Autosport Show

[Matthopps]

I really enjoyed it this year, I first went last year and this year I actually knew what I was letting myself in for, and crazystu's little description is quite acurate although mine would be:

Pay good money to:

Find floorspace on the train - all the seats were full and we had to sit in the doorways, whats more: on a 5 coach train 3 of them were first class, 1.5 were standard class and the other half was a buffet so all the rich snobs from first class had to tread on the peasants to go and get some caviar...

sit on the floor to eat lunch

get constantly knocked and bumped about (or my dad dis as he's vertically challenged)

have my camera damaged by some ungrateful southern rich snob with a £2,500 digital camera camera compared to my £100 version

be constantly annoyed by people wanting to know if I subscribe to autoblob magazine (if I wanted to subscribe I'd come to you)

and not get anywhere close to getting any autographs because I can't push my way past everyone in front wanting the same thing (that's happened twice now)

still it's a great day out, if a little pricey for those people unfortunate enough to not have chief executives as relatives but I'm going to go every year from now on...

[Chris Gray]

Originally posted by Matthopps

Pay good money to:

Find floorspace on the train - all the seats were full and we had to sit in the doorways, whats more: on a 5 coach train 3 of them were first class, 1.5 were standard class and the other half was a buffet so all the rich snobs from first class had to tread on the peasants to go and get some caviar...

I was actually expecting that on the train although in their defense I must say that I was very impressed with the Virgin train I went on. First time I've been on one in years and I'll most likely go again. Clean, quiet and on time/early.

[Les]

I was chuffed to get Petter Solberg's autograph and to natter to Perry Macathy - no queues for either man.

[garcon]

I'm sure there were some cars there too, but...
:

[Maisie]

They're very pretty garcon, but do you think we could stick to the car pics in future?

Cheers

[Stephen Green]

Spoil sport Maisie

[TimD]

The more I hear about this year's show, the happier I am that I saved my money. Certainly I was told after the weekend of a couple of stand-holders who told the Haymarket representatives that they wouldn't be back because they didn't want to be associated with a "tits n' ass show".

I think if the most photogenic exhibits on show were the ladies, Haymarket really might be brewing a problem for themselves.

[Wrex]

I think I see one .... above her watch ..... in the background ..... slightly out of focus

[redshoes]

Tim, saw a few book stalls there, meant to ask if you were going. To be honest you didn't miss much. The National/Club racing section was pretty poorly attended. Didn't think the Tn'A aspect was as bad as last year (poledancers on the Superbike stand) but it was noticeably and has even started to infect the Live Action Arena. A good 10 mins of the 40 min show was a group of lycra'd totty trying to dance in time to Limp Bizkit, and usually failing.

[PaulSands]

It wasnt a tits n ass show at all..there were far more cars there...I only posted my pic cos I'm a sucker for redheads

[TimD]

I was only quoting verbatim what was said to a Haymarket representative Paul!

I am pretty sure there's going to be one less component manufacturer there next year. I guess the sales just don't justify the presence, the outlay and the embarrassment.

Nige, I wasn't there, but our bookshop was. And manning the fort at Silverstone meant loading several hundredweight of books onto the truck for the journey to Birmingham last week, and then unloading not quite so many hundredweight on Monday morning! Interestingly, it was rally material which really moved, as opposed to F1 and other circuit-related books. That surprised all of us slightly.

[garcon]

Sorry Maisie!

*garcon goes to stand in the corner*

Although my colleagues did appear to be largely interested in photographing girls more than cars, I don't think the "T'n'A" aspect was too over the top. There were a couple who were - shall we say - particularly provocative (I'll save those for email, Wrex ), but in general they were just fetchingly attired, nice looking girls whose job it is to hand out leaflets and look pretty. Yeah, I guess it's a bit sexist, but that's only a reflection of the sport.

As for what was at the show in terms of hardware and celeb guests, it was ok. No better, no worse. Didn't bother with the "live action" arena - once is enough to find out it's just a bit of watered down motorsport for tracksuited brummies who've never been to a real track. The show seemed patchy in terms of who was represented - F1, rallying, GTs, but very little TOCA, and only a handful of national series etc. In the end, it's a passable fix to help motorsport fans get through the remaining dark months before the new season starts. And they seem to have got something right, because it was absolutely heaving on Saturday...

[rdjones]

A chap who I work with was also there on Saturday, speaking to him on Monday, he said that he thought it was very "Max Power".

I have to agree with garcon, with his thoughts t'n'a side of things. I think I only saw 10-15 stands tops, with some lovly young ladies on them, at the end of day you see the same amount on the TOCA pit lane walkabout.

I personally thought that the place was packed on Saturday and people seem to buying, I know I did.

[PaulSands]

Of course many of the "Max Power" crowd may have gone away thinking that they could maybe do more than just soup up their Clio for the Saturday night run and may become involved in the sport as a result or realise that they could even go to college and study something they may never have been aware you could before

[spanner]

For those who didnt go and want to see what they missed, or for those wanting to see more TnA's apparently there is a half hour programme on channel 4 this weekend at 7.30AM just after the Oulton Park gold Cup programme. Think it was saturday though not sure....

[Suzy]

My mother walked up to one of the Max Power girls and told her she "needed longer knickers"! She also advised her to get some thermals as the girls must be very cold without many clothes on.

My mother is definitely NOT a prude but even she felt that there was too much flesh on display. I still haven't worked out why the computer software stand required a scantily-clad, collagen-lip-implanted, streaky haired thing with too much eyeliner to promote it.

[Tim Falce]

Originally posted by timD

I was told after the weekend of a couple of stand-holders who told the Haymarket representatives that they wouldn't be back because they didn't want to be associated with a "tits n' ass show".

I think I must have gone to a different show, I only saw 6 tits, mostly covered, and 3 arses.
This was on Friday, is the Saturday/Sunday different?

[Rob29]

Originally posted by falcemob
I think I must have gone to a different show, I only saw 6 tits, mostly covered, and 3 arses.
This was on Friday, is the Saturday/Sunday different?

Me too,though I was'nt counting..There were certainly a lot of girls around,but nothing that would offend unless you were a religous extremist?

[spanner]

err saturday was a lot different. people were more interested in gawping at the tits than any of the products.There was one girl there with the biggest.....

hmm
I did come out of the live arena thinking i was at a Max Power show. Not sure about the show as a whole, it does seem to be getting smaller by the year. Most people going seem to only know about F1; how can people not know who Perry Mcarthy is!!

[bella]

sorry, but i really don't know what the whining was all about regarding the girls. if they had a fairly unattractive 50-year old bloke they'd hired giving out leaflets would it be half as interesting? no.

i say keep the ladies. we get the talented drivers, the boys can have the vacant fluff whose only talents are being able to stand up in high heels for 6 hours non stop.

[Tim Falce]

originally posted by bella
i say keep the ladies. we get the talented drivers, the boys can have the vacant fluff whose only talents are being able to stand up in high heels for 6 hours non stop.

I found that a lot of the blokes didn't have a clue about the products they were trying to sell.
The only person who seemed to know what they were talking about was a young lady on the Omex stand.

Any person who can stand or sit around for 8 hours and still be smilling and sane at the end of it gets my applause any day.

[SPBRacing]

guy's

you should take your hat off to them girl's. I did the show this year and it is harder than you think to stand or walk around for 8 hours aday on a hard concrete floor. Saturday was a busy day for girls and people bye the way.

No quotes on the team dynamics girls !!!! They were also in my hotel!!!!. Party on for hours then get up @ 7:00 to get ready.