RACE RETRO CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF ICONIC RACING CARS

This year's Race Retro, the international historic motorsport show, will celebrate 100 years of iconic racing cars, with exciting and interesting vehicles spanning the years from 1908 to present day.

Held at Stoneleigh Park from 14th to 16th March, racing cars on show range from a 100-year-old Panhard Levassor Grand Prix car on the Vintage Sports Car Club stand, to a 2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24, courtesy of the Aston Martin Owners Club, which has been purpose-built to compete in events in 2008.

Iconic cars include a 1960 Ferrari 246 Dino, shown by the Historic Grand Prix Car Association; a 1965 Lotus 26R on the Grand Prix de L'Age d'Or stand; and a 1991 Reynard 913 from the Monoposto Racing Club. Dawn Treader Performance Ltd will display a newly-restored 1986 Lotus 98T Formula 1 car, while Ecurie Bertelli will showcase a 1938 ex-works Brooklands speed model Aston Martin. Club Alpine Renault will bring the Vialle Autogas Alpine 110, winner of the Dutch Rallycross Championship in 1978, and a regular winner of the FIA European Rallycross Championship.

Other features include a collection of Ford works rally cars, from the Ford Zephyr to the current Focus World Rally Car, displayed as part of the show's tribute to Ford's motorsport successes.

Exhibitors Historic Motorsport and David Sutton Cars will have the World Championship winning Rothmans Escort Mk2 on their stand, as well as hosting a visit from Bjorn Waldegard, the 1997 World Rally Champion and winner of the 2007 East African Safari, who will also appear on the Live Rally Stage.

The British and World Sidecar Champions and their racing vehicles will make their Race Retro debut, to celebrate the evolution of sidecar racing. The motorcycle area will feature the famous Yamaha Classic Racing Team, as well as a replica Ace Cafe and the inaugural Cafe Racer Concours, featuring iconic cafe racers from the 1950s and 1960s.

Race Retro will pay tribute to rally hero Markku Alen in the Rally Hall, with a Lancia 037 driven by Markku in the FIA World Rally Championship during the early 1980s and a Delta Integrale, hosted by Lancia Sport, which was his ride during the late 80s. Markku will join a line-up of star drivers on the Live Rally Stage, also including Pentti Airikkala and Russell Brookes.

Other famous drivers and co-drivers - such as Nicky Grist, Paddy Hopkirk, Tony Mason, Rosemary Smith and Stuart Turner - will be at the show to sign autographs. Malcolm Wilson, the former WRC driver and British Rally Champion, will open the show on Friday morning. Malcolm is the principal of M-Sport, who build and prepare the current Ford WRC cars, as well as running the works Ford Rally Team. He will be joined by Mark Deans, newly-appointed Director of Ford TeamRS, Ford's motorsport division in Europe.

The Bio-Fuels feature in Hall 2 - dedicated to investigating how historic motorsport can become "greener" - will display the Honda Hybrid Rally Car and an E85 Fiesta from M-Sport, together with classic cars converted to use bio-fuel. Power Torque Racing will launch a bio-fuel engine, while Greenergy will be promoting their 99 Octane race fuel and Anglo-American Oil will promote their E85 fuel.

If all this inspires you to invest in a competition car of your own, there is the Bonhams Classic & Historic Motorsport Auction, as well as the opportunity to conduct private car sales and test drives.

Tickets are available for one or two days, with savings when booking in advance. Children under 16 years are given free entry to Race Retro. The show is open from 09.30 each day and closes at 17.30 on Friday and Saturday, 16.30 on Sunday.

To book tickets and for the latest updates, please visit http://www.raceretro.com.