MPH & Classic Car Show 2008

In Your Face - The Cervini Mustang

The MPH/Classic car show? It’s just another same-old same-old motor show isn’t it? You walk around several huge halls, look at cars-the best ones of course being roped off from the public, eat over-priced food and then go home with lots of photo’s of supercars on stands protected by thick red ropes.
Well some of that is true in a way. The over priced food and the looking at cars bit are the same. The rest though is entirely different from your average motorshow.

I will warn you folks now though, get your tickets at least 3-4 weeks in advance, whether you are going to the London MPH or the Birmingham N.E.C MPH/Classic show! This year I foolishly left it until one week before the show (at the N.E.C), before trying, and failing, to purchase a ticket.

We, being the devoted petrolheads we are, decided to try our luck and drive the two and a half hours to Birmingham. We got there an hour before the show opened just to have more of a chance, and I’m glad we did! The Classic car show still had ticket into their side of the show, and you could also use it to get into MPH.

The only annoying thing was not being able to get into the Live Arena, . which I’ve been into every year since I found out about the show, And which held the legends that are the Top Gear lads – Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

Group B Rally Audi Quattro

After handing over my ticket (£19) and walking through the entrance of the Classic Car Show, I came upon a sight that almost reduced me to tears. Row upon row of grade 1 condition classics.
From Group B rally cars such as the ultra fast Lancia Stratos and the Audi Quattro, to American Muscle cars like the Plymouth Barracuda and the Ford Mustang GT 350.  This is just a taste of things to come though-after that I wander around gazing lovingly at Aston Martins, Ferraris, Chevrolets,  Porsches and numerous other great marques.

At the the back of one of the halls was a section behind barriers that held at least 100 cars, these you could actually get taken for a drive in for charity. There were quite a few replicas of cars there such as a Ford GT40, a Ferrari Dino and a Ferrari 250 GTO race-replica. Prices ranged from £15 to £75 for a 20 minute drive.

The great thing about this show is the way you can talk to the owners of any of the cars, and you don’t get the cold shoulder off them. They are more than happy to chat. I talked to the owners of  Ferrari’s F40, Daytona, and California, a Maserati Quattroporte and a very helpful salesman of the £230,000 Bristol Fighter which has 525 hp 8 litre V10 engine (straight out of a Dodge Viper), will go to 210 mph and finish 0 – 60 in 4.0 seconds. That is unless, of course, you buy the tuned twin turbo version that has over 1000 bhp and will do 230 mph. I questioned him about price, upgrades, tyres, engine tuning and even the drag coefficient, which apparently is down to only 0.255, a record low for a production car, and he answered them with no hesitation (or thought for the fact I could obviously not afford one). I did see him after however, having several cigarettes, two double espresso’s and several energy drinks, to recoup from his interrogation ordeal. After spending most of the day wandering around the Classic show, it was time to move onto the MPH side of things.

Here there are extremely exotic cars like the Netherlands designed £189,000 Spyker C8, the beautiful British built Invicta S1-600 ( a snip at £150,000) or the weirdly named Gumpert Apollo from Germany (£190,000 respectively), which is built around the science of downforce and aerodynamics, so it’s not a looker at all. According to the makers of this car, you could (in theory) drive one of these Gumperts upside down because there is so much downforce. Hmm, any volunteers? Thought not. All three of these beasts will all hit at least the 200 mph mark so you do get what you pay for in these cases.

Ferrari 275 GTS

Scattered around the hall there are the usual array of lovely Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces’, TVRs, Porsches and Lotus’ to name a few. The amazing thing about this show is that 95% of all the vehicles are right there in front of you, or at the side of you, or, if you want, the back of you-why? Because you’re free to wander around, take pictures of, touch or sit in most them ‘til your hearts content.

As well as the car stands, dotted around the edge of the hall are stalls and exhibits selling anything from model cars, pictures and posters, car cleaning products, wheels (get your 24 inch ‘rims here) to track days. Also among them are tuning companies like Cervini’s Auto Designs, which tune up, put on new, mean-looking bodykits, and make better the suspension and handling of the Ford Mustang GT and GT500.

Throughout the day there are performances in the Live Motoring Theatre (which I flipping missed this year), where you can watch around 75 minutes of pure motoring joy. The Arena is basically a big enclosed arena with various props and amazing lighting to complement it. Presenting were Top Gears Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Last year the Live Arena was my favourite parts of the show.
They drove out some stunning cars, like the Invicta I mentioned earlier, and gave the audience a demonstration of what the 5 litre, V8, 600 bhp ehgine sounds like at maximum rpm. In two words ‘Beautifully LOUD’.

Other types driven around were the new Jaguar XK (gorgeous!!), the monster that is the Pagani Zonda F (its V12, 7.3 litre Mercedes AMG engine should see you okay), and a lot of Vauxhall Astra VXRs being driven by some highly skilled blokes, though one obviously not-so-lucky car was clipped at the rear by another VXR, the airbags went off and it plowed straight a concrete wall. All in the name of entertainment I say and so the show carried on (after the stricken Astra was towed off and the radiator water moped up).

More highlights included some mad off road ‘karts that, if given enough space will do a 0-60 mph time of two, yes you read that right, that’s two, seconds. Then it will go on to upwards of 140 mph-not bad for an off-road vehicle. One of these beasts was being driven (or more like guided, as in guided missile), by the extremely talented ‘The Stig’ off of Top Gear.

We were also provided with some 3-D glasses before we went in and these were used when viewing a computerised ‘Black Hawk’ helicopter trying to destroy a very real Lotus Exige, that was dodging and power sliding on the floor below the ‘copter. I was assured by some of the lucky gits that got in that the show was easily as good as 2007s Live Arena.

All in all it’s the  most enjoyable indoor motorshow event around for car enthusiasts-but if you want to see (and hear) more then I recommend highly that, like me, you get yourself a ticket to next years excellent MPH/Classic car show.

Remember- book 3 – 4 weeks early early to avoid disappointment!

MPH show