30.01.09 Booked ticket for the A1GP at Brands Hatch looking forward to the meeting. This is what F1 would look like if the proposals put forward by the FIA had their way with cost cutting. However that is not criticise it as we can have both which is excellent. Brands Hatch is a very good circuit, camping is right next door and for a weekend ticket it is very reasonable costing only about £80 including camping and grandstand.
04.05.09 Had a great weekend at the A1GP arrived Friday afternoon at 16.00 should have arrived earlier but was late leaving the office; traffic was terrible getting across the river etc. But it was sunny and warm which are two things we do not take for granted. Set up the tent and within an hour I was walking around the track, caught the FPA qualifying I particularly wanted to see how Josef Newgarden the 18 year old American would perform as he did so well in October last year at the FF Festival run on the Indy circuit. He only got 4th on the gird which was not too bad seeing as he had only just got in the car that week to test. Then there was the A1GP safety car exercise which gave me the first time to see the A1GP cars in action plus the support vehicles making sure all safety procedures are in place for tomorrow. I would have liked to be at the free practices in the morning and earlier in the afternoon but that's how it goes. Got back to the tent and after a few beers had a chicken curry and rice, the curry was a can from Lidl it’s a bit lazy I know but I just can't be bothered to barbeque when I am on my own. The guy next door was far more conscientious and did himself a barbeque. The guy on the other side me had brought his two young boys and they were having a great time. Motor racing has to one of the best value leisure activities with an weekend entrance ticket with camping is around £60 and kids under 12 are free. That’s got to be hard to beat especially if the weather is good. There was a strong overseas contingent with at least 25% of the campers from Holland some of whom was very noisy, but very well behaved inviting all to their party with posters by the shower block.
Saturday morning slept in and didn't get down for a shower until 8.00am bit of a queue and resolved to get up a bit earlier. By 9.30am had breakfast muesli and two beef burger sandwiches then it was over to the track. Just a few minutes from the camp site and what a lovely day it was, so I watched the morning’s action from the track side doing a complete circumference of the track and stopping as I felt like it. The GP course really is great with woods, changes in elevation and at 2.3 miles a reasonable length too. The MSV organisation really has control over the basics trackside neatly cut grass, plenty of litter bins; good toilet facilities well priced food franchises. The program started with the GT Cup qualifying, Lotus Elsie Trophy race, FPA race, A1GP practices, Sport 2000 race & the FIA Lurani Trophy qualifying all before the lunch break. The FIA Lurani Trophy races were really interesting as the trophy was for formula junior cars which dated from 1957 to 1963 which witnessed the transition from front engine to rear engine race cars. So the field was a mix of the two layouts with the rear engine mostly Lotus the fastest. The first FPA race was won by the American who did really well to come 1st from 4th on the grid a very good result. Back to the camp site for a cup of tea and refreshed I returned to the races.
The A1GP qualifying sessions were OK it was good to see the cars but there were two sets of two ten minute sessions with qualifying for first the sprint race and second for the feature. The times being a combination of each drivers two fastest times from each set. The problem being that there was a boost feature on each car which was only able to be activated once during qualifying so it means that the drivers had to prioritise for either the sprint or the feature. Personally I would have preferred have the same system as F1 with grid positions being decided by the results of the sprint race. If you wanted to mix it up a bit then do a grid reverse according to draw as the BTCC. I watched from the grandstand which was reasonably full, the grandstand at Paddocks gives you an excellent view of one the best corners at Brands and maybe the best overtaking opportunity of the track. But it was good to see the cars performing in anger, I was surprised to note how quiet they were compared to the F1 & DTM cars, they push out 600 bhp so they are not much shy of the F1 but with a capacity of 4500cc they are much less stressed and must rev a lot lower. Then the GT Cup Race and the Heritage GT Car race but I was waiting for the FPA 2nd race of the day so it was another circumnavigation of the track whilst I waited for the 2nd FPA race of the day. I watched this from the viewing bank just after Clark Curve, a terrific race with Newgarden starting 4th on the grid after winning the last race they must have a grid reversal draw. I didn't hear any mention of it but then I wasn't listening that hard to the commentators. By the first corner Newgarden was in 2nd and after 6 or 7 laps took first at Paddocks super move by out braking the leader Richard Plant. Who received a 10 second penalty anyway for jumping the start. Great race and really enjoyable it would help if for the junior categories a bit more info was available in the program. For those who really interested we get all this stuff from Autosport, but for the casual observer it might help to get them interested in the junior categories. Had to buy a hat today as the sun was so hot and I had forgotten my panama. So bought the cheapest one I could find as I have 2 good hats at home, unfortunately this was bright yellow and grey with red trim. But hell what do you expect for a quid.
So another day over at the track, the Dutch boys are a bit quieter today, not surprising after last night’s party and I saw a few of them at the track this evening and they looked like they had been on the beer all day. So as usual a few beers for me and just for a change beef curry tonight.
Up at 7.00am to make sure no queue for the showers, but hey there were 4 in the queue already. Not to worry its reasonably fine today and it could turn out to be a great day like yesterday.
Got about 1/2 packed up before going over to the track wandered round as usual and made my place in the grandstand for the A1GP Sprint Race good race with Ireland winning from pole the driver and the car were a class ahead of the rest winning with ease and style. The Great Britain car just didn't look as sharp as it should have been. However with all the financial turmoil surrounding the team I am surprised that they did as well as they did. As between Rounds 5 and 6 of this season A1 Team Great Britain entered administration. From Round 6 onwards, the car was run by mechanics and engineers employed by the series itself, with pit stops carried out by the German team. So Dan Clarke did a good job especially in the feature race improving by 6/7 positions on his start, he is obviously no mug as he did 2/3 seasons in Champ Cars in the USA. So this performance in a car that probably had minimum preparation wasn't bad at all.
but I was waiting for the FPA race which was immediately after the A1GP Sprint I was hoping that Newgarden would make his hat trick but it was not to be with a starting position of 2nd on the grid he finished 4th it was the start that was his undoing loosing 2 positions by Paddocks and slipping further as the race progressed. He maintained 4th but was never in touch with the leading trio who just powered away. Not sure whether the car just wasn't up to it Sunday or having made a poor start he decided to bank the result and just drove within himself.
After the A1GP feature race wandered back to the camp site as it had suddenly looked like rain and nothing much worse than packing up in the rain and also having to dry out the tent next week. Although I had wanted to catch the GT Cup race with Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Viper, Marcos, Morgan, BMW, Aston Martin, Lotus, Ginetta & TVR big field but it was good seeing them go round. So I passed on that and the final Heritage GT Race and hit the road. As it happened there was no traffic and got back in good time. A superb weekend and tomorrow it’s a bank holiday so if the weathers good there is grass cutting and hedge trimming to be done.