Introduction
Motorsport generally takes a breather over the Christmas and New Year period. Works teams in all walks of the sport are preparing and testing cars for the season ahead but for enthusiasts it's definitely a bleak period. January though, heralds the start of the new season and what better way to kick it off than at The Autosport International Show.

Autosport has become the UK's (maybe the world's) largest show that encompasses everything motorsport. Autosport has been such a hit, last year alone 86,000 people attended over two days. In fact major teams and series organisers now launch their products direct from the Autosport Show.

Major Launches
Autosport always tends to grab the media's attention and this year was no exception. Product launches from speed guns and smelly tree air fresheners, to state of the art racing and rally cars were there for all to see.

Formula Rally
One of the major launches was the Formula Rally Series, which runs in parallel to the British Championship. Rallying is becoming increasingly popular and the MSA (Motor Sport Association) has been keen to develop the British series with a view to creating a stepping stone to World Championship status. This year sees the return of WRC and Group A machinery to the forests and tarmac stages that make up the British championship and with it the disbandment of F2 categories. With this in mind, Formula Rally was launched. It consists of a number of major manufacturers running young drivers in 1600cc evolution 'kit cars'. These 1600cc super cars will create the stepping-stones for young up and coming drivers to gain the experience they require to break into the big time. Currently Ford, Proton, VW and Peugeot are backing the series and with a great mix of stages, British rallying looks fit to see an increase in both action and media attention.

Ford
Ford had one of the biggest stands at the show and heavily promoted the new Kas, Pumas and Focus that will be out on the rally scene. Colin McRae and Nicky Grist launched the RS Focus WRC's new colour scheme and evolution car with fly by wire throttle control. Mark Higgins, British Driver of the Year was named as The Blue Oval's number one driver to drive the Focus WRC in the British Championship.

Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi were also present with an impressive stand displaying all their latest cars. On show was a Lancer, personally signed by Tommi Makinen. Mitsubishi were in the news however, for all the wrong reasons. As the cars were delivered to the NEC a special one off rally Galant was stolen and driven away as it was unloaded. In its place on the stand was a press release from Mitsubishi asking for it back with no questions asked!

Subaru
Prodrive were on hand to show off what services they offer and the latest developments to the Subaru Impreza. A Group N Impreza was on display that had to be seen. The technology, such as clutchless gear change, hand brake cable release and semi-intelligent transmission, that is incorporated into the car is of a standard that was winning World Championship rallies 4-5 years ago. These cars are now available to the average rally driver but at a price!

Rockingham
Rockingham is the UK's new oval racing circuit and the organisers and promoters of the new ASCAR series were showing off just what the new complex can offer.

Exhibitors
Autosport is not just about big manufacturers; the smaller specialised companies turn out in droves to show to the sport and the general public what they have to offer. The main hall housed all the major players including Prodrive, Dunlop, Bridgestone and Lotus to name but a few but on hand this year were a number of manufacturers not just promoting their products but also their sponsored events. For example Pirelli was actively promoting the forthcoming Pirelli Rally held in Cumbria which forms part of the British Rally Championship. All the major F1 teams (McLaren, Sauber, BMW-Williams, Jordan and Jaguar) were housed in a "pit lane" and were busy not just showing off their respective machinery but illustrating how aspects of the F1 scene work. Sauber had a wheel change challenge, whilst McLaren had numerous shows, talks and videos on how their company promotes and conducts its operations. One video detailed how they got Mika Hakkinen to drive the two-seater F1 car in the snowy wastes of Finland!

This year saw halls dedicated to karting, motor bikes, motorsport recruitment and a massive area for memorabilia. There literally was nothing you couldn't buy, trade or sell!

Thunderdrome
There are two sides to Autosport - the main show and the live action arena, which as its name suggests has to be one of the noisiest shows in motorsport. Housed in one of the cavernous NEC halls, Thunderdrome is just awesome. This year saw a change with many of the games and orchestrated dialogue by the presenters gone, replaced by just pure noise, spectacle and racing. We attended three of the shows and our ears are only just recovering!

The range of cars on display was as wide as ever - Legends, grass-racers, Caterhams, Quads, and F1 stock cars. Also present were the awesome 600bhp rallycross cars of Dermot Carnegie in the Focus and Per Eklund in the Saab. For the nostalgic, on show was an Audi Quattro Sport driven by Stig Blomqvist and the beautiful Lancia O37 driven by Markku Alen. By far the funniest and most entertaining (just because of the crashes) were the Robin Reliant racers. These cars are always a handful and driven by celebrity racers such as Jamie Whitham, John Reynolds and Phil Read the action was always going to be spectacular.

The finale to the show was the best ever. Whilst the Team Dynamics Legend stunt car ripped its tyres to shreds in a smoke crazed doughnut, a quad bike appeared from nowhere leaping 20 foot high over a bridge with explosions cracking off behind him. Excellent stuff!

Final Word
Autosport is probably the world's leading motorsport show and it continually sets high standards in terms of spectacle, information and pure enjoyment. Here's looking forward to next year's event!

Thanks
Finally, I would like to say thanks to McLaren F1 for their hospitality over the three days of the show.