Adrian Newey Honoured at London Classic Car Show

The cars and career of Formula 1's most successful designer will form a centrepiece to London's innovative new Classic Car Show.

Adrian Newey, the all-time most successful designer in Formula 1 with no fewer than 10 world titles to his name, is being honoured at the London Classic Car Show.

A special display at the show – to be held at ExCeL in London's Docklands from January 8-11 – includes examples of his winning F1 designs but will also feature an array of cars that have played a significant part in his professional and private lives.

And the display comes with more than just the blessing of Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Chief Technical Officer- Newey (photo above) himself has helped to curate the spectacle.

“The presentation marks some of the highlights of my career,” says Newey, “but I am delighted to be able to show also some of the other cars that mean a great deal to me.”

The display will chart a career that began when, aged 10, he started making plastic models of Grand Prix cars – his first was a 1:12 scale Lotus 49B – and really took hold when, aged 12, Adrian helped his father build a Lotus Elan Sprint road car.

“I think it was meant to take a weekend (to build the Lotus), but it took us about ten,” he recalls.

Among the cars that meant so much to him when he was growing up were his father's Riley RMF – 'a beautiful thing' – and a Mini Cooper S (photo below left), the car in which he learned to drive.

Other machines on show will be from his private collection and will include a Jaguar SS100 that he bought 'as a bag of bits' and restored; the Ford GT40 he races at Goodwood and other historic events; a McLaren F1 GTR, a car he calls 'the first properly built hypercar'; and his Ferrari California.

It's not just cars. The display will also include his beloved Ducati 900SS bike. Adrian is also revisiting his youth by building a Lotus 49B from a kit of bits- only this time it's a real one. The project will be shown in its current state at the London Classic Car Show.

Having won World Constructors' Championships for Williams (five), McLaren (one) and Red Bull (four), it should be no surprise to see examples of all three on the stand. The Williams represented by a 1992 FW14B, the car that gave him his first (and Nigel Mansell's only) world title.

Although his Red Bull designs have dominated the sport in recent years, it's a car that didn't win a title that's on show- but this is the RB5, the car that gave Sebastian Vettel his wings in 2009 with four wins and the runner-up slot in the championship.

The exhibit will also feature cars from Newey's early career including the March 86C Indy car that won the Indianapolis 500 in 1986 (photo below right) as well as his first ever F1 car, a Leyton House 881.

Adrian will be at the show in person on the exclusive Preview Evening (Thursday 8 January) when he will be interviewed on stage about his life and career.

The London Classic Car Show is the latest creation from Brand Events, the company behind all-action car shows like Top Gear Live, and is full of innovative features. It promises to be unlike any classic car event yet staged.

One such feature is The Grand Avenue, a motoring catwalk along which 40 classics – four from each decade of the 20th century – will be driven, transforming the show from static exhibition into a moving experience.

Newey is not the show's only curator. Another is Top Gear's James May who will be revealing what he considers to be the Most Significant Car Of All Time while another curator, TV chef James Martin, will not only be displaying his private collection of classics but will also be running the James Martin Classic Café offering up 'good, simple, grub' to visitors.

The 60th anniversary of the dramatic Citroën DS will be celebrated with many examples of 'The Goddess' – as well as a first look at the new DS brand – on show. There will also be mouth-watering displays from leading classic dealers and respected specialists as well as several eye-catching set pieces featuring iconic cars that have raced at in the Le Mans 24 Hours and F1 race cars representing the eight founding members of the hallowed Motor Sport Hall of Fame.

Tickets are now available from the show website – www.thelondonclassiccarshow.co.uk – where early bird discounts reduce the on-the-door standard entry price from £25 to just £22.