Thursday, 10th of January 2008
After crawling out of bed at 5am, which was a feat in itself, it was time for SSS (Shower, shit , shave) then off to JI Performance to pick up John at 6am. Onto a very quiet m8 and straight to the airport, no delay.
On arrival at the airport we forked out for the in-house, overpriced and not-so-tasty tea and toast at Harry Ramsdens. Assisting in the digesting of breakfast was a game of air hockey. Our puck just didn’t want to stay on the table, making several journeys to the dining area and had to be retrieved, much to the amusement of on-lookers. One little boy was almost taken out the game by our air-borne antics. Final result- Andy 2/John 1 (great success! / Borat).
After getting half-naked for the tight security measures (It’s ok we had no crates of Irn Bru sir), John was duly requested to produce his first business card of the day for a petrol head security guard.
En Route to the departure lounge, John cut his gums up sooking a beer tap. Our journey down was interrupted with crosswinds and turbulence, but we made it to Birmingham in one piece and regretting breakfast as it was coming up rapid.
A monorail took us from the airport to the NEC where we pranced along the travelators for ten minutes, terminating at the halls and flashing our passes at security.. Holy crap, it was HUGE. We wandered around for a while; John made enquiries about some recaro chairs, while I snapped happily at the first model, who posed with our famous Strathy tag. After this we came across the Formula One display with lots of awesome cars to get excited about. At this point the camera was pissing smoke and begging for mercy. No rest for the wicked as they say and on we marched, towards an almighty mobile home. This “RV” was about ten times the size of my house and filled with every gadget under the sun. We entered the mobile home and continued to drool at the plush beds, the giant TV’s and full size American fridge. Outside we were greeted by the spearmint rhino girls. I duly invited them in for a quick test drive of the king size bed but they politely declined my offers, though they didn’t mind slotting the Strathy tag in with their dirty pillows for some quick snaps.
Hall after hall was filled with super-sized products, not made for your average Corsa. Gigantic brake discs that could halt the plane we arrived on, communications systems used by race teams and enormous turbo’s that could scoop in small children. Top end machinery, for producing custom parts was all in action at the stalls. We marvelled at the precision of these machines and the detail but then lunch called us and we haemorrhaged more money towards sandwiches and juice.
Reviewing things at lunchtime we came to the conclusion that the lack of polished turds was always a good thing.
In the next few hours we came across the new Lancer Evo 10, what a sexy piece of kit! Also there was the Colin McRae tribute stand. This consisted of a selection of his winning trophies, race suits and previous rally cars, including his world championship winning Subaru Impreza. We entered a hallway lined with photographs of his more leery moments and LCD’s displaying the progression of his career. It was a fitting tribute to a great sportsman and the organisers at AutoSport done him proud.
Soon it was time for the live show, which we should have hailed a taxi for as it was on the other side of the NEC. On our journey we came across a huge indoor carting circuit, with many talented young drivers displaying their talents. Next to that was a Mercedes demo area, where members of the public were creaming and shitting their pants at the same time in V8 AMG Mercs. The sound that filled the air was amazing and we watched as people were crammed into the high-powered cars and were thrown around the arena. Encircling all this was the queue to enter the live show, which must have contained at least 2000 people. We skipped past the lot of them and brazenly flashed our passes once again, allowing us to get nice seats and settle down for the show. They began by paying homage to Colin McRae, displaying his picture on the huge screen as the arena erupted with applause.
The show consisted of:
-Terry Grant breaking his world record for a reverse J-turn within the narrowest space
-Stock cars entered the area, each with a saltire attached, in tribute to Colin McRae. A frantic race with no shortage of bumps and shoves ensued.
-Rally cars racing head to head
-Old school cars raced around the arena, their handing simply a world away from that of a modern car
-Demonstration of drag cars, all the way from junior to pro-modified. Among this was a powerful street-legal Vauxhall Victor, with its 9.3, V8 litre engine and 2,200 bhp. It accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in just 1 second and left the arena full of smoke.
-Junior formula drivers were introduced to the crowd and then set off for a race at such high speeds that it was impossible to focus the camera on them.
By the time we left the arena my throat was raw from the exhaust and tyre smoke, but totally worth it for the awesome show we had just witnessed.
The banter flowed well thorough the day as we ensnared more models into posing for us, with our Strathy tag nestling provocatively among the sea of boobies...mmmmm...
Towards the end we bumped into Gordon Shedden. He was happy to stand and chat away for a good while, showing how a good sportsman treats their fans. Our Strathy tag was adorned with his signature by the end of the conversation and we wandered off with the complimentary beers we had been presented with.
Time was flying past and soon we had to get back to the airport, so another trip on the travelators and monorail was enjoyed. In the airport, John and I decided to have our aches and pains from the day massaged away with a couple of coin-operated Lazy Boys. In a moment of wisdom I pulled out the camera to snap john enjoying his massage, but this brought airport security to my side, demanding to know what the hell I was up to. Apparently a strict no-camera rule was in place and I was supposed to gain permission. I explained to the security guard that it was too much hassle and informed them that there was a Lazy Boy with my name on it, so they left us to it.
Flight home was great, due to our advanced check-in at Glasgow Airport we had managed to get seats 1A and 1B, leaving us with plenty of leg room and a quick exit when we landed. Mon the BMI Baby 99p flights!
All in all, it was a superb day and we’ll be booking next year’s tickets ASAP. It’s been emotional!
Words: EK Andy
Photos: EK Andy
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Eddie Irvine
21 January 2008, 5:15 pm
Great pics andy
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