The show always features a display of contemporary F1 cars, and this year was no exception, with examples
from Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull, Torro Rosso, Renault, Force India, Williams and Haas. From the
current teams racing in F1 only Sauber and Manor were not represented, the latter being understandable
given their current financial plight. One of the main feature displays of the show was also F1 themed, a
celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Williams F1 team. This also incorporated the Autosport stage where
numerous motor racing personalities were interviewed over the course of the weekend, including the 1997
World Drivers’ Champion Jacques Villeneuve, plus triple Indy 500 winner and four times IndyCar Series
Champion Dario Franchitti. The Williams display provided visitors with the opportunity to enter through a 1977
facsimile pit garage, then experiencing a tour through the 40 years of the company’s history, ending by
entering a 2017 pit garage. The stand also featured selection of cars from its heritage, including the FW07,
which provided the company with its first F1 win, Nigel Mansell’s 1992 Drivers’ Championship winning
FW14B, and the FW18 in which Damon Hill won the 1996 Drivers’ Championship.
Going back a little further in time for classic F1 fans, the Classic Team Lotus stand featured an amazing
display of all seven of the remaining Lotus 49 F1 cars, of the nine examples built, with cardboard cut-outs
of the two destroyed cars. This was a particularly impressive display, as it is 50 years since the model made
its Grand Prix debut in 1967, and it was the first car to use the legendary V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine that
formed a structural element at the rear of the chassis. It also won on its Grand Prix maiden outing in the 1967
Dutch Grand Prix, when Jim Clark drove it to victory. Another 50th anniversary monoposto celebration was
that of Formula Ford, which over the years has provided a platform for upcoming drivers to establish their race
craft, and prove their capabilities to fans, sponsors and also team owners in the higher echelons of motor
sport. Many famous names, including F1 World Champions, have cut their teeth in the formula, including
Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher.
A further 50th anniversary being celebrated was that of Rallycross, with ten classic rallycross cars in action in
the Live Action Arena, including the Porsche 911R which won the first ever Rallycross race at the Lydden
Circuit in Kent in 1967, plus Group B icons, including the Audi Quattro. Also in action in the arena was the
renowned stunt driver Terry Grant, and British touring car stars went head to head in a time trial. The show
also featured the presentation of the main contenders for the 2017 MSA British Touring Car Championship,
with the colourful liveries of Audi, BMW, Ford and Toyota on display. Another colourful touring car display was
in the Performance Car Show, with a fine array of Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 race cars, in celebration of the
models 30th anniversary, courtesy of the RS500 Owners’ Club.
Porsche had an impressive display of predominantly track cars, whilst there were numerous niche market
manufacturers like Praga from Czechoslovakia, plus the likes of Ginetta and Radical with a selection of
models, and Ligier with their JS P2 and JS P3 sports prototype models. FF Corse the Silverstone based
independent Ferrari race specialists showed a 458 Challenge car and a 488 GT3 race car, with a number of
other modern GT series race cars dotted around the show from Aston Martin, Bentley and McLaren. One car
that attracted massive attention, particularly from the younger element, was the metallic yellow and plain
carbon fibre Bugatti Veyron by Oakley Design.
As previously mentioned, the weekend element of the show had a hall featuring a wide variety of grass roots
and niche motor sport, running through stock cars, grass track racing, midget racers, to one that must be
horrendously expensive, given the size of the vehicles, Tractor Pulling! There was a selection of these
leviathans on display, including one with twin Rolls Royce V12 engines, which made the dragsters on display
elsewhere in the show look almost tame! That is apart from a wild concoction called “Mental Breakdown”, a
much lengthened and chopped VW Microbus in purple, gold and white, which also attracted plenty of
attention. At the opposite end of the scale, the Coys Auction on the Saturday featured a VW Combi van, aptly
named “Shorty”, which had been reduced in length by over a metre, making it almost square in profile. The
auction also featured quite a mixed selection of offerings, including a 1931 Cadillac Fleetwood Drophead
Coupe finished in 23 carat gold leaf, with a white leather interior. Other offerings ranged from a 1966 ex-works
Mini Cooper S through a 1963 Deep Sanderson sports car with Le Mans history, an ex-Sir Elton John 1985
Bentley Continental Cabriolet, which appeared in the video for his hit song “Nikita”, to a one-off 2008 Melling
Wildcat Prototype, the brainchild of British automotive engineer Al Melling, that never saw series production.
Keith Bluemel
01/2017
|
