Autosport International 2010

It’s a pilgrimage all motorsport fans take to start off the racing season. The long or short haul to the NEC in Birmingham in mid January, depending on where you live, always means it’s time once again for the Autosport International Racing Car Show. Spread over almost all of the venue’s many halls, it caters for everyone’s tastes, be they F1, WRC, sportscars, touring cars, single seaters, historics, oval racing or even karting. To me, the racing season hasn’t properly started until I’ve been there.

Myself and Dad left at 6:30am and took the 3 hour journey down to Birmingham. Stopping midway at a service station to grab breakfast and a copy of Autosport magazine, we parked up and promptly shared a taxi with 3 other guys down to the front entrance to the NEC. Once in, it was to the Atrium to pick up our Paddock Passes, and we entered the show in Hall 6.

This was significant to me because in this hall was where my current employers Classic Team Lotus had their show stand up, with the large British Racing Green transporter towering over great Lotus cars such as the 79, 102 and 38B. We stopped to say hi and then decided to make our way over to the Live Action Arena for the 11am show. Luckily, capitalising on an over by HMV on tickets to the show, our Paddock Passes gave us front row seats for the show, which made it all the more enjoyable. There were the usual short sprint races by the Autograss cars, BRiSCA F1 Stock Cars, Formula Palmer Audi’s, Rallycross etc as well as a few displays by Fifth Gear presenters Vicky Butler-Henderson and Tiff Needell. Then came two very special cars – the Lancia Stratos and my favourite rally car of all time, the Audi Quattro. Seeing this 5 cylinder, 550hp, 4WD monster in live action for the first time was great to experience.

After a great live show, which ended with Jenson Button turning up in a lorry tractor cab to say hi, we made our way to the F1 Racing stand to meet up with some of my friends from Sidepodcast – Jackie, Kimster, Pat and Chris to name a few. Dad decided to leave me to it so he could have a wander round the show himself, whilst I stayed with the SPC lot. Coincidentally, on the stage behind us were 3 of the Peugeot Le Mans drivers, one of them being our favourite Franck Montagny. I promptly got in line to get his autograph along with Alex Wurz and Nicolas Minassian. I shook Franck’s hand and had a quick chat to him. He is a really nice genuine guy and we all wish him the best for Le Mans this year.

Lunch quickly followed, and we all sat down and chatted for a while. Myself, Chris and Pat all decided that we quite fancied a go on one of the show’s many simulators situated around the various stands. After looking at a few we decided to settle on the Mobil 1 Simulator, which comprised of a full scale F1 car which moved around on a rig depending on what the car in the game was doing on track. It was a bit of a wait, but we all managed to get a go. We even made a bet that we’d all put £5 in and whoever got the fastest lap would result in winner takes all. Sliding into the simulator, I managed to quickly get up to speed on my warm-up lap. Knowing where I stood in terms of how fast I could go, I promptly pushed as hard as I dared without risking going off the track. At the end of it all, I posted a 1’09.1, which turned out at the time to be the fastest lap of the day! Although I wasn’t too dignified getting out of the rig, as all my change from my left pocket had fallen out and rattled around the cockpit while I was driving! Pat and Chris were subsequently a bit slower, and I swiftly made £10 in the process! Thanks guys!

I decided after this to meet up with Dad again, so I left Pat and Chris to it. On the way, I stopped over at the Classic Team Lotus stand again and had a nice chat with Clive Chapman, my boss.  We agreed for me to come back with Dad so they could meet and have a chat. I found Dad in the Oval Racing section and decided to head over to the McLaren merchandise stand so I could pick out something that Dad could buy me as a belated Xmas present. Before this, I visited the 30 Years of WRC stand and took a few pics of the MG Metro 6R4, Peugeot 205 T16 and Lancia 037, all Group B rally cars. Also, we stopped at the 60 Years of Autosport stand and I got to snap the Audi Quattro S1, my favourite incarnation of my favourite rally car. But eventually we made it to the McLaren stand where I settled on a new 2010 silver McLaren zip shirt, which I tried on the next day and fit me perfectly. Then it was time for me to spend some cash, so I followed that up with a black Rubens Brawn GP t-shirt, the 2009 F1 Review DVD and another DVD with over 2 hours of raw footage of Group B rally cars taking part in tarmac hillclimbs from 1989 to 2006. All worthwhile purchases, I can tell you!

