Went to the Motor Show at Excel in Docklands yesterday (Saturday) See http://www.britishmotorshow.co.uk/
I don't enjoy traveling in London anymore, it just takes too long to get anywhere and is hot, smelly and crowded, so wasn't looking forward to the travelling
Decided to get up early to miss the rush, so left home before 8am to go to the station. Got the first train OK, but when changing for the Waterloo train, found out there is signaling problems so all trains are delayed and/or cancelled.... oh great. In the end we get there OK, about 45 minutes later than expected so not too bad (although it took just under 3 hours to get there !)
The Excel is well organized and there are two massive halls plus a lot of things going on outside. Went to the Lotus stand first and had a good look around, then went to TVR and Morgan, then I could relax having looked at the most important cars there :-) It was a shame that TVR didn't let you sit in the cars but they do look fantastic.
The Ford stand was crowded and they were giving away free drinks which was great. The Aston and Jaguar stands were heaving and you couldn't get close so after a quick look through the bodies moved on. Strange how some stands like Kia and Hyundai always looked empty :-)
Not all manufacturers were there, Porsche and Subaru were the two I would have liked to have seen, but otherwise all the usual suspects were there and was a lot of cars to look at. Outside you could (queue up for ages) for a ride in a 4x4 over an obstacle course or drive a Mazda, but didn't bother with those. Was also water sport displays in the dock and with the hot weather it was nice to stand out in the cool breeze every now and again.
By later afternoon we had managed to see most things and were both a bit worn out ! A brief re-visit to Ford stand for another free drink also bagged us a free ice lolly as well, so well done Ford, we will definitely be visiting your stand every time we see one at a show :-)
The journey home was uneventful and only took 2 hours so a lot more pleasant than the trip up. It's great having air conditioned trains now !
Highlights for me were
Best cars
definitely the Lotus and also TVR, I really love those cars !
Most Interesting
The Honda stand had a hidden treasure having a dismantled F1 car suspended in a glass room, great idea and fascinating to see.
Best customer focused
Ford take the prize for being most thoughtful to what the crowds want (free cold drinks and ice lollies were definitely what was needed!)
Most boring
Cant remember I fell asleep, but probably Toyota. Don't remember there being a sports car on the stand. I think the F1 car was there, but no-one bothered to look
Most desperate
Kia staff trying to lure people onto their stands, offering a free carrier bag
In Conclusion, it was definitely worth the effort to travel to the show and really enjoyed it once I was there. Don't think I would go every year, but certainly an event I would like to attend regularly
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