Sunday 17th January 2016

Autosport International 2016 - PH Liveblog

The temptation to buy cars both real and otherwise is hard to resist!

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Welcome to the PH Autosport International liveblog! Regular visitors to the show will know it's a feast for the petrolhead with the very best from the world of motorsport at the NEC. There are cars to see, cool stuff to buy and the Live Action Arena to watch some spectacular driving at today.

Team PH will be there all weekend, reporting back on the best bits of the show. Please do come and say hello if you're at ASI, you'll spot the Pie & Piston in Hall 19. As always, we'll be on social media too, so keep a look out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest from the boys on the ground.

Archived updates from the blog can be found here. For the latest update see below!

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Sunday, The Pie & Piston, 1030h The Coys auction was one of the attractions at the Autosport show I particularly wanted to see. Hopefully you will have seen from the preview story the incredible array of vehicles going up for sale, from a Maserati Bi-turbo BTCC car to a Lamborghini tractor. Peering in from behind the barrier I saw the Russell Brookes Chevette sell for £72,000 (which doesn't seem ridiculous in fact) and the RHD Diablo SV fail to sell despite a high bid of £150,000. The current craze for Porsches showed little sign of abating at Autosport either, with a 964 Turbo making £160,000.

Wants to go sideways. Now

At a more affordable price point, I spent a long time around the model car stands too, grateful to some extent that I haven't been paid for January yet. There was a gorgeous Alpina B7 that could have taken pride of place by my television. Next month perhaps...

Other highlights? The Ford GT racer looks even better than it does in the pictures, there are two McLaren P1 GTRs here and the Williams F1 display is spectacular - it's drawing more people than the new cars!

A quick mention for the Live Action Arena too. We went to the Live Action Arena show last night and it was great. Yes, it's another £11 on top of the show ticket, but the amount of, er, action you see in that hour is easily worth it. Petter Solberg is worth the admission price alone. Then there are the bike stunts, the National Hot Rods, the Shedolition Derby, the Autograss cars, the McLaren 650S GT3... Go and see it!

Matt

Images: Ben Lowden, Performance Car Show via Twitter

[leedsutd1]

Some nice 80"s and 90"s hot hatches there. I prefer the 1.9 205 Gti, nicer alloys and half leather.

[leedsutd1]

The link to the previous blogs is not working

[SpudLink]

leedsutd1 said:

Some nice 80"s and 90"s hot hatches there. I prefer the 1.9 205 Gti, nicer alloys and half leather.

There was a lovely example of the 1.9 parked next to the LaFerrari at last year's show. It had a few admirers from men of a certain age (including me).

[Matt Bird]

leedsutd1 said:

The link to the previous blogs is not working

Apologies, it's sorted now!


Matt

[Shambler]

Ridiculous that a 306 Rallye isn't there. A proper hot hatch, between that and the original uk Integra, two of the best cars I have ever driven.

[PhillipM]

There is one.

[Shambler]

As a fan, it was a shame not to see a 306 there but the Lotus Sunbeam certainly cheered me up. And I need to have a go in the Focus RS with the new one so close...

Matt

???

[Yanto]

My Miami Blue 1.9 GTi was J730 GAM.........close to the white car.

Fond memories

[PhillipM]

Damn these invisible 306 Rallyes.

[Col325]

I think it a travesty not to have a 306 gti6 or rallye there, its a true hot hatch that really moved the game on in terms of what handling and balance should be in a lightweight package at a time Peugeot focussed on what was underneath, the bits that mattered and the 306 perfectly illustrates that and good looks its a lot faster than bare stats suggest i would have one over a Clio 172....

[PhillipM]

Is there some running joke here I'm missing out on?

[jcl]

I think you guys are getting your 3's and 1's confused.

Real hot hatches had 8 Valves and were well under 1000kg

[Contigo]

Have recently added a 205 GTi to my collection and it is a great car, personally I prefer the Mk1 Golf GTi but both really do bring a smile to my face every time I drive them!

[karl c]

Does anyone or everyone except me know what the gorgeous burnt orange car is at the top of the page?

Thanks Karl.

[DelicaL400]

karl c said:

Does anyone or everyone except me know what the gorgeous burnt orange car is at the top of the page?

Jag C-X75

[crofty1984]

karl c said:

Does anyone or everyone except me know what the gorgeous burnt orange car is at the top of the page?

Thanks Karl.

Hard to tell from the angle, but I'm pretty sure it's a 306 Rallye.

[Contigo]

[karl c]

as we all know there were no 306 rallye or any other 306 there so im going with the jag c-x75 answer, keep looking for the elusive 306 rallye though as im sure it will crop up just when you didn't expect it!!!!

[r.g.]

Did anyone else notice the "typo" on the Focus ST picture on the Autocar stand? A picture of an orange ST getting some air with the caption "2005 Ford Focus ST170"....

[Arsecati]

Something seriously wrong with the market if a 964 Turbo sells for a price 10 grand more than what a Diablo SV can even get to! No question in my mind what I'd want sitting outside my house (or garage, or living room!!) :/