The FIA Historic Formula One Championship will have a significant presence at the 2012 Autosport International Show at the NEC in Birmingham 12-15th January with at least 5 cars on display at stand number 2570 in Hall 208, right next door to the Senna stand.
The range of cars displayed reflects the impressive range that race regularly in the HFO show.
The oldest car, the Brabham BT37 chassis 2 was originally driven by Argentinian star, Carlos Reutemann in 12 Grand Prix events. The car appeared at Brands Hatch at the Race of Champions event driven by Graham Hill in 1973 before going on to be piloted by Andrea de Adamich, John Watson and Geoff Rollason in later years.
Alongside that are the two stars of the forthcoming ‘Rush’ movie, directed by Ron Howard – the Ferrari 312 and the McLaren M23 of Niki Lauda and James Hunt respectively. The movie tells the story of the 1976 Grand Prix season when Hunt and Lauda went head to head for the title. These cars are appearing alongside many of the other HFO cars from the period in the film which is expected to be released in 2013.
On display at Autosport International at the NEC, the beautiful JPS Lotus 91 chassis 10. In a sister chassis to this car, Elio de Angelis beat Keke Rosberg in the Williams FW08 by a mere five hundredths of a second to win the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix.
Later era cars to appear on the HFO stand include the beautiful JPS Lotus 91 chassis 10. Lotus and Formula 1 fans alike will remember the 91 chassis as a landmark in the history of the marque. Dramatically, Elio de Angelis beat Keke Rosberg in the Williams FW08 by a mere five hundredths of a second to win the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix. It was Elio’s first win, the 150th Ford Cosworth DFV victory and the third closest finish in F1 history. Sadly it proved to be the last time that Colin Chapman would welcome one of his famous cars across the winning line.
Chassis 10 was the last in a batch of 10 produced by the Norfolk based team. Designed by Martin Ogilvie and Peter Wright, the carbon fibre monocoque design was the first in F1 to be made in-house. The tub proved to be about half the weight and twice the stiffness of an aluminium design. The fact that all ten of this original design still survive today is testament to the fantastic strength of composite chassis that remain the foundation of F1 safety.
Chassis number 10 made its debut with Mansell driving at the US Grand Prix in Las Vegas. For the 1983 season the chassis was incorporated into the active suspension type 92 design. Amazingly Chassis 10 was resurrected during the 1984 season to end its career as a type 94T with works Renault V6 turbo power.
Also on display will be the Arrows A6 driven by Thierry Boutsen and Marc Surer during the 1984 season. Arrows A6 was the last of the Cosworth DFV powered Arrows and the last normally aspirated Arrows. The A6 was good contender among the normally aspirated cars with Marc Surer scoring points for the World Championship.
Cars are being provided by Hall & Hall and Classic Team Lotus. Our thanks for their assistance. We hope to see many competitors and fans at the event.