I was an Autosport Show virgin until this year.
This certainly was a show for the die-hard F1 and
rally enthusiast, especially as Johnny Herbert,
David Coulthard and father and son combo Jimmy and
Alister McRae were casing the joint. A committed
Fiona Leggate was also at the show on Saturday representing
the BTCC category with her Vauxhall Astra and its
new red and green paint job. Fiona got proper wrist
ache from the hundreds of autographs she had to
do, but like a true professional, kept smiling and
chatting to fans. Other BTCC stars that visited
during the four days were 2005 champion Matt Neal,
Gareth ‘Cutey’ Howell and Tom Chilton
in a near Vauxhall overload.
Me, Stu and Bumps toured the show, but had to let
sickboy Gaz off the hook with man flu. We think
it was because the NEC is outside the M25! (I’m
so cruisin’ for a bruisin’!) We went
on to chat to Fiona Leggate and her dad in the cool
Dunlop café where we were spoilt rotten with
endless free cups of coffee. I did try my best to
chav some freebies from the cabinet – those
Dunlop wellie boots did look rather fetching and
thought would be the ideal present to cheer up ol’
Gazza. Unfortunately, I left empty handed. I think
the Girlracer charm must be slipping!
I got whisked away to the Live Action Arena to
watch some thrilling and mental racing around a
tight makeshift circuit. Wow, those racing drivers
got so close at times to the concrete barriers as
well as each other, in an intoxicating atmospheric
mix of burning rubber, petrol and clutch smoke!
It was brill to see Alister McRae in his rally works
Scoobie alongside his dad Jimmy who was reunited
with his original Rothmans Metro 6R4. This retro
rally car was monster quick that I bet it’d
even eat Scoobies for breakfast. Saying that, I
wish they’d put the 6R4 up against a Ford
rally RS200 for a proper 80s showdown!
Talking of rallying, the stand which pulled in
the biggest crowd was Prodrive’s, with its
new P2 two-seater sports car. There was an eerie
silence as people – including Bumps - just
dribbled on mass and worshipped David Richard’s
creation. The P2’s got a modded Scoobie engine
which pushes out 350bhp, but sadly there are no
plans to put this lil’ beauty into production……….yet.
Me and Stu gained exclusive access to ogle the
rare mixture of cars in the Coys auction. Not only
were there examples from Ferrari, Aston Martin,
Ginetta, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, Lotus and works
rally cars, but also a standard 1990 Mini Cooper.
Nothing special you may think compared to the classics
surrounding it, but this mint Mini had only 4 miles
on the clock. Yep, you read that right, 4 miles.
It was hoping to make between £10-14k at auction.
I admit I was also eyeing up the 2004 Dodge Viper
SRT-10 but up close and personal it just wasn’t
the same as the original old skool Viper.
On a wander, me, Stu and Bumps said hello to our
friends at CG-Lock and then the peeps from the British
Women Racing Drivers’ Club of which Girlracers
Fiona Leggate, Katie Croucher, Sarah Franklin and
Susie Stoddart are members of. We also bumped into
Kelly-Jayne Wells who is the only female pickup
truck racing driver in the SCSA Pickup Truck Racing
Championship. We hope to see her in action at Rockingham
this year.
All in all it was brilliant to see what lies ahead
for motorsport in 2006. It looks like we’ve
got a busy year ahead girlracers!
Sezza
