Birmingham, 8 – 11/11/2007
MPH is go! - After a successful four day run at London’s Earls Court between the 1st and 4th of
November the MPH Show moved north to the NEC exhibition centre in Birmingham for a further four
days. The show is a relatively new one, the first one having been held in 2003, and is the brainchild of
host Jeremy Clarkson, best known for his frequently zany motoring show “Top Gear” on British
television. For the 2007 edition he was joined by his show co-presenters Richard Hammond and James
May, the former having made national newspaper headlines in 2006, when he nearly lost his life
crashing a jet powered car at close to 300mph.
Theatre - The show is a mixture of the classic motor show, but aimed specifically at prestige and
performance cars with a “Wow” factor, giving visitors the opportunity to see cars that most would
normally only see on the pages of magazines, which is coupled to a live motoring theatre. The theatre
presents ten performances during the course of the show, which comprises of stunt riding and driving
by professionals, like a motorcycle team incredibly avoiding each other in a circular cage, precision
driving and supercar activity, together with crazy antics and banter from the host trio.
Cars are the Stars – As noted the show pulls together a great selection of some of the rarest and most
desirable performance and prestige cars, and from the crowds thronging the aisles the formula is
extremely popular. The cars displayed are either provided by the manufacturers, with support from
Cadillac, Corvette, Hummer, Invicta, Jaguar, Lotus and Maybach, to name a few, along with dealers plus
hire companies specialising in high end sports and luxury car rental, with of course, the almost
mandatory specialist motoring ephemera trade stands. Amongst the attractions were a battleship grey
Lamborghini Mucielago LP 640 together with a bright metallic orange Murcielago Roadster, Pagani
Zondas, an Invicta (resurrecting the pre-war British Manufacturer’s name), a McLaren Mercedes SLR, a
Gumpert Apollo, plus offerings from Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Lotus, Porsche, and even an Audi R10
TDi LMP1 sports racing car. The most outrageous award would surely have to go to a pair of white
stretched limos, both almost bus length, one Dodge Magnum based, and the other on a Hummer H2.
Statistics – A few statistics provided by the organisers make interesting reading. The total value of the
cars on display was estimated at more than £27.5 million, the insurance cover required to cover all
aspects of the show is £1 billion, show staging cost is £2 million, and over half a million people have
watched the MPH theatre show since it started in 2003.
Keith Bluemel
11/November/2007
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