The action included the Live Arena where every day there was a varied schedule of activity taking place,
ranging from both classic and supercar parades, to a motorcycle display team and Paul Swift stunt shows,
with plenty of tyre smoke being generated. If you wanted even more smell of tortured burning rubber, then not
far away was the Caterham Experience, where one could buy a passenger ride in a Caterham Seven, for a
tyre smoking slalom ride. More serenely one could also buy a charity ride in a classic car courtesy of the
Sporting Bears Motor Club, who support a number of children’s charities through their “Dream Rides”
activities. If travelling in silence was your wish, then there was the Ford Experience, where you could test
drive the new electric Mustang Mach-E, or head over to Hall 5.which was dedicated to electric vehicles, and
which had its own test drive area.
The show’s welcome feature was a quartet of Ferraris, a Dino 246 GT, F40, F50 and Enzo in the main
entrance lobby. Apart from the previously mentioned Ford Experience, other major manufacturers were either
present themselves or represented through their dealer network, including Alpine, Jaguar Land Rover,
McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, SsangYong, Renault, Volvo & Volkswagen. H.R. Owen presented an array of
manufacturers for whom they are official dealers, amongst which were Aston Martin with a DB11 and DBX,
Ferrari with a Portofino M and Roma, Lamborghini with a Urus and an attention grabbing Huracan STO. 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 and taking part in the live arena parades through the course of the day.
If retro was what you wanted then there was the expansive club display area close to “Select Electric” Hall 5,
with a wide variety of car clubs in the Classic Car Zone, with some totally crazy Mini creations including one
with a V8 engine, whilst the lurid orange Porsche trike had to be seen to be believed. There were also plenty
of unmolested classic cars, like a nice array of Citroen Traction Avants. There was more family entertainment
adjacent to this with a Kids Karting Arena, a Wall of Death and a Paul Swift Stunt Experience. Overall a very
eclectic and interesting show that deserves to be a success, certainly from the number of attendees on the
first day it was a great hit.
Keith Bluemel
08/2021.
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