Autosport International is Europe’s largest indoor pre-season motorsport event and this year was a big one for the show as it celebrated its 25th Anniversary at the NEC in Birmingham.
The show offers an extremely diverse range of performance cars catering for every type of motor enthusiast.
From classics through to Supercars, even the smaller bespoke car manufacturers are given the chance to make a name for themselves.
In 2015 Autosport seen the unveiling of several new and exciting performance cars from Britain and further afield.
Performance car makers Ariel – makers of the Atom – recently revealed a new ATV, their new Ariel Nomad seen its first public outing at Autosport 2015. The light weight all-terrain vehicle is powered by a 2.4-litre four-cylinder VTEC engine and is tuned to produce 235bhp. It will sprint from 0-60mph in 3.4 seconds, has a top speed of 136mph and will set you back £30,000 – winch included.
You may also remember my article last week about my test drive of Zenos Cars first sports car the E10, which was unveiled at last year’s Autosport Show.
For 2015, Zenos has revealed their new turbocharged model in the form of the E10 S.
It’s powered by a mid-mounted 2.0-litre Ford EcoBoost engine producing 250bhp, has a 0-60mph time of less than 4.5sec and a top speed of 135mph – prices start at £29,995.
Noble unveiled an open-top version of its M600 supercar, dubbed the Speedster. The M600 Speedster prototype has seen the company leave their love of the traditional manual gearbox behind, as the new Speedster has now adopted a six-speed semi-automatic transmission (though it is a prototype).
Track car specialist Radical unveiled their latest performance car at ASI15 – the RXC Spyder. According to them it’s the “most advanced, powerful, and aerodynamically-developed” open racing car yet.
Powered by a high-revving 3.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 producing 440bhp, the RXC Spyder doesn’t come cheap at £131,940. Radical are now taking orders and deliveries are expected from early this year.
Autosport International also hosted the unveiling of the first Lister Jaguar ‘Knobbly’ reincarnation.
The reborn ‘Knobbly’ is built to the very same specification as the original 1958 ‘Knobbly’, using the late Brian Lister’s original drawings and manufacturing jigs. It is powered by a race-prepared Jaguar D-Type 3.8-litre straight-six, producing 330bhp.
It will reach 0-60mph in just 4.3 seconds and has a max speed of 181mph. Priced at £295,000; the Cambridge built ‘Knobbly’ is also eligible to compete in all historic racing events worldwide.
British car manufacturer Keating Supercars also unveiled their latest model, which they hope to shatter the current world speed record with.
The Keating TKR has an estimated top speed of 335mph – that’s 0.5 Mach if you were wondering!
In addition to the unveilings at the NEC, there were motoring celebs to meet, activities to take part in and numerous live performance shows to watch.
One of the live performances even resulted in a new world record, featuring Alistair Moffatt – a master instructor at Stunt Drive UK.
He took back the parking world record from Chinese stunt driver Han Yue, who managed to squeeze a Mini into a gap that was only 8cm longer than the car. Moffatt beat the record by managing to slide a Fiat 500 into a space just 7.5 centimetres longer than his car.
Other attractions included the Autocar display, live automotive art with Popbangcolour, the Renaultsport RS.01. and the Formula 1 grid.
Our full gallery of pics from Autosport International 2015 can be found on our Flickr.