Spread over 8 halls of Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre and including the Performance Car Show, Autosport showcases the very best of UK and world Motorsport from Karting to F1 and all shades in-between. Included in the ticket price is the live action arena, with laser light shows and a display which started with the freestyle Moto-X guys pulling off some incredible stunts (including a back-flip finale no less!) to fairly tepid applause it has to be said.I hope they were paid well, because it looks monumentally (emphasis on the mentally!) dangerous.

BRSCC’s Porsche Boxsters performed in the main arena, amongst others including classes from Grass track, Reliant Robins and ‘swamp thing’ an extremely loud monster truck, which can do do-nuts despite apparently weighing 5 tons!

 The Autosport show always has a special buzz surrounding it, and with so much glorious metal – carbonfibre and other exotic materials were available! – merchandising, a chance to get a one- to -one conversation about an upgraded data-logging system with the guys who designed it or to talk with fellow competitors about what makes their race-series so special to them. Of course Motorsport is split into many different categories, but so many of them are thriving in the British Isles, we truly are a nation of Petrol-Heads and Autosport has become the traditional start to every racing year.

 There were two main staging areas in the hall, the main Autosport stage was surrounded by a display of 2012′s now historic and obsolete Formula 1 cars and hosted the glitterati of UK and World Motorsport. Sir Jackie Stewart, Johnny Herbert, Paul Di Resta all made an appearance, and Adam Parr former Williams F1 chairman, publicising his new book ‘The art of War’ was vociferous in his attacks on Bernie Ecclestone and the machinations behind the scenes of one of the world’s biggest sport’s. For me, one of the highlights of the smaller stage was the banter between ex-F1 and erstwhile telly superstar Tiff Needell and his 5^th gear sparring partner Jason Plato, swapping stories and poking fun at each other’s expense as is their style – highly entertaining. If you didn’t see it or weren’t involved – book your ticket for next year, it’s well worth it.