Autosport International 2011

 

The Autosport Show International is held every year at the NEC in Birmingham and this year, Racer travelled to the show and had a poke around to see what was going on in full-size racing as well as hunting out all things RC related.

The BRCA flew the flag for the RC community as they do every year at ASI but sadly, they could not have a track this year as in past years, although this did not stop them having a great display using flat screen TVs with videos running showing RC racing at its best and the booth was always populated whenever we strolled past. Although many of the comments from visitors appeared to be “I used to race one of those” as they got all misty-eyed looking into the attractively displayed RC vehicles in the glass cabinets. Well dust it off, charge it up and come back to the track is what I say!  Sadly it seems that once many reach the heady heights of full-size racing, RC takes a back burner, but at least we are safe in the knowledge that they cut their teeth in RC racing. Of course the other side of the coin is to get the next generation of wannabe racers (kids) interested in RC and with money being tight for everyone at the moment RC racing will always be the best way of getting into motorsport without a huge financial outlay. Without displays and the attendance from the BRCA, how many potential racers would our sport be without?

Talking of youngsters, the Engineering In Motion initiative was at the Autosport Show with a display of the F1 in Schools Scheme. This allows pupils to build and race an air powered version of an F1 car built to their own design. The EIM initiative also has three other schemes for schools including the Bloodhound SSC Class, GT in Schools and 4×4 in Schools – the latter is the most relevant as pupils in the age range of 11 to 19 years old in a team can build, design and compete in this challenge to negotiate a specifically designed test track. A starter kit is available which utilises the Losi Mini Crawler chassis although more emphasis is put on building your own RC 4WD from scratch and those that take this course will see higher points award for doing so. They also have to show progression of the work they have done through a presentation. It’s great to see these types of initiatives going on and helping to put fun back into engineering and making children aware of just what they can accomplish with their own hands. For more information, visit www.4x4inschools.co.uk

 

Many readers out there will have at one time raced an electric RC vehicle and with battery technology changing and getting better with each evolution it now appears that one company is ready to take the plunge with full sized racing cars and go electric powered! The EVCUP will start this year with a six round series running two classes of car. First up is City EV which are based on the Think City Eco Cars. These normally berated cars have been overhauled with new Li-Ion batteries, tweaks to the onboard computer giving an increased output and a weight saving of over 100kg. Approximate power is 50bhp giving a top speed of over 85mph.

 

Sports EV is based on a Westfield chassis and this lightweight racer is coupled with a twin motor drive system and has the equivalent power of 260bhp. As electric power is instant, for sure its going to be quite a rush! The body is made from a lightweight synthetic skin with aerodynamic cowls cover the tyres. Anyone 16 or over and holding a National B Licence can enter this series. which can be checked out at www.evcup.com

 

The Autosport show is well worth a visit if you are interested in motorsport some of the race machinery on display is amazing and photographs just doesn’t do them justice. McLaren dominated the end of one hall with a huge display of vehicles from their private museum and they even had the new McLaren MP4-12C on show.

At the other end of the spectrum Ian Cook from Pop Bang Art was displaying his skills in creating amazing motorsport pictures using RC cars with paint on the tyres.

You never know who you might bump into the day we attended we bumped into Ben Collins, Matt Neal, Gordon Sheddon, Shaun Hollamby, Louise Goodman, Alice Powell and even the guys from the TV show Gears and Tears!