Autosport International 2006, being held at the Birmingham NEC this weekend, has marked the centenary of the most glamorous of all motor racing series - the Grand Prix - with a line up of famous racing cars from throughout the sport's history, a line up which is rightly dominated by Italian winners from Ferrari, Maserati and Lancia.

Since the first Grand Prix event organised by the Automobile Club de France near Le Mans in 1906, the sport has always been regarded as the pinnacle of motor racing, pioneering the development of the race car to its present shape, and to celebrate this fact Autosport International has hosted a display of cars representing this evolution. Presented in association with the Donington Grand Prix Collection, and LAT Photographic, and located in the Historic Hall, this unique display features a selection of the rarest machines ever seen under one roof. Italian legends include Tazio Nuvolari’s 1934 Maserati 8CM, and the 1952 Ferrari 500 F2 driven by Alberto Ascari

The Maserati 4CLT from 1948, a racing car driven by Ascari, Farina and Villoresi amongst others, during the resurgence of Italian racing following the end of the Second World War and in which Juan Manuel Fangio achieved one of his first international wins is on show, along with another Trident winner, the beautiful 250F from 1955. In fact Maserati contributed to two of the legendary Argentinean driver's record five World Championship titles, and in total the 250F won over 34 major races. Fangio’s high-speed drifts in these cars epitomised top class motor racing in the 1950s, and it was also to be one of the last of the front-engined Grand Prix cars. The 250F on display was driven by Stirling Moss to victory in the 1955 Oulton Park Gold Cup.
 

The Italian flavour in the display is brought up-to-date by an ex-Jean Alesi car, which is joined by the machine that steered German Michael Schumacher to the F1 World Championship in 2000.

Other non-Italian F1 cars in the collection include the late Graham Hill’s 1962 World Championship winning BRMP56, which also won the Constructors’ title, and which sits alongside his son’s Williams Renault FW18, in which Damon won the 1996 world title. Another highlight is a Colin Chapman masterpiece, the Lotus 25 which won a record seven of the season’s ten championship events to win the first World Drivers’ Championship for household name, Scotsman Jim Clark, and for Lotus their first World Constructors’ title. The 1960s saw the development of the rear engined layout in racing car design. The 1977 Tyrrell Ford P34 epitomises an era of evolution with the introduction of the six-wheel GP car. The first Tyrrell P34 six-wheeler was produced in 1976 when Goodyear produced 10” tyres for the front wheels with smaller rear wheels. It was the sensation of 1976, and Jody Scheckter took the P34 to victory in the Swedish Grand Prix. The P34 on display at Autosport International was driven by Ronnie Peterson.