[Motorsport] Autosport International 2014

Yesterday had me doing something a little different to my usual weekend activities. Taking advantage of the fact that I'm back in the Midlands, I decided to go to Autosport International, the racing car show put on by Autosport magazine. My brother and dad thought they'd come along too, so it turned into a family day out, which was nice. I'd been to the show several times before, both when I lived at home and when I was a student in Coventry. It's held at the Birmingham NEC, so it's pretty easy to get to from here. But I haven't been in years, and was keen to see how it had changed, if at all.

It turns out that there were some differences, but not a huge number. It definitely felt a little smaller than when I'd been previously, but whether that's because I'm not bigger and older or because it's actually shrunk is hard to tell. There were also a few features missing compared to older instances of the show. There used to be a section for small British car manufacturers to set up stalls, but yesterday they seemed to be fewer of them, and those that were present were dotted around all over the place. The universities section was also smaller than I remembered, as was the Coy's auction, and there seemed to be more space than I remember there being, particularly in the oval, short track, and remote control racing hall. I was pleased to see that the remote control track with live racing was still there though, and my brother and I stopped to watch a few races.

There were a lot of simulator/computer gaming rigs at stalls all over the show, a lot of which were rigged up to actual chassis so you could sit in a real car to race. Now it might just be rose-tinted glasses, but more of them seemed to be charging than used to be the case. Ah well, c'est la vie I suppose. There were still a lot of cool cars around, and I'm annoyed that I was limited to my rubbish camera phone rather than my real camera, but again it wasn't quite as impressive as it's been in the past. It's probably my age, and the fact that I'm much more up to date with motorsport news than I used to be. The F1 grid was super busy, unsurprisingly. Equally unsurprisingly, some of the cars were definitely not the 2013 versions. My favourite section of the show was probably the tribute to John Surtees, which featured a mix of motorcycles and cars that he'd raced over the years.

We weren't sure if we were going to go to the 'Live Action Arena', but in the end thought we might as well. It was a mixed bag. The first 15/20 minutes or so were excruciating, with two 'big name' presenters chatting away on stage most of the time and a few paltry cars going around now and then. It wasn't exactly 'action', and we were beginning to wonder if the organisers knew the definition of the word. Fortunately the two presenters then left, and we had about 45 minutes of actual racing. It was a fair variety of classes and types of car, all very short races to keep the show moving, and in the end rather enjoyable. That second half was an notable improvement on some of the years we'd seen the live show, and it's a shame that the first bit was so rubbish.

It was a fun day out, and I'm glad I went. I managed to pick up a few race calendars so I can keep an eye open for events nearby that I might go to, and find out about a few short track venues in the area that I didn't know about. Plus I got to spend a fun day out with my brother, dad, and lots of cars. What more can you ask for?

(Pictures will follow when I manage to get them off my phone!)