I hadn't been to the Motorshow for at least 7 years so thought it was about time I went again. Armed with my press pass I joined the rest of the folks waiting for the doors to open and let us in to Excel in the London Docklands.
Of course, the problem with going on opening day is that a lot of the cars are under wraps, waiting for their big unveiling throughout the day. I only watched one manufactures launch, that being Ford. Unbeknown to me they had Alesha Dixon helping give their cars a bit of style and glamour. Now, my young daughter is a huge Strictly Come Dancing fan so I had to phone home to tell her who I had just seen and was duly asked if it was possible to get her autograph. Well, I can but try I suppose... Massive thank you to George at the Ford stand who managed to come up with the goods plus of course thanks too to Alesha. My daughter was more impressed with this than by the Pixar Cars, but it was a close call.

I finally got to go on the Land Rover rides and drive after seeing them at a number of events and it has to be said that they are capable of amazing things. Speaking of which, the Swift lads were also doing their incredible driving in the Honda arena using a whole range of vehicles.

There promised to be a lot of exotica on display with both a Heritage Enclosure outside for the privately owned, mainly older models and two Ultimate Collection galleries for the newer cars, although only the private one had the Veyron and Apollo. There were also some exquisite Ferrari watches there which my photographs do not do justice too as they were protected by a think glass case. A big well done to Broughtons for showcasing what seemed like almost every model they sell, sometimes more than once. The Bugatti Veyron and one of the Pagini Zondas were also in a different colour to those I'd previously seen.

It's always interesting to see the concept cars that are on display, with Renault proving the most eye-catching for me. Although I don't have any particular cars of the show, the line of Spykers, including the pedal bike, looked fabulous, as did the curves on the Mazda Furia and the entire Alfa Romeo stand.

Click below to go to the gallery.