The show provides an immersive and interactive experience for visitors of all ages, with plenty of hands-on
action experience throughout the four days of the show. This spanned virtually all age groups, with mini
electric Land Rover drives for 4 to 10 year olds, an 11+ young drivers arena and test drives of a variety of
cars for those with a full driving licence. If you didn’t want to drive yourself, then you could book a ride in a
Caterham in their “Experience Arena”, where you could enjoy the tyre smoking slalom antics of their test
drivers from the passenger seat. Another opportunity for a ride in the passenger seat was with the Sporting
Bears Motor Club, where for a charitable donation you could go for a ride in a variety of sports cars, maybe
the one of your dreams. At last year’s show they raised over £40,000 for children’s charities. Apart from the
driving arenas, the younger generation were also well catered for in the cinch family zone in the main hall,
where there were simulators and slot car racing to be enjoyed, whilst the Marshall group, who were
representing a number of manufacturers for whom they are sales agents, had a massive ice cream van
dispensing free ice cream, plus plenty of give-aways for the children.
This year there were two action arenas, where in each on every day there was a programme of activity in
them. The Live Arena featured a varied schedule ranging from both classic and supercar parades, to a
British Army Parachute Jump display team and Paul Swift stunt driving shows, with plenty of tyre smoke
being generated. If you wanted even more smell of tortured burning rubber, then there was the Motorsport
Arena where there were drift exhibitions along with the Solent Stars Kids Motorcycle Team performing stunt
rides, together with other motorsport themed action.
Just outside the main exhibition hall there was the supercar paddock presented by Premier GT, where there
was a wide variety of cars on display, with a number of Ferraris including a 488 Pista Piloti Ferrari edition
and an 812 GTS, an Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition, Lamborghinis, McLarens and a De Tomaso Pantera
Gp4, a number of which took part in demonstration runs in the Live Arena. They also had a pair of display
areas just inside the hall with a further range of exotica, including a number of Ferraris, a F40 LM, a
LaFerrari, a Monza SP2 and an 812 Superfast, plus some lurid Lamborghinis, an Aston Martin Vanquish
Zagato and a McLaren Senna.
It wasn’t only supercars, although these probably attracted the most attention, as more mainstream
manufacturers were present either directly or through official dealers, including Alpine, BMW, Jaguar, Mini,
Peugeot, Renault, Skoda and Toyota. There were also a number of niche market manufacturers like AK
Cars with their Cobra Replicas, XCS Designs with bare chassis’ for Cobra replicas and their Caterham-like
Rush M/C. Lumma Design showed their personalised Land Rover Defender and Range Rover Evoque, whilst
a new British sports car appeared, the Contera MD1. This is a three seat design, with a central driving
position, as in the McLaren F1, with a carbon and fibreglass body, powered by a twin turbo straight-six
Toyota/Yamaha engine with manual gear change, or alternatively it can accommodate a V8, V10 or V12
engine with minimal modification, according to customer requirements.
Classic car enthusiasts were also well catered for with a large outdoor display area between the two
arenas. Here there were a number of one make or model clubs, showing a wide variety of cars, a number of
which were once common sights on the roads, but today are rarely seen except at shows like this, so
make for a great trip down memory lane. Probably the most impressive, depending on one’s taste, was the
Citroen display, including an array of Traction Avant variants, 2CVs, a Mehari, DS21 Chapron convertible
and SM Maserati. Within this area the British Army also had a display including a tank and armoured
vehicle which people could climb in or on as they wished, together with a climbing tower, which seemed
very popular with the more adventurous visitors. The great variety of offerings at the show certainly attracted
the visitors, with nearly 60,000 passing through the gates during its four days.
Keith Bluemel
08/2022.
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