By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
The
motorsport season officially began for many budding fans of the
sport this weekend. Some of the finest and colourful models were on display to the public
for the 2014 Autosport International Show.
The annual
exhibition, once again in Birmingham’s vast and spacious LG Arena or in the NEC
as it might be better known saw some of last season’s cars pitted together with
new designs for 2014 and echoes of a great past. As ever I made the trip on
Saturday, 11 January for the 11th successive year. Leaving
Birmingham, I couldn’t say I had been shortchanged in going.
The Live
Action Arena produced the usual blend of thrills and spills. Hosted by Sky
Sports F1 commentator David Croft and Pollyanna Woodward from Channel 5
programme The Gadget Show, the content was diverse from stunt driving to BRISCA racing and a display by the six
contenders nominated for the prestigious McLaren Autosport Young Driver award.
After a slow burning beginning with a fair amount of talking from the hosts,
the action hotted up in the second part of the programme with the Freestyle
Motocross at the end of the performance a definite highlight. Even if you left
feeling a bit disappointed with the general content, everyone who had tickets
for the arena would have to admit it was worth the value to see these experts
in action.
One of the
main selling points of the 2014 show was a grand exhibition of cars to
celebrate the life and career of British racing driver John Surtees. This year
marks the 50th anniversary of his 1964 Grand Prix championship
triumph with Ferrari and the great man was in attendance all weekend to
reminisce about the past and share his thoughts on the current breed of driver.
Among the exhibits of a man who is still the only individual to win major world
championships on two and four wheels were his F1 winning car from 1964 which
won races in Italy and on Germany’s daunting Nurburgring circuit and the 1970
Team Surtees TS7 which made its debut on home soil at Brands Hatch in that
year. I was surprised with how good the quality of this part of the exhibition
was and it was a fitting mark to a man who I think is sadly often overlooked
for his achievements in British and world motorsport.
As ever, the
Autosport Stage in association with KX Momentum Energy Drink was a place for
the stars to be interviewed with some lucky fans winning
tickets to the 2014 British Grand Prix for testing and challenging questions. It
was short of mega superstars from Formula One although respected commentator
Martin Brundle was a frequent visitor to the stage throughout the weekend. New
Sauber driver Adrian Sutil was there too but only for the Sunday of the
exhibition and Max Chilton was the other Grand Prix driver in attendance. After
a 100 per cent finishing record in his maiden season in the elite, Chilton was
confirmed this weekend as a Marussia driver once again for 2014. The show must
carry on but there was also a small box for guests to come and leave messages
of support for Michael Schumacher following his recent skiing accident which
has left him fighting for his life. It was a nice gesture but I was personally
disappointed there were no cards or paper left out for guests to fill out and
post in the box. It was a good thing I brought pen and paper to the event. If
you didn’t and wanted to leave a message for Schumacher, I’d imagine you’d be
leaving a little bit annoyed.
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| The F1 Racing Grid was the last chance to see cars in their V8 guise |
The F1 Racing
Grid returned for another year and was a real highlight of this year’s
proceedings. It was the last time that visitors will get to see the F1 cars in
the previous regulations of the V8 era (Lotus Renault car pictured above). 2014 brings a new raft of technical
changes including the return of turbocharged power and a switch to V6 units.
There was easier access to the cars throughout apart of course from when top
guests arrived to be interviewed. Sky commentator Brundle admitted in one of
his many exchanges this weekend that “all bets are off for the 2014 season.”
It is fair to
say that Pirelli attracted some difficult publicity in 2013, most notably when
the Italian manufacturer’s tyres kept blowing up during the British Grand Prix
at Silverstone last June. Question the tyre construction if you want but don’t
question the staff who work hard for them and the options open to fans for
their stand. The racing simulator and driver reactions game were both back –
both priced but at prices that wouldn’t leave anyone out of the market. I tried
the driver reactions twice during the day and got a high score of 37 and an average
in six 30-second stints of 33. I was pretty happy with that and it does get the
adrenaline going. Those who don’t fancy a lengthy jog should try this. I must
also credit Pirelli for the neat presentation of their display.
There was a
lovely collection of cars from the likes of Caterham, Porsche, Ford and Subaru
and the Asian manufacturer was also highly prevalent at the Wales Rally GB
display. Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2014, three classic
Impreza models were on show in Birmingham, including the late Colin McRae’s
winning car from 1997 and the machinery that took Richard Burns to his WRC
title four years later (pictured below). This was during a golden period for rallying which
might have a brighter future following this weekend’s announcement that it has
been added to the portfolio of events in 2014 to be live on BT Sport. It was
another polished display but I for one would have liked to have seen two or
three more manufacturers represented on this stand.
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| Richard Burns' 2001 WRC world championship car was a highlight |
Lastly the
pick of the exhibition this year was the Dunlop BTCC section. It looked superb,
slick and stunning and you were able to get close to the drivers too. A whole
host of the BTCC class were there which included a couple of mass signing
sessions during the weekend. Those in attendance included defending champion
Andrew Jordan, 2012 title winner Gordon Shedden, seasoned campaigners Matt Neal
and Jason Plato and the popular Rob Austin. I was lucky enough to get
autographs from many of the drivers and had a brief conversation with Neal,
telling him I liked the look of the new Honda Civic that he and Shedden will be
driving in the upcoming campaign. It was great to see the camaraderie between
the drivers and I’m a huge fan of the championship. With F1 becoming more sanitised
(especially when you think of the double points decider gimmick in Abu Dhabi),
I will even go as far as saying the Touring Cars is my favourite motorsport and
the championship I’m looking forward to the most in 2014.
So there you
have it, another year and another exhibition at the NEC comes to an end.
Autosport International continues to drive the crowds through every year and
will be back next year hoping for another special exhibition. Having been to 11
of these now, I would happily admit that I have been to years where I enjoyed
it more (2008 and 2012) being standouts but it was an improvement on last year
and well worth going.
What will
happen in the motorsport season in 2014? Well like Martin Brundle, all bets are
off and I won’t be making any predictions. I’m sure though the sport in general
will create many more headlines and talking points over the course of this
calendar year.
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