This is just a quick post to finish off my trip too the Autosport International Show 2011.

The above car is The 1995 winning Le Mans car as driven by  Yannick Dalmas, Masanori Sekiya and JJ Lehto. I love how the McLaren F1′s were designed as a 3 seater car. It’s a bit antisocial if you carry passengers, but you are sat in the perfect position for fast driving. It’s another one of those cars that i would love to own, but probably won’t.

And onto another McLaren car. This time thier brand new roadcar, the MP4-12C.

I think this is a lovely car but i do think it’s a shame that car car is not as wild and as forward thinking as the F1. For this car they have gone back to a 2 seat layout and dropped 4 cylinders from the engine. But what the car has gained is 2 turbos. As car makers start going back to turbo power, turbo technology will evolve and hopefully become cheaper for everybody.

And what is up with the doors. I can’t think of any practical benefits to having doors like that, but it does up the cool factor of the car somewhat.

The colour of this BMW M3 is what we i will be aiming for on the new MX5 we have just brought. Satin black will mean i don’t have to spend hours outside polishing the car, and it will look very mean.

I love how much detail and effort has gone into this rear light.

I wonder what i will see at next years Autosport International Show?

Part 2 of my trip to the Autosport International show.

I was happy to see this car in the flesh at the show, a modern F1 car with a retro inspired paintjob. It’s a shame the tobacco advertising laws prevent the car from having John Player Special on the side, it would have been the icing on top of a very fast cake.

It took me a few shots to get this one, drivers eye view of a classic lotus F1 machine. It would be great fun to drive one of these cars, but if i was ever given the chance i don’t think i would drive very fast. Racing cars are always designed to be light and fast, and in the old days safety was not the highest on the jobs list. If something hits the side of this car it is going to hurt the driver. I suppose the lack of safety is part of the reason that old racing drivers are highly repected, and crashes were usually fatal.

Another classic racecar that i would love to drive. A Jaguar XJR developed by Tom Walkingshaw Racing. I have never seen this car racing apart from on youtube videos, hopefully one day at Le Mans i will get the chance to see this car doing what it’s designed to do. And if the Mazda 787b is there as well i will be a happy man.

Another shot of Mark Luneys 2011 drift weapon. This car is running a Cosworth Developed Toyota Supra 2jz engine. I think having a company like Cosworth investing time and money into drifting can only be a good thing, and with the amount of BDC drivers turing to jz power i can only hope that Cosworth will come out with some very special parts in the future. I  also like how clean and tidy the engine bay is, some thought has gone into this rather than just throwing everything in.

At a show full of racecars and cars that i will probably never be able to afford, i stumble across this. Apart from the colour i love this EG Honda Civic, and if i dream of owning something like this one day i wont need to win the lottery to make my dream come true.

Final part to follow in the next day or two.

Please share and leave comments.

On Sunday i traveled to the LG Arena in Birmingham for the 2011 Autosport International Show.

It was a early start for me and Katy, setting off from Reading a little after 7am. Traffic was very light on our journey and we arrived a little after 9.30am ready to collect lots of free catalogues and look at a lot of cars that i will never drive. We had a quick walk around the whole show to see where everything was and stopped by the Maxxis stand to see if there was anybody i could have a chat with. I caught up with Baggsy (Steve Biagioni) of Team Japspeed, but judging by the look of him he may of consumed a few drinks the night before.

One thing that did surprise me was the number of drift cars that were on display, i don’t know the numbers but i’m sure there were a few more than last year.

One of the drift cars that caught my eye was this Nissan S15 which was one of the many cars advertising Santa Pod Raceway. I’m going to go on the lookout for a few more details on this car, i’m loving the Nascar inspired graphics on the car. I also notice that the car is waring a Prodrift sunstrip, i wonder if i will be able to make a trip to ireland this year to watch a round of prodrift?

Another group of nice cars were just round the corner from the S15, the Group B Rally cars. Savage pieces of machinery from an era when Health and Safety was called common sense. It’s amazing how you can take a very mild mannered shopping car and turn it into a fire-breathing monster capable of accelerating on gravel and snow faster than most hypercars can accelerate on a racetrack.

