Autosport International 2009 Live Show (EDC, Mark Luney, Terry Grant, WRC etc)

Autosport International 2009, NEC Birmingham 9-11 January

Live Show Video, Drifting, Terry Grant, WRC, Banger Racing etc

1,000+ Photos of the babes, cars and live show at :

http://www.strathycruise.com/events/autosport-international-2009-1.htm

http://www.strathycruise.com/events/autosport-international-2009-2.htm

Thursday, 8th of January 2009

Autosport International is the one event that we all look forward to pretty much from the moment the previous one finishes. It's the biggest, most well attended and diverse show in the UK for anyone who has even a passing interest in motorsport, modified or performance cars.

It's not the grot fest that a lot of English events have become in recent years, filled with borderline jail bait and trying to flog copy of a copy body kits, under car neons and CD's that HMV stopped stocking 5 years ago - quite the opposite in fact - Autosport is a celebration of everything car enthusiasts relish.

This year we decided to make the trip down for both the media and trade days so it would be easier to get around and actually see the cars and talk to the people at the stands. The public days (the Saturday and Sunday) are always jam packed which is great for atmosphere but not so hot for taking photos. Our journey started at 3am when the alarm went off, that was the signal that we had less than an hour to do our final preparation before leaving for Birmingham. As usual I managed to delay everyone by dicking around and panicking though not by as much time as usual. With a fully laden BMW 1 series we all made a break for the border by about half 4.

The trip down was as uneventful as you'd expect in the wee small hours and thankfully no road works were encountered to slow our pace. We got to the NEC for just before 9 bells, found a parking spot just at the entrance and began to unpack our gear. Feeling £8 lighter for the days car parking in the NEC grounds (added to the £5 for the M6 Toll) we got inside and made our way to the media centre to pick up our passes. For once we'd planned ahead and everything went smoothly, I wonder if that will ever happen again

The first 10 minutes at Autosport are the most challenging. It's such a massive show, spread across so many halls you really don't know which way to turn and start from. With Bex, EK Andy, Marie and myself all carrying a camera or camcorder we decided to split up and go in the opposite direction so we wouldn't be shooting the same things at the same time. With a verbal agreement to meet up for lunch we went our separate ways and ventured into the first hall.

If you've never been to the NEC before you can compare it to a Glasgow's SECC - but on steroids. Being a conference centre it looks fairly similar inside but the sheer size of it is unbelievable. The one thing they constantly do (that really gets on my tits) is to use very crap lighting. Everything looks orange and with red carpeting almost everywhere it totally screws up any photos and video (you'll probably notice in a lot of the shots the strange colour casting). But that's about the only negative thing that can be said about the place and it's nothing to do with the show organisers. Inside the arena Autosport International is split into various different sections. There is the Engineering Show which consists of the manufacturing side with lathes, CNC machines, digital micrometers and other industrial gear through to pistons, valves, cams and other engine parts. Then there's the Aftermarket Show which is aimed more at the garage industry with aftermarket component makers showcasing their new ranges for the coming year. Finally we have the Pistonheads Show which is what we were most interested in. It takes all the areas of motorsport, modified and performance motoring and brings everything together. From alloy wheel manufacturers, suspension companies, rally teams, high performance auto makers and everything else that falls within the realm of performance motoring.


...more at www.strathycruise.com

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Autosport
• Autosport International
• Autosport 2009
• Live Show
• Terry Grant
• Rally
• Drifting
• Mark Luney
• EDC