Autosport international 2018 comes to an end

Nigel Mansell once again opened the show (Photo by Marc Waller)

Nigel Mansell once again opened the show (Photo by Marc Waller)Autosport international 2018 came to a close on Sunday with the show once again opened by Nigel Mansell CBE. He was again interviewed on stage and spoke about some more memories from his career.

He spoke a lot about his Indycar career which came about twenty five years ago when he was unable to come to an agreement with Williams to continue in Formula One with them;

“When one door closes another opens,” he explained. “And that was IndyCar in 1993. I had a real adventure in America with Paul Newman and Carl Haas. Compared to the FW14B, the Lola-Cosworth was basic but very, very fast. At races like the Michigan 500 you averaged 233mph and some of the circuits there were some of the most dangerous I ever raced on.”

He continued;

“There’s a saying in Indycar: ‘There are two types of people. Those who have hit the wall and those who are going to.’ And I found that out at Phoenix, punching a 3ft hole in a concrete barrier.”

He also spoke about winning the F1 title in 1992 and the Fw14B which he described as “a phenomenal car. A very physical machine.”

He said the British Grand Prix that year was a very special memory;

“The 1992 Silverstone Grand Prix weekend will always remain in my memory because of the fans. It was a fantastic time, camping in the centre of the circuit, having BBQs and playing cricket, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of British racing enthusiasts.”

When asked what his best achievement in Motorsport had been, he had a surprising answer;

“With the amount of injuries I’ve sustained in my career and the number of drivers who are sadly no longer with us, I’m very proud that I’m still around. And to be able to give back to the industry which gave me so much.”

Gil De Ferran was another driver to appear on the Autosport stage. Since ending his driving career he has been driver coaching and he spoke about what he did to help Fernando Alonso when he raced in the Indy 500 in 2017;

“My job was not to teach him how to drive but to try and give him as much information as I could to speed up his adaption to the track,” de Ferran explained. “And he was up to speed pretty much immediately. Fernando is a very complete racing driver. His attention to detail is enormous. He is good with the team and with controlling his own emotions.”

Karun Chandok, former F1 driver and current Williams Heritage driver spoke about what they do;

“Williams Heritage re-builds, restores and then sells some of its older racing cars to collectors from around the world,” Chandhok explained. “And I’m lucky enough to get to demonstrate them – and coach the new owners. Mansell’s FW14B was one car I always dreamt about driving. It is just an incredible machine.”

A drift competition was part of the show (Photo by Marc Waller) Racing in the dark makes for a spectacular sight (Photo by Marc Waller) All sorts of cars race in the arena (Photo by Marc Waller) Billy Monger Dabs to the crowd after his performance (Photo by Marc Waller)

 

 

 

Jason Plato was another driver on the stage where he spoke about his difficult 2017 and he also announced he was close to a deal to return to the BTCC in 2018 once again with Subaru.

The Live action arena had it’s final few shows where visitors saw a range of cars from different forms of racing putting on some dramatic indoor races. There was also a drift competition and a demonstration of a NASCAR from the US. As well as this there were several stunts with both bikes and cars including Billy Monger and the Mission Motorsport stunt team put together with Terry Grant. They used Jaguar F Types to put on a display of precision driving before Billy emerged to speak to the crowds.

Also coming to an end today was the Performance car show with a huge amount of road, racing and Super cars on display. Motor1.com’s stand in particular had a great selection of cars including the Uk debut of the all new Fiesta ST with it’s all new 3 cylinder 1.5 litre turbo charged engine which produces 197bhp.

There were also various car clubs with some amazing machinery both classic and modern. As well the supercars there were some amazing replica’s including a McLaren F1 Supercar replica which features the engine from an Audi R8. It would convince the average person you’d meet in the street and would cost about 1% of the value of a genuine car!

The WEC winning Ferrari from 2017 part of the Ferrari display (Photo by Marc Waller) The all new Fiesta ST (Photo by Marc Waller) Jason Plato appeared on stage with his daughter (Photo by Marc Waller) A Ford GT40 Replica (Photo by Marc Waller)

 

 

 

It was also the final chance to see the Ferrari display with some amazing race and road machinery. The line-up included the 2017 F1 car, the SF70H, to the 2004 championship-winning F2004, 2017 LMGTE Pro World Endurance Championship-winning AF Corse 488 GTE, FXX-K Evo and the 488 Challenge cars, all of which are available through Ferrari’s Corse Clienti programme.

It’s been another busy year at the Autosport show and the world of motorsport now leaves to get ready for another exciting season of racing. We’re hoping to bring you news of more female racers than ever before including some coverage of Autograss racing. If you’re a female racer that we don’t currently feature, get in touch as we’d love to tell people all about your exploits! By Marc Waller 

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