motor

No.1 · 06-05-2004, 05:27 PM

Okay… so here are the pictures from my visit to the British Motor Show on 4th July. clickable for high-res 1600x1200
I went to a lot of effort to edit/upload the pictures and create the thread, so don't shit on me

Sorry for the lack of pictures.. I wasn’t feeling particularly snap happy that day.

It is a shame that many of the big firms shunned the UK, such as BMW and Mercedes, I would have enjoyed seeing the 6 series up close and a few of the AMG cars.

Stand of the day had to be Porsche… with every current model imaginable on show. The GT3 and RS (a racing version too), GT2, Turbo S (& convertible), various Carreras, three Boxsters and of course the CGT.

Anyway… on to the pictures

A few Ferrari F1 cars… one on display at the Ferrari Stand and one at the Auto Trader stand

Here is a picture of the Gibbs Aquada... an amphibious car. It has a central driving position and a water jet. At £150k it isn't cheap... Richard Branson (owner of Virgin empire) has bought one, as have 30 other lunatics

We could have hung around for a ride on the lake (there were three, one blue, one black and one green), but they were breaking for lunch and there were other things to see

Then.. wading through the Focus's and Ka's, we stumble across this. :shock: Absolutely gorgeous.

One of the stand near the entrance hall we came in was the Road Angel stand... the camera detector we have all seen on the Gumball etc...
They had a GT3 RS, Lambo Murcielago and Gallardo and a 360 Spider. The cars were behind ropes, and you were only allowed to enter if you were buying a device from them.
I took my chances and went in to take a picture, when one of the arseholes told me to get out if i wasn't buying :x Anyways... here are a few pics.

Onwards past the VW stand... nothing we haven't seen before.
But then i see a line of five Golfs... one from every generation. It's great that VW actually went to some effort to impress the visitors

Also at the show there were "Taster Tes Drives" - you could get a free test drive in a variety of cars around the car park with cones laid out. The Impreza was the most popular
with over 50,000 bookings at that point. They also had Daihatsu Copens and a few MGs and others.
There was a 4x4 experience which i did not visit, but you could have driven a variety of cars off-road. There was also a BSM driving school on one car park for children over 14. A great idea

Ford put on a Thunderbirds show aimed at youngsters...(remember the FAB1 on Top Gear)

One of the best features were the rides in a Caterham. There was a £10 fee, but it was a small figure of 8 lap where the drivers laid down as much rubber as possible.
The tyre smoke was incredible, and beats all the Maxxers in the McDonalds car park

The cars were very noisy, but the driving was amazing. The gus drifted around this tiny course, inches from the barriesr that were inches from the spectators :shock:
Here are a few piccies

This is the cute little Trepiuno from Fiat.

Now to the Top Gear stand. They were exhibiting a Gallardo for Lamborghini London (but no entry). They were also sellin the magazine for £1 (it is usually £3.75). Needless to say, i picked up a copy straight away.

AND... also at the TG stand... the Star of the show... the Toyota Hi-Lux.
Here are the pics. Enough Said

On the Nissan Stand... a racing version of the Micra. Featured in evo magazine it has a Touring car engine

The Renault F1 car was also present.

The Noble stand was worth a visit. There was a GTO 3R convertible.. no pics sorry.
There was an M400 - a pain to get in and out of, and the concept car, whose name escapes me at this moment :roll:

Here is the eye-wateringly expensive Brabus Smart Roadster - £18k... but it was very nice. Nice driving position and sequential gearbox.

On the Bentley stand there was two Continental GTs, two Arnages (one T, one R) and the Speed 8 from Le Mans... complete with mud covered wings and bonnet

At the side of one of the hall there was a Max Power Live stand.... the babes were out when i visited

but there was the TVR Cerbera Speed 6 that they modified.
Visit www.maxpower.co.uk for more, but here is a picture of the mad interior. Behind the seats there were two massive chromed NoS bottles

Talking Of TVRS... their stand was packed with cars. I took only a few pics here, but the Typhon and Sagaris were awesome.
It also struck me how small the T350 was... smaller than a griffith IMO :shock:
This is the Front of the Typhon... formerly Tuscan R

here is the front wing of the Sagris.... nice colour. (BTW on the bonnet the two flaps flatten at speed due to air resistance - i found that out thanks to a kid who was pushing themup and down

... confirmed by a TVR woman)

Walking past the evo stand i see a low car... a black car... a Koenigsegg :shock:
Only took pics of the engine as the car was crowded and the ropes wouldn't let me get a clear shot :roll:

Even though Mercedes themselves did not show up... Mercedes McLaren did and with TWO SLRs

Friendly people at the stand informed us not to sit in the car, but we could look at the engine, boot interior etc... with ease.

Some very nice cars at the Aston Martin Stand. A Vanquish (and a chassis), a DB9 and a DB9 Volante (i didn't take pics the first time and forgot the second time round)
There was also a walled off area for visitors tat had another DB9 in for prospective buyers to try out.
Here is one pic of the DB9... the stand was so small, good pics were impossible so i gave up.

At ferrari and maserati there were a few cars. A 360CS, 612S, 575M, F1 2003 (or was it 2004?). A Quattroporte A few 4200s and a 4200 Gransport.
Here are my only pics of this stand.

FINALLY... to Porsche. A big stand with only a short wait. lots of cars.. here are the best pics.(you can see my Nikes in the cockpit of the GT3 RS

)

THE END

it was a great day... Porsche was the best stand.
I know i could have taken more pictures (of the maybachs/phantom/lotuses/porsche/ferraris etc), but i can always get better pics off the net... for me a car show is about seeing the cars, not snapping them.