AUTOSPORT INTERNATIONAL - BIRMINGHAM NEC
11th January 2003
Christmas and the New Year had only just past but already it was time for the first event of the year to wet the appetite of European Drag Racing fans. It was of course time for Autosport International at the NEC in Birmingham, England. This year the show saw far more drag racing exhibits than in previous years so we decided to pop along and see what was going on.
Santa Pod Raceway had a impressive stand in the Oval Racing section of the show. The stand was in a prime position with plenty of room for existing and hopefully new fans to look at the cars and bikes on display. The vehicles on show were the Showtime Fuel Funny Car, Susanne Callin's Twin Seat Dragster, Martin Bishops Pro Stock Bike, Dave Holland’s Funny Bike, the Top Fuel Cars of Andy Carter and Chris Andrews and the Junior Dragsters of Ricky Emms and SPR. The Chris Andrews car looks great in its purple loans livery. Chris intends to do the full FIA series in what will be his first season in Top Fuel. In all a very good collection of cars/bikes covering all areas of the sport. All this was centered around the SPR mobile shop which was there selling merchandise. 2003 SPR calendars were readily available and we saw loads of people taking them. Hopefully the impressive display of cars will entice some newcomers along this season.
The new Top Fuel Car of Andy Carter was under a black cover until the official unveiling at 1.30pm, this was performed by Steve Smith and Miles Barry of new sponsors First National Telecom and Carter Motorsport PR man Dan Welberry. Proceedings were conducted by the, as always, very professional John Price. A countdown by the gathered crowd proceeded the removal of the covers which was greeted with a generous round of applause. The car has a very clean, professional look about it, the red making it stand out well. The Carter Motorsport crew also looked very professional in their brand new uniforms. We are sure that Andy will be after the championship this year and hopefully with First National's backing this will be achieved. I’m sure that we all would like to thanks First National for becoming involved and wish them and the team a successful season. At DragsterWorld we know how hard Carter Motorsport have worked to get a sponsor and now they have we can't wait to see what they can achieve with full backing, having been champions in 2001, running 300 mph and being the quickest at 4.89 in 2002 all on a limited budget.
Away from the Santa Pod stand there was lots more to interest the drag fan. Custom Car had a very good display which featured Richard Homewood’s new Willys Coupe, Steve Neimantas' Aston Martin and Andy Frost’s Vauxhall all whom race in the Street Eliminator Series. Also Andy Robinson had his Pro Mod on the stand. They had the latest copy of the magazine on sale and the whole display gave a very good impression to the public and hopefully more new fans. Richard Homewood's car looked absolutely lovely and we can't wait to see it out on the track.
Darryl Bradford’s Top Fuel Car was on the Goodyear stand as part of a big display. It looked stunning in its Union Jack paint scheme on a well designed stand. It was good to see such a car on what could be called a main stream motorsport display. Rumors of Goodyear sponsorship at Santa Pod this season appear to be true as the Goodyear logo features on the aforementioned 2003 calendar, more good news for the sport.
Dave Wilson’s Top Methanol Dragster was displayed on the American Car Imports stand and looked awesome perched in a wheelie position with the front wheels on the back of a pick up truck. Also on the stand were two video screens showing Drag Racing. Again a very professional stand, give an impressive view of the sport.
I know we are biased but the rest of the show did nothing for us, sure there were some very nice cars and stands but none of them had the impact of the Drag Racing displays. A Formula One Car standing still looks nowhere near as impressive as a stationary Top Fueller, there's just something about their size and stance which conveys power and speed.
To sum up a very good day out and well worth the trip up the M6. I’m sure there will be some new fans at the tracks this year who have seen the sports showing at Autosport and want to have a further look, it was very hard not to be impressed by drag racing's presence at the show. However its just a shame that we have to wait so long until the season gets going at Easter. We can't wait!
Phil Cottingham
Gary Cottingham
www.dragsterworld.com
PS - Many thanks to the Carter Motorsport team for inviting us to their launch - we really enjoyed it guys. Thanks also to all the racers, fans and officials who stopped to have a chat with us.
Steve Neimantas - Custom Car Stand
Andy Frost - Custom Car Stand
Andy Robinson - Custom Car Stand
Richard Homewood's brand new Willys
Darryl Bradford on the Goodyear stand
Martin Bishops Pro Stock Bike
Dave Wilson's ACI sponsored Top Methanol Dragster.
Ian King's Top Fuel Bike
The Showtime Funny Car
The new Chris Andrews Top Fueller
CARTER MOTORSPORT LAUNCH SPECIAL
The covers are removed
The "King" - that'd be Knut then!
John Price and Andy Carter
The assembled crowd watch on and John Price talks about the car
The First National staff
Andy giving the thumbs up!
Mr Carter again...
... and again!
The 2003 Carter Motorsport crew looking very professional.
Andy Carter... flying the flag!
Andy and Dan present crew shirts to First National
The crowd gather to look over the car.
Thanks for reading - hope you enjoyed it!
All pictures are sponsored by www.1stcameras.com
