Autosport International 2016 News & Images

Paddock42 carried out its annual pilgrimage to the NEC at the weekend to catch up with contacts and talk with the clubs to find out what’s planned for the paddock in 2016.

New launches were talk of the show, with UK manufacturer Zenos Cars announcing their very track focussed E10R This Norfolk rocketship gives its owners 350bhp in a 700kg (dry) open sportscar all for £40k, could we be seeing a Zenos championship being created in the next few years? Certainly as it stands proud owners can enter numerous sprints/ timed events and we are sure that in the right hands this road racer will prove stiff competition for other competitors.

Ginetta is one of the UK’s leading race and road car manufacturers and it has been great to see this company go from strength to strength under the leadership of Lawrence Tomlinson since 2005. Founded in 1958 the company has plenty of track heritage. The big announcement from the Leeds based business was the Ginetta G57 580bhp prototype which the customers will ultimately be able to buy and enter the European Le Mans Series. Weighing in at under 900kgs, this new addition to the Ginetta line up is powered by a GM LS3 6.3-litre V8 engine which is being developed in-house. Not a bad show for the Yorkshire manufacturer, as the company was named as ‘Business of the Year’ at the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) Business Excellence Awards dinner which took place on the evening of the 14th.

Also leading the charge for the British race car manufacturers were Radical as they used the show to reveal their new RXC Spyder Carbon and RXC GT3, stunning stuff as you will see from the gallery…

Other new models on display included the exciting new Arrinera Hussarya GT, designed and created by a Polish start up boutique car manufacturer. The new race cars will have reliable power supplied by a GM 6.2 V8 but we understand that production will be strictly limited for this new potential GT4 racer. However, 1250kg, 414bhp to 641bhp (subject to tuning) and a punchy 580Nm to 810Nm of torque will be appealing and prices being talked about are in the region of £130K – £140K.

Talking with the clubs, interest levels remain strong again for 2016 but as always, until registrations and their cheques appear for that all important first meeting of the season, it is often a little difficult to predict. The 750 Motor Club continue to run their popular championships again this year adding the M3 Cup for E46 models and this should prove to be a competitive one make GT series without the required ‘GT’ budget! Both the BARC and BRSCC have plenty of choices too for the 2016 season and depending what you have in your workshop there remains a good selection of championships to compete in at multiple club meetings this year across the UK and even in Europe.

Overall a fine start to what has the makings of a promising seasons racing.

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