made a charity donation. I looked up what charity means when I got home, hatless. In the mid range, there weren't many F3 or British GT cars and I can't recall much in the way of GP2 or similar.

And yet....there was hope for Motorsport. The show was pretty busy when I went on Friday and when I spoke to Hugo Holder on CSCC's stand, he told me they were rushed off their feet. There were more universities (offering motorpsort degrees) than ever and there were several initiatives aimed at the "yoof" market. Two notable ones were Go Motorsport, the MSA-linked spreading of the word that motorsport is NOT expensive, exclusive and elite but is for everybody, including school age, and F1 in Schools, the splendid initiative which uses F1 as a hook to introduce engineering, maths, physics, and a bit of money management into schools.

Elsewhere, polishing cars seemed to be a major interest. Apparently, some people spend more in a week on car polish/cleaning products than the entire Mono 1600 class have since 2001. The results are, however, impressive to say the least.

To prove that money is no object, that the Japanese nation have a very refined sense of humour, and that somewhere there's one born every minute, Autocar showed a "Lexus LFA" which apparently is "very good" but costs £343,000. Or, the price of a Ferrari 458, a Porsche Cayman, a BMW 530dGT, a Ford Connect, a Mono Dallara, and a load of cash.

There were a lot of simulators at the NEC, varying from 3-axis stuff which looked like it came from the US Air Force to an F1-type cockpit on a ballscrew chassis, to a simple static sim. I was knocked out by their realism, but also by the fact that F3/FRenault/FBMW professional Sam Bird, who was on several stands' leader boards, was just behind some "civilians".

There were pretty girls in tight clothes too, but not so many as last year, and I'm told the readers of Startline have tired of their pictures, so none this year. Here are the other pics, of what was a fascinating show, with captions.

Famous People

Some faces seen at the show; famous in Monoposto or in other areas of motorsport.

F1 Cars

Apart from the Brawn on a plinth, these were just parked with a Tensa barrier around them, so easier to get close than prior years (which was great) but slightly less atmosphere.

Humble (ie not F1) Cars

Road Cars

Be honest, if you were really into road cars you wouldn't spend all your spare cash on a racer and be reading this would you? However, there were a few road/road-based cars of interest.

Engines
Jim Blockley said on the Forum that he wanted something to put him on even terms with Neil, Jeremy, Tristan, etc. Here's a few suggestions, all of which could have been used in Latvian-spec Trabants, so potentially be eligible for Mono.

Engineering and Miscellany

Some exhibits raised a smile, or raised an eyebrow, or delighted with their precision and engineering beauty.

Tony Cotton