MPH Classic Car Show 2008

Group B Rally Audi Quattro

After handing over my ticket (£19) and walking through the entrance of the Classic Car Show, I came upon a sight that almost reduced me to tears. Row upon row of grade 1 condition classics.
From Group B rally cars such as the ultra fast Lancia Stratos and the Audi Quattro, to American Muscle cars like the Plymouth Barracuda and the Ford Mustang GT 350.  This is just a taste of things to come though-after that I wander around gazing lovingly at Aston Martins, Ferraris, Chevrolets,  Porsches and numerous other great marques.
At the the back of one of the halls was a section behind barriers that held at least 100 cars, these you could actually get taken for a drive in for charity. There were quite a few replicas of cars there such as a Ford GT40, a Ferrari Dino and a Ferrari 250 GTO race-replica. Prices ranged from £15 to £75 for a 20 minute drive.
The great thing about this show is the way you can talk to the owners of any of the cars, and you don’t get the cold shoulder off them. They are more than happy to chat. I talked to the owners of  Ferrari’s F40, Daytona, and California, a Maserati Quattroporte and a very helpful salesman of the £230,000 Bristol Fighter which has 525 hp 8 litre V10 engine (straight out of a Dodge Viper), will go to 210 mph and finish 0 – 60 in 4.0 seconds. That is unless, of course, you buy the tuned twin turbo version that has over 1000 bhp and will do 230 mph. I questioned him about price, upgrades, tyres, engine tuning and even the drag coefficient, which apparently is down to only 0.255, a record low for a production car, and he answered them with no hesitation (or thought for the fact I could obviously not afford one). I did see him after however, having several cigarettes, two double espresso’s and several energy drinks, to recoup from his interrogation ordeal. After spending most of the day wandering around the Classic show, it was time to move onto the MPH side of things.
Here there are extremely exotic cars like the Netherlands designed £189,000 Spyker C8, the beautiful British built Invicta S1-600 ( a snip at £150,000) or the weirdly named Gumpert Apollo from Germany (£190,000 respectively), which is built around the science of downforce and aerodynamics, so it’s not a looker at all. According to the makers of this car, you could (in theory) drive one of these Gumperts upside down because there is so much downforce. Hmm, any volunteers? Thought not. All three of these beasts will all hit at least the 200 mph mark so you do get what you pay for in these cases.

Source: http://bestclassic-cars.blogspot.com/2010/08/mph-classic-car-show-2008_26.html

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