"The doors aren’t shut on Aston Martin but remains Force India for 2016."
Autosport International 2016 is the hotly anticipated racing car show, packed with a mouth-watering combination of motoring highlights to satisfy every car enthusiast.
Petrol heads flocking to the four day event at the Birmingham NEC beginning 14 January, 2016, were able to get within touching distance of hundreds of spectacular cars.
These ranged from Formula One (F1) racing cars to the latest performance cars and everything in between, including a number of new unveilings.
A super celebrity line-up also took place throughout the show’s duration, featuring F1 legends Felipe Massa and Damon Hill (OBE).
Touring Car Champions Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal were also on the Autosport Stage for live interviews.
DESIblitz was at Autosport International 2016 to bring you a taste of what you can expect to find:
The Live Action Arenas were the headline attraction, featuring the UK’s largest indoor racing track capable of seating 5000 fans.
It was put to good use with incredible races, stunts and some rubber burning drifting by top drivers.
Here are our highlights from the Autosport International 2016 Live Action:
Fans saw the Jaguar C-X75, as featured in the latest James Bond film Spectre (2015), take the track by storm featured with lots of skidding action.
Motorbike hero Guy Martin also revved up his Honda CRF450, performing a super speedy exhibition.
Multiple FIA World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg showed off his handy tricks with some precision driving skills in his Citroen Xsara rally car.
The Autosport Stage was perhaps the most liveliest area of the event.
It featured a podium-style stage braced for ongoing interviews with motoring celebrities and industry specialists.
Williams Martini driver Felipe Massa attended on Sunday 17 January for an interview and autograph session.
Speaking on the stage was Force India CEO Otmar Szafnauer, who gave his thoughts on Force India’s targets for the upcoming season:
“We never look to do worse than the year before. Can we do one better than fifth position, we will try to do that but for sure we need to do no worse than we did last year.”
Asked regarding a potential collaboration with Aston Martin, he went on to say:
“It’s flattering to have serious discussions with Aston Martin. It’s a big decision for them to enter the sport and partner with Force India.
“The talks are still ongoing and the doors aren’t shut on Aston Martin but remains Force India for 2016.”
Surrounding the stage was the centrepiece of the event, a display of Williams F1 racing cars, past and present.
A fine tribute to showcase the story of Williams from its humble beginnings, to becoming F1 Championship winners.
As one Jaguar C-X75 (built with the assistance of Williams) took to the track, another was on view in front of the Autosport Stage for fans to get up close and personal with.
This stunning model has breathtaking looks from all angles.
For those who fancied getting a hands-on thrilling passenger ride in a sports cars, or an AutoSolo precision experience, then the Adrenaline Zone was the place to be.
Not for the faint-hearted, this was where you could get your heart rate pumping past anything a Fitbit activity tracker could monitor!
Running alongside Autosport International 2016 was the Performance Car Show, an area full of the latest performance and sports cars as well as some classic vintage icons.
Amongst the ‘must see’ cars were the McLaren P1 GTR and Aston Martin Vulcan.
Among the 3 new unveilings on the first day were a Ginetta G57 prototype racer due to take the Le Mans track later in the year, the Arrinera Hussarya GT, and the Zenos E10 R.
The expo had hundreds of exhibit stands ranging from everyday driving accessories to more cutting edge technology driven displays of engineering parts and fine craftsmanship.
With all bases covered, Autosport International was a guaranteed fun day out for any car lover.
Autosport International 2016 ran between 14-17 January at the Birmingham NEC.
See all the images from Autosport International 2016 in our gallery below!
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