With no major British Motor Show to speak of this year, and the British International Motor Show absent from next year's calendar, it's been left down to the Top Gear-affiliated MPH motor show to continue flying the flag for us Brits.

We were fortunate enough to go down to Earls Court on the opening day of this year's show, where we were wowed by a plethora of the fantastic four-wheeled beauties on display.

Highlights of this year's show include this chrome Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (pictured), the rare Pagani Zonda Cinque and the Keating TKR supercar, a car that is on the verge of replacing the Shelby Aero TT as the world's fastest. With just one more run on the Salt Lake Flats to complete, this British-made supercar looks set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records with an average top speed of 260.1mph. Amazing!

Sadly, we didn't bump into Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond or James May while we were making our way around the attractions, but seeing the fine cars on display and the rather lovely “booth professionals” helped to soften the blow.

To see the kind of cars that were on show at MPH '09, check out the gallery below.