Van Morrison rocks the dock at Dock Rock

Thanks to Rick and the guys at Medion we got some complementary tickets to see Van Morrison at the British Motor Show.

One of the post show events is the "Dock Rock" sponsored by The Sunday Times. This is a nightly concert in the Motor Theatre which doubles as a concert venue at 9:00pm. It is in an interesting location with planes from London City airport seemingly skimming the roof of the stage.

Last night saw one of Lutz's favourites playing: A-HA. Tonight it was Van Morrison. Van the Man has always been on the top of my list of artists to see, but for some reason I have never quite made it until tonight. Thanks Medion...

Van Morrison was absolutely great, even Mrs B (who is not a fan) liked him. He did a mixture of old favourites and recent classics. The acoustics were wonderful and all in attendance had a terrific evening. The highlight for me was "have I told you lately that I love you " sung with an up tempo beat.

There are plenty of other artists appearing. I have bought tickets to see the SugarBabes next Tuesday as well.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 21 @ 01:18:49 UTC

There are lots of outdoor activities too

The British Motor Show is not confined to the interior of Excel, there is lots to do outside as well...

Mrs B was most impressed with the Landrover Terrapod. Here the Landrovers are really put through some acrobatics. Climbing over the truck, poised at a perilous angle as you go round the edge of the track. Finally balancing delicately over some massive mounds and then rocking back and forwards. Now where was the sick bag...

Mrs B says this is fun but she wants to do the driving herself.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 21 @ 01:01:46 UTC

And finally the cars at the British Motor Show...

The British Motor show is not about GPS or SatNav alone, its primary objective is the metal, plastic and rubber that is transformed into the beautiful, powerful machinery we use to get from A to B and for which SatNav was made.

All the major Car Manufacturers were there with the exception of VAG (Volkswagen and Audi) there were quite a few announcements and premieres. One of my favourites is the new Mazda MX5 which now has a hard top that can go up and down in 12 seconds. They have a section of the stand where they have a simulated rain storm, I didn’t see the demonstrator get wet once…

If you expect me to show family cars then forget it. My family has grown up and I can now indulge myself in sports cars again. Top of the shopping list has to be the fabulous McLaren Mercedes SLR, but at £316,000 it is way out of my price range, still it costs nothing to dream…

The car I would really like was not there, the Mercedes SLK, but there are quite a few serious sports cars with soft tops around, some with realistic prices for me and some requiring me to sell my house and kids. I was impressed with the new Dodge Viper SRT-10, the Noble M15, the Jaguar XKR, the entire Aston Martin stand, the Lexus 430 cabriolet, the Chevrolet Corvette, the list just goes on and on…

In sweltering 33 degree heat the award for the coolest car has to go to Ford. They are showing a new bio-fuel Focus which runs on either bio ethanol or petrol, and to promote this they have an ice sculpture of the new Focus.

Apart from the display of new cars there is also a number of areas showing all sorts of interesting cars from movie stars such as Lady Penelope’s Rolls Royce, to some Formula 1 racing cars and all sorts of vehicles in between. They also have my wife’s favourite Lightning McQueen from the movie “Cars”. (She is looking to hire a kid to go and see it when it comes out here!!)

Of course with all Motor shows the manufacturers present some concept cars to get people talking. There are quite a few at the British Motor Show, the ones that caught my eye were a pair from Citroen reviving the 70 style beach buggy, and another fun 2 seater. But my personal favourite is the Mazda Kabura, which literally took my breath away. I was fortunate enough to have a chat with Jim, one of the Mazda design team about the car and how it is developed from an idea into a living model. It takes about 6 months from start to completion for a single unique car. Of course these will never be allowed on the road, but they are certainly great talking points.

Article by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 19 @ 13:04:00 UTC

Garmin Showcase the Nuvi 360 and the StreetPilot 2820

The main Garmin stand is in the north hall and has a full complement of Garmin Navigation systems from SatNav to outdoor and fitness to Marine.

