Arriving at the Birmingham NEC for my first visit to Autosport International I was exciting and anticipating a great day out with my camera gear. My visits to the NEC before now have been for The Photography Show and Heavy Metal Concerts!

As you can expect, it was quite a different crowd! Loads of fans in F1, BTCC and WRC merchandise were bustling around the hallways waiting for the doors to open and the awesomeness inside to be revealed.

At 9 o’clock everyone’s anticipation was buzzing as we were allowed entry into the multiple halls full of everything Motorsport and automotive performance has to offer the discerning racer, manager, mechanic and fan.

My first stop was to the BTCC stand where I had a nice chat with Cataclean Mercedes driver, Dan Rowbottom. I saw the all new livery of the Laser Tools Racing Infiniti that will be home to Ash Sutton and Aiden Moffat for the 2020 BTCC season. I also revisited the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Jason Plato, looking considerably cleaner than the last time I saw it. Both cars looked stunning under the bright lights of the arena.

I was also happy to see Tom Ingram’s Speedworks Toyota and 2019 Champion, Colin Turkington’s West Surry Racing BMW at the Motul and K&N stands respectively. A quick hello and handshake with Dan Cammish, Tom Oliphant, Bobby Thompson and Josh Cook and it was time to take in more of the show.

The Grand Finale being a truck jump over about £3,000,000 worth of racing cars and supercars!

I was quite shocked to see how many of the F1 cars from 2019 were in attendance. I believe there were the cars of 6 times World Champion Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll and George Russell.