The International Historic Motorsport Show
The third International Historic Motorsport Show took place 24-25th February 2006 and the show continues to grow and maintain its high standards pulling in more than 20,000 attendees with its mix of live action, motorsport heroes and world-famous competition cars and bikes, not to mention 449 exhibitors and 368 journalists. This niche show is aimed at historic motor sport fans and has won over many new friends but its real appeal lies among the cognoscenti of the historic racing and rally world.
This year among the special displays was a scene set up by Revington TR that comprised a service halt for the Standard Triumph Works Team on the 1962 Léige-Sofia-Liége Rally. Three of the four original competition TR4s were tracked down for the display and these are being attended by an Atlas van as used by the competitions department at the time.
The MGOC stand at the International Historic Motorsport Show
The re-creation of the 1962 Standard Triumph Works Team on the Léige-Sofia-Liége Rally
Doug Smith of MG Motorsport provided this beautifully prepared MGB race car for display on the British Motor Heritage stand
The International Rallye Des Alpes
Auto Union 1937 Auto Union V16 Type-C recently restored by Crosthwaite and Gardiner. The car is chassis no.15 and was found in Russia and it now belongs to Bernie Ecclestone
Special bodied Austin Healey race car on the FISC Eurotour Race Series
750 Motor Club with over 50 years of organising race meetings
Barry Walker with a selection of pre-war MGs on offer
Motorcycles were featured this year
You can build a complete replica Piper GTR with a full space frame chassis just like the 1969 Le Mans car
The halls were packed with classic and historic race and rally cars on the stands of all the major motor clubs and historic sports organisations. The famous historic rally the Rallye Des Alpes was celebrating 50 years of the rally even though the first rally was held 96 years ago, two world wars and various other interruptions have meant that the rally has only taken place fifty times. This year Rally Des Alpes will run from 3rd – 8th July and the regularity event will start from Geneva and will return to its original finishing point at Marseille and will also visit Turin taking in a stop-over at the old Fiat factory, Lingotto which is now a hotel.
In addition to the many motoring organisations there was also a plethora of specialist manufacturers with stands, featuring small companies who could fabricate anything from a special bearing or an alloy engine part, to a short pipe bend or a complete tubular chassis. If you have sufficient funds you can even purchase a complete reproduction classic racer from an all alloy bodied replica C-Type Jaguar to a Piper GTR replica.
Outside the halls two of the most popular crowd-pleasers were the sideways action of the Group B rally car stage and the indoor pre-’65 classic motorcycle trial. The motorcycle trial, running both solos and sidecars, was a world first which ran ten times over the weekend. Five-times winner of the Scottish Six Days Motorcycle Trial, Mick Andrews, managed to stay penalty-free on the first day, while Peter Gaunt proved almost as successful. Also enjoying riding in the trial was seven-times TT winner Mick Grant on his Ariel.
Live action in the form of Historic Kart Racing was another first for Stoneleigh. One competitor arrived with a kart which had not run for 30 years. When a carburettor problem seemed sure to prevent his participation, but he scoured the Show’s autojumble, found what he needed, fitted the new carburettor and fired the engine up for the first time in three decades.
A host of motorsport stars were freely available to sign autographs at the Show. The public lined up to meet such icons as Giacomo Agostini, Pentti Airikkala, Russell Brookes, Vic Elford, Paddy Hopkirk, Sir Stirling Moss,
Jackie Oliver, Phil Read and Bjorn Waldegard, to name but a few. The top story of the Show, however, must be multiple British Rally Champion Russell Brookes, leaving the Historic Motorsport Awards Charity Dinner on Saturday night. Looking around for the bus to return him to the hotel, Russell approached a likely-looking individual and asked if he were the bus driver. “No,” came the reply. “I am Giacomo Agostini from Italy.”