A trip to a British Touring Cars race has become an annual event in recent years, courtesy of my friend Mark. This year it was Brands Hatch and the title deciding final Sunday of the season. Mark and I and five respective sons and their friends set off early as usual in order to arrive in time to walk the pit lane and see the cars and their drivers close up. Mark mentioned that he had a friend, Andy, who worked as part of the pit crew for the indomitable David Pinkney, a long-time BTCC racer and someone who lives just down the road from us both. A call to Andy alerted us to the fact that Pinkney hadn't been having a good weekend - his engine had blown on the Saturday - and that he wasn't going to be driving but this fact allowed us access to a relaxed pit garage and meant that the boys - and Mark - even had an opportunity to sit in Pinkney's 2 litre Vectra.
Andy was incredibly generous with his time and took the boys through the finer points of the car's performance enhancement over a standard Vectra in accessible detail. These cars are a pretty serious racing proposition and I was amazed at the level of monitoring that goes on to ensure teams play by the scrutineering rules. Tyres contain electronic chips that are read by a reader at the entrance to the pit lane, for example and the engines are sealed units that are limited in terms of tuning. Pinkney's Vectra looks impressive decked out in his trademark pink theme - everything in the team is pink, even Pinkney's helmet and the team bus - but the technology involved in running the car is really quite eye opening and I was impressed, despite the fact that uninitiated the car appeared to me to be just another Vauxhall Vectra...
A big thank you to Andy for giving us the opportunity to see the car properly. Of course once in the paddock we were able to wander around and see the side of BTCC that normally only the corporates sponsors and assorted hangers-on have access to. Drivers, past and present, also tend to be on this side of the pit lane and Mark's sharp-eyed son spotted one well known celebrity driver, someone I'd seen a few weeks previously racing at Goodwood in a Mark VII Jaguar. Mark - a shy and retiring type - took the opportunity to have his photo taken with the very gracious Tiff Needell:
So what of the racing itself? Well it was an interesting day and Brands is a great circuit from a spectator's point of view. The BTCC races weren't the most exciting as the first two (of three) were led from pole by Jason Plato, who in winning the second took the overall
Championship. Plato has been an incredibly consistent driver coming second in the last 5 championships, I think. This Championship is his second and is clearly well deserved. The weather on the day was excellent but in typical autumnal fashion it began to get very chilly once the sun began to set and by the third and final race of the day we were all beginning to feel the effects of being on our feet all day. Plato had an opportunity to turn his 60 BTCC wins, equalling Andy Rouse's record, into the greatest numbers of wins ever but things didn't go his way and he finished well down the pack, having started back in eighth (an effect of the
BTCC rules). Once again, then, a good day out, thoroughly enjoyed by all. Thanks, as always, to Mark for the tickets and for doing all the driving, fuelled wonderfully on the way down to Brands by still warm homemade sausage rolls. I'm certain that we'll be back spectating next year...
A trip to a British Touring Cars race has become an annual event in recent years, courtesy of my friend Mark. This year it was Brands Hatch and the title deciding final Sunday of the season. Mark and I and five respective sons and their friends set off early as usual in order to arrive in time to walk the pit lane and see the cars and their drivers close up. Mark mentioned that he had a friend, Andy, who worked as part of the pit crew for the indomitable David Pinkney, a long-time BTCC racer and someone who lives just down the road from us both. A call to Andy alerted us to the fact that Pinkney hadn't been having a good weekend - his engine had blown on the Saturday - and that he wasn't going to be driving but this fact allowed us access to a relaxed pit garage and meant that the boys - and Mark - even had an opportunity to sit in Pinkney's 2 litre Vectra.
Andy was incredibly generous with his time and took the boys through the finer points of the car's performance enhancement over a standard Vectra in accessible detail. These cars are a pretty serious racing proposition and I was amazed at the level of monitoring that goes on to ensure teams play by the scrutineering rules. Tyres contain electronic chips that are read by a reader at the entrance to the pit lane, for example and the engines are sealed units that are limited in terms of tuning. Pinkney's Vectra looks impressive decked out in his trademark pink theme - everything in the team is pink, even Pinkney's helmet and the team bus - but the technology involved in running the car is really quite eye opening and I was impressed, despite the fact that uninitiated the car appeared to me to be just another Vauxhall Vectra... 
A big thank you to Andy for giving us the opportunity to see the car properly. Of course once in the paddock we were able to wander around and see the side of BTCC that normally only the corporates sponsors and assorted hangers-on have access to. Drivers, past and present, also tend to be on this side of the pit lane and Mark's sharp-eyed son spotted one well known celebrity driver, someone I'd seen a few weeks previously racing at Goodwood in a Mark VII Jaguar. Mark - a shy and retiring type - took the opportunity to have his photo taken with the very gracious Tiff Needell:
So what of the racing itself? Well it was an interesting day and Brands is a great circuit from a spectator's point of view. The BTCC races weren't the most exciting as the first two (of three) were led from pole by Jason Plato, who in winning the second took the overall Championship. Plato has been an incredibly consistent driver coming second in the last 5 championships, I think. This Championship is his second and is clearly well deserved. The weather on the day was excellent but in typical autumnal fashion it began to get very chilly once the sun began to set and by the third and final race of the day we were all beginning to feel the effects of being on our feet all day. Plato had an opportunity to turn his 60 BTCC wins, equalling Andy Rouse's record, into the greatest numbers of wins ever but things didn't go his way and he finished well down the pack, having started back in eighth (an effect of the BTCC rules). Once again, then, a good day out, thoroughly enjoyed by all. Thanks, as always, to Mark for the tickets and for doing all the driving, fuelled wonderfully on the way down to Brands by still warm homemade sausage rolls. I'm certain that we'll be back spectating next year...
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