I also got to have a seat in the new 2011 Nissan GTR. It is a very nice car with a surprising big boot, but no rear leg room. Putting rear seats in cars like that is a waste of a cow, foam and cotton. They are more comfy shopping holders than they are seats. And set in the drivers seat you start to get a sense of how large the car is, but it is on my list of cars to own before i die.

And i will leave you with a peak inside the 1jz powered Japspeed Subaru. After chatting to Baggsy and Paul  found out that the car is very close to being fired up. The car was going to be delivered to Greg Gush of Protuner after the show to have a few bits finished of on the car. Roll on BDC 2011 Round 1 and lets see what this car is capable of.

More Autosport International 2011 photos will be up in the next few days.

[opening image : The 2011 Team Sats/Cosworth Toyota Supra.]

It’s a bit of a sad image that i am posting today.

While my wife was parked in Winchester somebody decided to drive into the car. This person then drove off without leaving any details. Car park dings are to be expected in todays society, but this damage is a little more then a simple door-to-door banging. I can only wish this person good health throughout 2011.

On a happier note, i am just back from the 2011 Autosport International Show and am just sorting through my photos. Only took 75 photos, but it’s quality rather than quantity.

Project 365 2011 : Image 14, Model Impreza

A model Subaru Impreza on my shelf of model cars. If you were to ask me what my favourite rally car was i would have to say it would be the Subaru. I wasn’t into rallying back in Colin Mcrae glory days, i was much more of a Petter Solberg fan.

I do hope that one day soon we will be seeing the blue cars back at the top level of rallying.

Project 365 2011 : Image 12, MacBook ProOne of the best thing i have ever brought myself. A lot of people won’t understand why people spend so much money on buying Apple products, but when a item is perfect for what you do with it, then the price is irrelevant.

Project 365 2011 : Image 12, HorseshoeA wedding horseshoe that was made by my sister-in-law for our wedding over 2 years ago.

The last few days of my 365 project.

My 365 project has not been going very well since i started it, it’s hard to find anything interesting when your just going from home, to work, and the back home. I think what i will do with my 365 project is just try to post a picture everyday, but it may not have been taken on the right day.

The few images that i’m going to post today were taken last night with my Canon 5D MK2 and my 70-200 f2.8, and for some of the pictures i was also using a 580ex flash.

Old camera, still haven’t got round to using this properly, but it is still in full working order.

My cat Frodo posing for me. I managed to get about 5 photos before he got up and ran off.

I also my be going to the Autosport show at the NEC on sunday, if so you can be sure there will be some car photos on here next week.

My last 4 days of my 365 project.

One thing that i have realised over the few days i have been doing my 365 project is the lack of inspiration i have during the winter months. During the summer it is eaiser to pick up the camera and go for a walk and get some nice photos, during the winter you are mainly confined to taking pictures in the dark or indoors. Over the next few days i am going to have a look around online at some new things i can try in these dark months.

As you can see from the top image i do like my gadgets, and cars. I need to try and add to my collection of both this year.

I had a few days on my own this week as Katy was away doing training for her new job. As you can see i don’t need a woman to look after me, i am able to fend for myself.

A few weeks ago katy had a little meeting with a kerb on her way home. Our N/S/F wheel took quite a big hit. After looking around for a replacement i found out that it would be very expensive to buy 1 wheel, or near impossible to find a second hand set in the right size.

A few months ago on Driftworks they announced the new Rota Grid V/Classic. These look similar to the Volk Te37′s that we have at the moment, but with added dish. At first we were going to order the 15×7 et20 as the wheels would go right on the car with no fitting issues. But then after much thought i decided to get our order changed to the new size, 15×8 et0! A quick call to Kam at Driftworks and we got the order changed.

It will be a few weeks before these wheels will be on the car as a little bit of work is needed to make them fit.

And for the last picture, my favourite website, not that i am biased in anyway.