From fireproof racesuits to metalflake monster trucks, there's something for everyone at the Autosport show...
The Goodwood festivals may be the point where high society meets the petrol fraternity, and international motorsport events allow the diehards to compare notes and share a flask of coffee, but for those who love cars and motorsport of all types, the Autosport show is becoming a real must-see event.
For those who have never visited the Autosport show - or to give it the full title, the Autosport International featuring PistonHeads: The Performance Car Show - it's part exhibition, part trade show and part autojumble. The exhibits may be high-end, such as this year's McLaren road and race display, or the F1 grid from current teams, but the trade booths run the gamut from motorhome sales down to Powerflex or Maxxis selling bits of rubber to help your car's handling. Then there's the multitiude of booths selling collectables and rare books, through clothing and merchandise, to super chamois and nuts and bolts.
This was the first chance for many to see McLaren's MP4-12C in the flesh, and alongside it was the bare chassis and engine showing the extraordinary amounts of detail that goes into components normally hidden away. Some say the styling is pedestrian, but I'd say it's functional with strong cues taken from the F1, a GTR varient of which was handily placed alongside the new road car. These were sat within a ring of F1 metal and carbon from Lewis's championship winning car, through to Bruce McLaren's M7C with its bizarre high wings and now brand-defining Papaya Orange paint scheme.
The beauty of the show is the chance to chat with some of the people behind the cars and companies. Hanging around the McLaren exhibition were a couple of chaps from McLaren Heritage. If you've ever seen the YouTube videos where they run old cars, well, these are the guys who keep the old fleet running. The Heritage collection runs from the oldest cars through to the latest F1 car once it has completed its demo appearance at the end of the season.
McLaren currently has five warehouses full of old cars, spares, moulds, around 30 TAG Porsche engines, and the engineering resources of McLaren to build spares if needed - though Honda still supply spares to keep their old engines running. Heritage regularly run the old cars too, to keep them in running order. McLaren may be one of the most forward-looking teams on the F1 grid, but they also have a strong sense of history. Hopefully more of this will be seen by the public in the future.
Around the show, other cars were being launched. Ginetta had the G55 partially completed on display, the black spaceframe with engine, interior and suspension giving a chance to show off the engineering in the car, even if the new aero kit - which really moves the car on from the G50 - wasn't on display. The updated G40 was present on the stand as well. The G40 has been running in the Ginetta Challenge this year, as well as being used in the Ginetta Juniors, but the lighter and more streamlined G20s dominated the running.
The G40 has since been upgraded to slicks, a sequential box and hot cams to make it the dominant car in the championship. While the G40 is now a much more expensive car than the G20, it's hoped that as the G40 numbers swell, the G20s will ultimately form an entry level championship giving a ladder from the grass roots of motorsport (a used G20 can be yours for under £10k...) right upto the G55 in GT4 form at top level endurance racing.
The big launch of the show for club motorsport was the Caterham Lola SP/300.R. Caterham are another manufacturer with a ladder of motorsport series, but nothing to allow R500 drivers into more widely used cars while keeping them in the Caterham fold. The SP/300.R is that top step, as well as drawing in other drivers used to Radicals and other bike-engined cars. Using a Ford Duratec-derived engine, spec parts such as standard F3 wheels, and a multipart bodyshell that allows one person to easily run the car, it's aimed at both trackday drivers and racers who want to run the car without too much expense or assistance. Initial interest has been good, and Caterham are working towards a race series in 2012. It'll be interesting to see what effect it has on the established Radical championships and Speed series.
A large part of the main hall is taken up by all sorts of club championships, from established support acts to British GT or BTCC, through to new series trying to drum up interest. It's a great chance to learn about series like the British Cross-Country Rally Championship, or the new MR2 SuperGT class, the latter being an extension of the current MR2 Challenge but encouraging the use of increased aero, enhanced engines and so on on the Mk3 cars. It's fascinating being able to get up close to a Formula Renault, race prepped MX-5 or Kuhmo BMW. If you have even the lowest octane rating on your bloodstream, you can't help but daydream about what it'd be like to race these cars.
For those with a bigger dream than budget, JPR Motorsport brought a new addition to the show. For nine years they've been running the Funcup in the UK - Beetle-shaped spaceframe racers with bike engines and narrow road tyres - but now they've added the Saker Challenge. These Group-C lookalike cars run standard chassis and 270bhp Impreza engines. With only 790Kg to carry, they should be pretty nippy, but the engines are kept in a relatively standard state of tune, so service intervals on the motor are very long. With their evocative gullwing doors, old-school cockpits and classic shape, they should provide a good experience for the drivers if the series finds enough drivers to make it entertaining.
Wandering through the stands with people selling everything from shocks, gearboxes and differentials to watches, artwork and rare books, you arrive in the second hall. This has always felt like the gateway into a different level of motorsport rarely seen by most people, at least until the BBC's excellent Gears and Tears series. Now you're into stockcars, monster trucks, dragsters, rallycross and fairground rides. It's easy to forget about these sorts of sports until you see just how popular and well represented they are. From the fairground paintjobs and, errr, 'industrial' engineering, it's the one area of the show that has a real sense of community and excitement.
For the last few years, the addition of PistonHeads to the show has lead to an increase in road cars on display. Some are shown by owners clubs, others by rental firms or manufacturers. This side of the show also houses companies who modify cars, sell accessories or even re-invent cars entirely in their own image. This aspect does give the show a certain Jekyll and Hyde feeling, but it does add variety. It also means companies like Atom - who don't race - can bring the fantastic 500 along to show off. The level of detail and engineering eclipses so much else at the show, to the point where the exclusive Mugen model was rather overlooked on the same stand. Some cars do get rather lost, though, like the Noble M600 sitting quietly in one corner.
I've never been a fan of the M600. Aside from the behind-the-scenes wrangling over ownership and the direction of the company, the M600 looked like a nondescript body carrying an engine tuned up to 11. In person however, the craftsmanship on display was impressive and it rather put the kibosh on those assumptions. Lots of carbon and a well-trimmed cabin with some flair and personality, with nice little productionised detail touches like the logos on the exhaust silencers. It's actually a great-looking car, but is the handling too mad to make it a proper sales success?
To keep you entertained, there's the live action arena and at the heart of things in the main hall is an interview stage hosting chats with the great and good of top-line motorsport. Stopping by late in the afternoon, I caught Martin Brundle and Jake Humphrey talking about F1 this year. Both made great points, but the real takeaway for me was Martin Brundle talking about taking on the lead spot in the commentary box this year, the changes in style and responsibilities, and supporting DC in his new role too. It should be interesting to see how Martin handles the top job, but I feel he'll do just fine.
So that concludes Drive Cult's whistlestop tour of the Autosport show. If you like all sorts of cars, motorsport and tech then it should certainly be on your calendar for 2012!
See more photos from the event in the Drive Cult Autosport Show 2011 gallery.