With the final stop over to CTL once again, after Dad and Clive had chatted for a bit, we decided to make haste and leave the show for another year. For us, we considered it one of the best years we’d been to the show since we started attending. The reason for this? Well, my friends over at Sidepodcast all mainly enjoy and talk about F1, so from their point of view although there are features concerning it, they’re few and far between compared to what else is there. For me, because my taste in motorsport is much broader, I can appreciate and enjoy a lot more of the cars on display. This is why I think most of them don’t really consider all that worth the money. I certainly do, anyway.

So, Autosport 2011? If it’s even half as good as I found this year’s, hell yes.

1 season in 10 minutes

How do you sum up a season’s racing in just 10 minutes? Like this. This is the official highlight reel of the 2009 DTM championship.

That’s all that needs to be said, really. Just watch, and you’ll see that it speaks more for itself than I could ever write about it. It is just simply stunning. Enjoy.

Thursday Thoughts – Is engine parity necessary for 2010?

Over at Sidepodcast, they have started an initiative called Thursday Thoughts, where someone poses a topic or a question for people to comment and blog about. This time the question is as it states in the title: is it necessary to have engine parity for the 2010 F1 season. Or for those who want it in simple terms – should all engines be equalised?

Personally, my response is a combination of yes and no. Yes, everyone wants close racing and yes, no-one wants to see one team or one car driving off into the distance and dominating all the time. But at the same time, no-one wants F1 to become just another spec series like GP2, A1GP or IndyCar. Therefore, I propose a solution that keeps all the engines relative of each other while still allowing the teams some freedom in development.

What I think could work is this – the FIA gives every team a base unit. Very basic, very simple but with plenty of customisation available. The teams are then given a set budget which can be spent on developing this engine. They are free to spend as much of this as they want and develop it how they wish, but still keeping within the regulations laid out by the FIA.

That way, these engines are still related to each other in their basic components but at the same time are independent of each other as the teams have done their own work with them. Whether it could work we don’t know since nothing like this has been suggested. The only thing that comes close is the Cosworth unit which has gone to the new teams and Williams.

It’s nice to see competition and competitiveness in F1, but as mentioned no-one wants to see a runaway domination of the championship. Equality in F1 is good to a certain extent. Sure, series like GP2 can provide good close racing at times but this sport is all about the pinnacle of engineering and technology and innovation. Without any of that, it’s just another form of motorsport.

The drive to survive

It’s interesting how a team’s fortunes can change so quickly. Renault are pretty much deciding their future in F1 as I write this, while Sauber’s is safe and secure. The long-awaiting announcement that they would take the 13th spot on the entry list for the 2010 F1 season was a big relief to all those concern with the Hinwil outfit’s future. After a false takeover from Qadbak, which turned out to be nothing but a plot to exploit the funding the team would receive from the FIA due to their championship position from 2009. But Peter Sauber rescued his team from the brink of extinction and now all is well.

Meanwhile over in France, there is talk that David Richards of Prodrive is looking to buy out Renault’s F1 team. There were rumours a few months ago that Richards would take over as team principal after Briatore and Symonds were both exiled from the team after the Crashgate scandal involving Piquet’s accident at Singapore last year. There was also talk of 4 times world champion Alain Prost would step in as a team advisor. But those rumours quickly faded into the background and into obscurity.

Now, however, Richards’ name has come back into the fray. If it does happen, I couldn't think of anyone better to take control of an F1 team. The man oversees proceedings for the WRC, has looked after Subaru’s World Rally Team, currently campaigns Aston Martin-Lola’s in the LMS and at Le Mans, not forgetting his past exploits with the team when it was Benetton and also with BAR. Oh, and he’s overseen Ford’s works effort in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship.

You can’t deny the guy’s done the rounds when it comes to looking after race teams. With him at the head of the team, should it be re-branded Prodrive, or Aston Martin as has been touted, it hopefully shouldn’t be too much of a task to help the Enstone outfit be on the pace of the frontrunners once again. But there is one question on people’s lips – what of Kubica.

Currently, he has a contract with Renault. But if they decide to sell up to Richards and it becomes Prodrive, where would they both stand regarding his position in the team? Would he still stay firm and race for them? Will he go to another team? It has been rumoured that Mercedes would be his best bet since the second seat alongside Rosberg is yet to be announced. There are many rumours flying around who is going to get that drive. So far, Kubica’s teammate from the past 3 and a bit seasons, Nick Heidfeld, has been tipped as favourite, although talk of Michael Schumacher making a surprise return with a manufacturer he once raced sportscars for has been rife, although it has trailed off recently.

Whatever happens, I’m sure it will all come good in the end. Just like Sauber, who have an engine supply from Ferrari and a team in charge by its namesake once again, things are getting back to how they used to be. Something I’m all for.