TWO WORLD CHAMPION Ferraris are at the show, courtesy of Shell, which is using them to highlight the oil giant’s partnership with the Prancing Horse team. Visitors to the Shell stand can sign up to take part in a special pit stop challenge, working in pairs to replace a front wheel against the clock.

Toyota, Jaguar and Renault also have cars that compete in their names on show alongside their ‘regular’ models, while Honda has an F1 racer from the BAR team, to which it supplies works engines.

But perhaps the most evocative of all the F1 cars on show is the classic Lotus 79 that took Mario Andretti to the World Championship in 1978. It’s appearing on the NGK stand, and spokesman Philip James commented:

“NGK has been involved in F1 since the 1960s, but we chose the Lotus 79 because it’s a real crowd-puller. Even though it’s more than 20 years old, it’s proving as popular with youngsters as well as the older generation who would have seen compete it in its heyday.”