Photography Of Moving Objects And Still Objects

I'm stuck between the two. I'm a beginner and have NEVER used a DSLR before. I know the Nikon is probably better on paper but the Canon is a award winning camera. I live in the UK and i'm taking pictures at the Goodwood festival of speed and some of the cars will be moving. This is where the Canon's auto-focus feature will come in handy because i'm used to have auto focus on a camera. The Nikon also has more mega pixels so the quality should be better. I have also been looking for lenses because i don't know how good the zoo is on these camera's but don't know what lens i want. I am a student so the lenses can't really be ridiculously high priced but yet again I don't know what is better. I have been also looking at the canon 500d.

LINK :- http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/80640/show.html

I don't know if this is a good price but i know the camera is a bit outdated. The specs are better than the others but i have seen a D3100 with a Tamron 70-300mm Lens For £469.95.

LINK:- http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/84411/show.html

I really need help since this is for my course work.

Thankyou, Roger