For many motor sport addicts it’s become a regular holiday tradition: first comes Christmas and Boxing Day, then New Year’s. And then comes Autosport International, the good old Racing Car Show. It’s sort of the final event of the winter break and the Christmas festivities; the end of a previous year’s racing and the official launch of a new season. This year’s edition was a nice blend of the past and the future, with an interesting variety of new machinery and several old favourites not seen for quite some time.

Hot items among the new stuff: fresh entries from both Radical and Caterham in the road-legal track day/sports racer category, the Caterham being their first ever fully-clothed, mid-engined, modern prototype, and build in concert with Lola. Ginetta also unveiled their latest racing GT, the G55—which was shown rather interestingly with no clothing at all. Très, très fashion-forward, that.

On the alternative energy front, the hybrid 911 GT3 R graced the Porsche stand, and Westfield featured the iRacer, designed for the upcoming all-electric international EV Cup series. Finished in chunky, angular matt-black, it looks much like Darth Vader’s golf cart, but the technical aspects are fascinating.

Visitors were also treated to a first look at the 2011 Lotus Renault F1 car, resplendent under the floodlights in ersatz-JPS black and gold, certainly the points leader thus far in “contentious” at least. Far more satisfying, though, was the genuine JPS livery on display at Classic Team Lotus, alongside the recently restored Type 81 in Essex colours that gave Nigel Mansell his first podium in the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder.

McLaren’s huge and impressive presentation meanwhile told an excellent heritage story, with Johnny Rutherford’s 1977 Indy racer and the magnificent, all-conquering 1970 M8D Can-Am car (rather sadly parked, however, in an almost unviewable position) complementing the long line of GP machinery, and the 1969 M7C F1 mount of Bruce himself leading it. Equally noteworthy, if entirely different, was the vintage Allard-Chrysler dragster on the Aurora Bearing stand, Europe’s first rail car, awaiting only its new Hemi for completion.

Finally, the trade-only Engineering Show was as enthralling as ever, full of intriguing machinery and the machinery that makes it, often in action as you watch. It’s a shame this grand showcase for the world’s motorsport technology isn’t open to the general public; when you get right down to it, it’s where all the magic really begins.
Dale Drinnon

Autosport International’s yearly celebration of motor sport with a generous allocation of the NEC’s main feature halls to Historic motorsport, car clubs, vintage race and road cars, restoration companies and classic event organisers.

The Historic Sports Car Club displays a range of 2-litre limited production sports car racers of the Seventies to announce next season’s new programme sponsored by Martini. Fittingly, the liaison is a nod to Martini’s involvement with the motor racing teams of the '70s: the flamboyant red, dark blue and light blue stripes became synonymous with the glamorous sports cars of that golden era.

A Lola T210, Osella Abarth, TOJ SS02, Chevron B26 and March 75S, all representative of winners dominating the original Championships, are on show together with a Daren MkIII and Chevron 21/23, both freshly restored. The latter started life as a Chevron 21 in 1972, was upgraded and raced by Emilio Zapico in 1973, had a spell in Italy and then ended up in Belgium where a trader cloned it. Its current owner, Andrew Schryver, bought the original in 1999 from the Belgian trader and has raced it several times.

Elsewhere at the show, Classic Team Lotus has a dedicated area to showcase the past glory of its racing cars and celebrate the 50th anniversary of its first GP win in the United State, 1961: the 1980 type 81 chassis of De Angelis, Andretti and Mansell fame is on show for the first time in thirty years after a comprehensive restoration programme. Also on the stand, Ayrton Senna’s JPS Team Lotus Renault type 97T/2.

Autosport International is the venue for another important chassis-cum-engine’s first outing: the Allard Chrysler - Europe’s first dragster, which originally competed in the ‘60s, has finally completed restoration; its 600bhp Chevy V8 is also in full show, separately from the chassis.

Another significant milestone, the Jaguar E-type’s 50th birthday, is marked at the Silverstone Classic: on the classic motor festival’s stand, the 11th E-type to come off production line. Appropriately, as the first E-types were reserved and sold to select customers for racing, chassis 85001 is still campaigned and will be seen racing in the HSCC Jaguar E-type Race at the Silverstone Classic this summer. The Silk Cut Jaguar Le Mans car and ‘enfant terrible’ of the '50s GP racing, the Maserati 250F, are displayed on the same stand.

Travis drummer Neil Primrose, who came second in the Celebrity Race at Silverstone Classic last year and regularly races Lola T70s, was interviewed by Louise Goodman on the show’s opening day.
Angie Voluti