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The 2003 Autosport International Racing Car Show, organised by Haymarket Exhibitions, had displays from 700 exhibitors occupying nine halls at the NEC, Birmingham. All this combined with an indoor "Live Action Arena", a Coys auction and Saturday evening's "F1 Awards" meant that whether you autotest a Mini, hillclimb a Lotus or race a Benetton you would not be disappointed. Cars on display were surprisingly limited; of particular interest to sportscar enthusiasts were three entries from Le Mans 2002, led by the winning Audi R8, the "best of the rest" Bentley EXP8 and the privateer Ascari. A quartet of single seaters presented by the Thoroughbred Grand Prix organisation was headlined by the Martin Stretton Racing-prepared 1978 Ferrari 312 T3 of Spaniard Joacquin Folch. This car was originally driven by Carlos Reutemann and won the US GP West in his hands. The standard of presentation was excellent; also on display was Elio de Angeli's Lotus 87B and Patrick Depallier's 1977 Tyrell P34 six-wheeler. Former PMFC competitor Klaas Zwart's Ascari team, in association with the Daily Telegraph, presented a "pit stop challenge" which proved extremely popular; whilst northern Ferrari Club member Tony Worswick presented his two Euro-BOSS championship winning F1 cars, an Arrows A21 and a Jordan 194 For me one of the show's major attractions is the Autosport.com live stage, where motorsport celebrities are quizzed by interviewer and public alike; star guest on Saturday afternoon was David Coulthard, fresh from McLaren's first test of 2003 in Jerez. Of particular interest was a brief conversation with ex- Porsche racer, Johnny Mowlem, who had just returned from Daytona, where he has been testing the Risi-prepared Ferrari 360 he will drive in next month's 24-hour race and Autosport's much respected Grand Prix editor, Nigel Roebuck. His considered, yet forthright, views on the season ahead brought significant applause, upstaging appearances by BAR test driver Anthony Davidson, team-mate Olivier Panis and sometime touring car and ASCAR driver Jason Plato. Sponsored by F1 Racing magazine, the "F1 grid 2002" presented an example of every entrant's chassis, proudly led by the Prancing Horse of Michael Schumacher. Approachable as ever, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart confirmed that with the arrival of Jos Verstappen his team is in the best shape it has been for a long time, though quite how they will manage to "bend" Justin Wilson into the car remains a mystery! Proof, if proof were needed, that the UK leads the world in motorsport engineering and design was provided by the size of the constructors' and engineering pavillions. Undoubtedly this thriving export activity is led by Banbury-based Prodrive, who presented a 2002 Ferrari 550 Maranello as raced to success by Alain Menu, Rickard Rydell and Tomas Enge in the final three rounds of America's Le Mans series. The Coys auction presented six Ferraris for sale; left-hand drive examples of the 365/GTC4 and 355, joined by a 246 and GTS Dino, a 308 GTB and 456 GTA. Regrettably the low key "open plan" auction hall detracted from the cars presented and an old friend, Mick Hall's superb Lola T70 MK3B GT displayed at Goodwood last year, looked really out of place. As a diagnosed petrolhead my passion for all things historic is well known - Group B rallying is no exception! Blomqvist, Eklund and Kankunnen are three of the sport's most successful drivers and it was great to see them behind the wheel in the "Live Action Arena". Most powerful car at the show - a Top Fuel dragster developing 6,000 horsepower at 8,500 revs that achieves 0-300 mph in 4.9 secs, built and maintained in Britain. The most desirable - an Alfa T33 sports racer, awaiting auction at a future date by Coys. The Autosport International Show continues to grow; for many it represents the turning point - Christmas is over and the circuit action is not long away. Fortunately for me, that's less than a fornight's time...... The only problem..........? It's 5,000 miles away .........Cavallino XII !
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