I was pretty excited about this as I was interested to see a large international motor show and to compare it to Sydney’s. The complex was massive. There were two massive buildings with hundreds of exhibitors and hundreds of cars. There was an outdoor mini racing track where they were testing out the Mazda RX-8 and MX-5 to see who would get the quickest time. There was also a massive four wheel drive park set up to show what the new generation four wheel drives can do.
I was most interested the super car paddock. In the photos you’ll be able to see that I pretty much went straight there first, to snap up some good photos before the crowds got too large.
As you’d expect there were some unreal cars on display such as the amazing Pagani Zonda (1 of less than 100), the Ferrari Enzo (1 of only 400), the ultra rare papaya orange coloured Mclaren F1 (1 of only 5) and many more.
I was stoked to see the Japanese GT winner Xanavi wide bodied Nissan 350Z. It seemed out of place amongst the super cars but I’m glad I got the opportunity to see this beast. I’ve always wanted to see a Jap GT race. It’s rumoured a round might come to Perth.
Some other very cool inclusions was the Ferrari F40 & F50, the Caparo T1, the wide bodied AMG Mercedes, the blitzingly quick Ariel Atom, the Honda and Ferrari F1 cars, the Ford Focus WRC car (which I’ll see being thrashed this weekend in Germany) and the futuristic Saab Aero-X.
Honda had an awesome display where they had many of the parts that make up an F1 car all suspended from the roof and in the same position as they would be on the car. Check out the end of the photo album to see what I mean.
For all you Top Gear fans, the Stig was there at their stand. It was funny as to see him there and heaps of people lined up for photos with him.
I was happy to see the Vauxhall Monaro (Holden equivalent in the UK) on display. It was getting a lot of attention and I hope it does well over here. What a great car for burn outs!
I’ve taken a big liking to the TVR Sagaris. I’d never seen it before, only other TVR cars. As well as seeing it in the flesh, I saw a video of this car around a circuit and I was very impressed. I love the curves and adjustable air flutes on the bonnet of the car.
Overall I was impressed with the motor show but I was most upset as a few cars I thought were or should have been there weren’t e.g. No Lamborghini Murcielago, no Bugatti Veyron (fastest production car in the world – I really want to see one of these up close), no Koenigsegg CCX, no Aston Martin DBR9 and a car I was really looking forward to see, the Porsche Carrera GT was covered in all these ugly stickers which completely ruined the beauty and look of this car. You’ll see it in the photo album, it’s the silver one.
In addition, a lot of super car manufacturers were not there e.g. No Ferrari (apparently they’d rather spend their money on their own shows), no Lamborghini, no Koenigsegg, and no Pagani. This is no doubt due to the floor space is prohibitively expensive i.e. millions of pounds per allotment.
To see the photo album of the show, check out:
http://www.gabnation.com/albums/2006/britishmotorshow/