For a Festive recipe take a bunch of fans/enthusiasts/petrolheads (delete as necessary), mix some beer and see what happens. After the squabble about who pays for the liquor subsides, it is common for a rowdy discussion to ensue on the merits of drivers down the age……..was Senna as good as Fangio, Petty versus Gordon, Loeb and Kankkunen………of course it is impossible to be definitive about different eras.

But what about different disciplines? Can some valid comparison of talent and ability be made in that case? How does a Schumacher compare with a Rossi, a Loeb with a Kristensen, all multiple champions in their respective fields? 

Well, an attempt to answer this question is made by an annual event that has grown over the two decades, the Race of Champions. The 2008 edition takes place next week at Wembley Stadium in one of London's suburbs.

The whole idea kicked off back in 1988, partly to celebrate 10 years of the World Rally Championship for drivers and partly to commemorate the great rally champion Henri Toivenen, who was killed on the Corsican Rally in 1986. The idea was to get the best drivers around the scene, match them up in a bunch of identical cars and see who came out on top. It was mainly for the Rally brigade during the initial years but during the long run of events in Grand Canaria there began the process of attracting competitors from other parts of the sport. This trend accelerated when the RoC took up residency in  Paris. Thus Motorsport Legends as diverse as Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, Jeff Gordon and Sebastian Loeb have become regulars at the event, it is a tournament of champions.

In 2007 the RoC moved to London's Wembley Stadium and next week we get an early Christmas present when the 2008 edition takes place. The competitor line up is extraordinary:

From Grand Prix racing, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, David Coulthard

Touring and Endurance Racing: Tom Kristensen, Andy Priaulx, Yvan Muller, Mattias Ekstrom

Rallying: Sebastian Loeb, Travis Pastrana, Gareth MacHale

Bikes: Troy Bayliss

NASCAR: Carl Edwards 

Throw in rising single seater tyro, Adam Carroll and two yet to be announced stars and you have the full Monty.

Running in parallel with the individual competition, the Race of Champions is the RoC Nations Cup. Here the two drivers from each nation combine to frustrate their rivals……..in 2009 we have teams from Germany, Australia, France, USA, Ireland Scandanavia, Autosport Great Britain and F1 Racing Great Britain……….a discreet Haymarket prescence then?

So much for the stars, what about the cars?  No, F1 cars are not on the menu though they will undoubtedly form an major attraction in the exhibition part of the show, so doughnuts aplenty. But when the Race of Champions is mentioned those with some knowledge of the event think of the ROCCAR, a wildly oversteering dune buggy of a thing.

For 2008's edition there will be a new version of the "Buggy", powered by 170 bhp 1.1 litre engine but the essential characteristics of slip slide oversteer and tail happy antics will remain.

Maintaining links with the Rally heritage another of the vehicles will be the Ford Focus WRC08, sure to be spectacular.

And fresh from success in the GT4 series run by SRO is the KTM X-BOW, here with Grand Prix ballast on board.

Another car on track is the Solution F Prototype, here being put to hard use by Michael Schumacher back in 2007.

Small but perfectly formed will be the Abarth 500 Asseto Corse, a hooligan version of the hit supermini.

Back to the "exhibitions", probably the most unlikely car to run around Wembley would be an Audi R10 diesel, seen here with Tom Kristensen last year.

Just announced is one half of the grid for the ROC Celebrity Race with four British Boxers, the pugilistic kind, going up against a TV chef and some footballers. Well the stadium is open air and it is December, so any action to keep the circulation going is welcome. It should be an interesting contrast on how they manage the Abarth 500s as compared with the Pros……………..

And what would be a motoring event in the UK without the hero of the hour, Lewis Hamilton? Well instead of Ferrari and the FIA he faces a much tougher opponent in the shape of Chris Hoy, triple Olympic Cycling Gold Medal winner. Somehow they are going to race, Chris on his bike and Lewis aboard Stuttgart's finest Mercedes over the course, which will reflect their other direct competition that day. It has been leaked that they are both top contenders for the Sports Personality of the Year award, BBC Sport's annual exercise in self congratulation, well the telly tax has to be justified somehow.

Another big incentive for those attending in person is the chance to get autographs from the stars, here Michael Schumacher makes kids of all ages very happy. With the Draconian security systems in force at Grand Prix keeping the paying public at arm's length (actually several bargepoles distance) this opportunity to get up close and personal should not be underestimated.

And the crowd is encouraged to get involved, as can be seen, it all adds to the atmosphere.

So for those of you SpeedHunters who are within travelling distance I would say go. Sunday 14th December will be a day of motorsport like no other.

Tickets can still be purchased and you can find the details and timetable here……

And thanks to the ROC for the use of their photos.

See ya there.

-John