Visitors will have a chance to look and play with then new Nuvi 360. This is a cracking little SatNav that our reviewers are fighting over to review. Garmin have promised that we will be getting one very soon, and Maft will be getting it!!!

Garmin are also showing the StreetPilot 2820 a full IPX7 certified SatNav system equally at home on a bike or in a car. Garmin have updated the software in this GPS device to include bigger buttons, making it mush easier to operate with your bike gloves on. Another new feature is the ability to set your destination to a set of coordinates, this can be lat/lon or OS references. Again this device will be in for review soon and Tim will be taking a look at it.

Article by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 19 @ 10:29:41 UTC

The Medion team are there with the new GoPal SatNav systems

Medion have a stand in the retail section of the North Hall. Here they are demonstrating the new range of Medion Personal Navigation Devices including the new PNA350 and PNA500.

These come with the latest Navteq Maps and the PNA350 also incorporates traffic information delivered by RDS-TMC, with a street price of about £170 the 350 represents good value for money.

Article by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 19 @ 09:52:44 UTC

TomTom present their SatNav products at the Motor Show

TomTom have a large open stand there. All the current models and software is on display.

One thing they had that I hadn’t seen before is the Bluetooth car kit called Car Connect GO. This allows you to connect your GO or Rider to the audio system of the car wirelessly.

TomTom just finished the stand in time for the opening of press day as they had their truck broken into and some of the exhibition stand and stock stolen. Fortunately it has all been replaced in time for the start of the British Motor show...

Article by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 19 @ 09:00:19 UTC

AtoZ Mapping profile GPS solutions at the Motor show

AtoZ Mapping are here with some interesting mobile mapping solutions for both mobile phones, smart phones and PDAs. These feature AtoZ maps of London which can be run on Symbian phones, Map downloads, and of course Memory-Map versions of AtoZ maps.

The map viewers can be used with or without a GPS receiver being connected. One application has an ingenious way of indicating (in a straight line) your destination direction based on you positioning the map by scrolling it to your current location.

There are a number of different types of map available including a London visitors map which is essentially a tourist map with points of interest labeled and building footprints mapped out. These are also searchable in the associated point of interest database. For instance I searched for "mad" ad got the result Madame Tussaud's

AtoZ have a prize draw where each day a lucky entrant can win a new Nokia phone. Once again I entered, and with it being press day there are a lot less people so I stand a better chance of winning... Not with my luck!!!

Article by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 19 @ 00:24:41 UTC

Network Automotive have a large GPS stand at the British Motor Show

Network Automotive have a large stand where they feature special Garmin and Road Angel sections, and also a range of other SatNav systems including Navman 750 and a new Pioneer System retailing at around £350.

For those of you who visited the PocketGPSWorld.com GPS Event in Edinburgh you may recognise some of the guys on the Network Automotive stand. They were the team on the Garmin stand.

Article by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 19 @ 00:00:06 UTC

Strong GPS representation at the British Motor show.

Apart from the display of cars there is also a good representation of auto associated wares. Notable among these the GPS related companies including AvMap, Garmin, Medion and TomTom. There is a number of speed camera related guys here too including Road Angel, Indago and Talex.

There are a lot of competitions and special offers available to visitors. Road Angel have an Audi car to be won in their draw. Needless to say I have already entered...

Article by Mike Barrett on Tuesday, July 18 @ 23:54:05 UTC

The British Motor show picture gallery

If you visit the British Motor Show and have some pictures you think we would like to show please PM MikeB or send your pictures to reviews@pocketgpsworld.com with the subject line of "BIMS Photos". Please include your name and userid (if you want them published) and a single sentence describing the picture. We reserve the right to publish or not. The pictures will be published in the blog picture gallery.

Article by Mike Barrett on Tuesday, July 18 @ 23:46:43 UTC