[Review] MPH: Prestige and Performance Motor Show feat. Top Gear Live!

[Antaris Veteran]

Well, I was giddy as a kid. Two reasons really: Seeing some of the most beautiful cars in the world up front, and also seeing my favourite TV show live! A lot of people have been getting confused by what this means. This isnt the TV show (as the waiting list is around 20 years!), but rather they have put Top Gear on the road (ahem). I'll get to Top Gear later, as it was the finale of the day, but firstly:

MPH Prestige and Performance Motor Show

The MPH motor show is all about high performance cars (although there was a strange look in from Citroen). It is held every year at Earls Court, London and at the NEC in Birmingham. On display was enough metal to make any man drool, and for me, one car in particular I was ready to explode over. We had Ferarris, Lamborghinis, a Pagani Zonda, Aston Martins, Jaguars, so many. Sadly, I never spotted a Bugatti Veyron, they must really be in short supply!

(Continued on next post due to Image posting restriction...)

Edited November 3, 2008 by Antaris

[Antaris Veteran]

There we so many nice cars here. My personal favourite was an Aston Martin DB9 Vantage in metallic maroon. Unbelievable!

The actual showroom floor was divided into small subsections, including the Land Rover Experience, the VIP lounges (Platinum sponsored by Aston Martin, Gold sponsored by The Sunday Times). Free drinks, free meals (if you were Platinum ticket holders), and small booths mean there was something for everyone. Some cars were sit-ins, but I cringed everytime I saw a 10 year old boy get into these majestic beasts and slam the door.

[Antaris Veteran]

Top Gear Live

The main event (so to speak) was Top Gear Live. It started with some live advertisments, which actually worked really well, and then we got into the show itself. There was no Top Gear theme tune, which disapointed me somewhat, but then we saw the boys come out in some cars from the TV show, included the stretch stretch stretch limo and the Rozzers car. The format of the show was a lot like the TV show. There was a Cool Wall, and Audience-in-a-reasonably-priced car. If you're wondering how these worked, it was a sensor-setup, whereby each member of the audience had a piece of card with green on one side, and red on the other. The sensor system recognised these colours to give it some input. For the Cool Wall green would send it downards towards Uncool and beyond, and red would send it upwards towards Cool and Sub-Zero. Naturally Clarkson had the presenter override, so if he didn't like the Audience's decision, he changed it. I remember one particular shout about an Audi:

Clarkson: Audi owners are c*cks. In fact they've taken that title away from BMW owners.

Clarkson: Who here owns this Audi?

Guest: I do!

Clarkson: Aside from being a c*ck, I bet you owned a BMW before...

Guest: Yes I did!

The Audience-in-a-reasonably-priced car was something different. I racing game was shown on screen. Shouting made the car go faster. Green made it turn left, and naturally red made it turn right. We (the audience) managed to come second to last in all the shows so far :( :D

Top Gear Live had the usual mad-antics we are all fond of in the show, including Richard Hammond's tribute to Evil Knievel, racing juiced up contraptions around the arena, and also Car football. There was a lot of stunt driving (and those guys can really drive cars), and dancing/music in the back. The finale brought us The Stig battling against a horde of animal like riders and drivers trying to steal the world's oil. The Stig stepped up to the challenge even though he has become a member of a harmless monks sect.

[Antaris Veteran]

My car of the day:

Photos were taken on a Canon DSLR 450D. Scaled down and optimised for web viewing (read: posted on Facebook). If anyone wants the originals (not the raws, they are big), let me know and I might make a download available later this week.

[Rappy Veteran]

Sounded like a blast! and the pictures are awesome!

[funkymunky]

I went last year mate, it was awesome :):):):)

[null.]

Went to see this last year at Birmingham and it was awesome. Going again this year, can't wait! :D

[Brad.]

Lovely photos! Looks like you had a blast :p

[Antaris Veteran]

It was wicked mate, but the only thing I brought there was some furry dice!

Might go again next year, as long as that Aston is there :D