The annual Autosport International Show was held at the NEC last weekend, and as usual offered an all too brief respite from those off-season blues. All areas of the motorsport industry were represented, ranging from the lofty heights of Formula 1 with Jenson Button opening the public days, right down to the national motorsport scene, with an increasing number of universities, colleges and schools offering motorsport programmes.

Over the course of the show, personalities attending included World Rally champion Petter Solberg, F1’s Justin Wilson and the Duke of York.

The BTCC was also well represented in terms of drivers over the weekend. Matt Neal was on the Team Dynamics stand alongside the striking Honda Civic Type-R that he will pilot on 2004. He also offered lucky visitors an extreme thrill in a powerful Caterham Seven as part of the Comma Caterham Slalom Experience.

Seat used the show to announce a partnership with the renowned RML setup for their BTCC assault in 2004. Ray Mallock was last involved in the BTCC with the championship winning Nissan Primera in 1999, and is sure go all out with the development of Seat’s ETCC-spec Toledo. Drivers Jason Plato and Robert Huff were also on hand throughout the show, alongside a number of contenders for the Seat Cupra Championship, which joins the BTCC as a support race at five meetings this year.

Vauxhall used the show to confirm that it will once again use the Astra Coupé model to defend its crown in 2004. Having conducted tests with the Vectra, the Luton-based marque decided against changing its winning formula, although it has not ruled out putting the Vectra in to action later in the year. New recruit to VX Racing, Luke Hines was full of confidence, hoping to be on the pace of his champion team-mates James Thompson and Yvan Muller. He will get his first drive of the car when pre-season testing gets underway with a programme in Spain at the end of January.

Gareth Howell and Tom Chilton both made appearances on the Autosport stage during the four days of the show, whilst David Leslie, James Kaye, Anthony Reid and Tom Ferrier also put in appearances.

Following the show, there remains a significant number of questions to be answered ahead of the 2004 BTCC season. Whilst the frustrating lack of racing continues for a while longer, all will become clear over the coming months. The new season kicks of in under 90 days time at the mega-fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.

Photography: Peter Still