Business as usual at Autosport International

The Autosport International show, which incorporates The Racing Car Show and other motoring attractions, opened its doors at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham Thursday 10 January to the motor industry trade and members of the media.

With nearly 900 exhibiters housed in 13 halls, the show has seemingly gone from strength to strength over its 19-year history.

However visitors looking to see motorsport cars alongside road going versions they can buy will be disappointed.

Although Mitsubishi, SEAT and Fiat, as manufacturers, had their latest models on display alongside motorsport versions, other important brands involved in motorsport such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Citroen, Peugeot and GM did not.

Subaru were to be found on the Prodrive stand with their Impreza WRX STI and Impreza Group N rally car. According to industry sources the cost of exhibiting at the show and the cost of constructing and staffing a show stand, is prohibitive relative to the number of new car sales that might be achieved.

In 2007 the show attracted 27,011 trade visitors of which 4,000 came from overseas, 50,119 public visitors and 1,052 members of the Media. Organisers say they expect the 2008 show to attract even more visitors this year judging by the increased numbers of advanced ticket sales.

However it is not cheap to attend. Adult tickets are £28 and children’s tickets are £18.50. A Paddock Pass with access to the Live Action arena costs £34 and £24.50 for children whilst a Platinum pass with unlimited access to all areas costs £95.

Over £310 million of business was generated from the 2007 event and 70 per cent of trade visitors made a purchase or set up future business contracts from visiting the show.

As for the paying public 80 per cent of visitors were male and 95 per cent spent money at the show on motorsport related items. In total the paying public spent an estimated £2.9 million on the two public days.

The 2008 event includes participants from F1, WRC and F3/GT teams, motorsport organizations, component manufacturers, suppliers and specialist on and off road vehicle makers.

Motor manufacturers such as SEAT were promoting the close likeness of their production models with their British and World Touring Cars; Mitsubishi were showing their latest Lancer and Lancer Evolution road and rally cars and announcing their Mitsubishi Evolution Challenge 2008 rally programme; Subaru were there with their new Impreza WRX STI and a Group N Impreza was actually assembled on the Prodrive stand in four hours.

Aston Martin officially unveiled the DBR9 race car with new sponsorship livery and announced support from Gulf Oil to defend their GT1 title at Le Mans in 2008.

Motorcycle manufacturer KTM marked their move to future four-wheel products with the street-legal KTM X-BOW two seater road and track sports car. The latest racing technologies unveiled at the show were so diverse they included the latest roll-cage designs right through to new ‘green’ racing fuel cell and refueling solutions.

However whilst some manufacturers are keeping well away from the Autosport International show´s limelight there will be no shortage of motorsport drivers, past and present, on the public days of the event.

Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mark Weber, Jenson Button, Allan McNish, Andy Priaulx, Marcus Gronholm, Jason Plato and Matt Neal were all scheduled to put in an appearance.

The main public days at the show are this weekend, 12-13 January.

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