This trip was to satisfy a long-held “requirement” to go to a British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) race meeting, sometime this year.
The last time I was at this circuit was aeons ago, when I was working for Dickinson Controls in Winchester. The group they belonged to had a hospitality box on the main straight, just before Redgate Corner. At the time, I’d been successful in getting a shedload of big orders from Thames Water in Reading. As a sort of “thank you” it was decided to take the main players out for a day’s jolly – my choice ! Naturally, I chose motor racing and as it happened there was no booking in the hospitality box for a BTCC weekend – result ! So it was hot and cold buffet, booze and paddock passes all round. This was the day, mind, when BMW 2002’s were the car to have………
I never actually got to see very much of the circuit itself, as customer grovelling duties trumped everything, so it was a bit of a surprise this weekend to find that the back part of the circuit was so sinuous in both vertical and horizontal planes. NICE……..
I went for the 3/4 day camping/weekend admission ticket package, which meant I could turn up on the Friday PM, get settled in and then have a gawp round the paddock, before the crowds descended. The circuit camping was inside the circuit itself, so there was a bit of a view of the track.
One thing I’d completely forgotten was that the circuit is on the end of the runway of East Midlands Airport, which is a major hub for air freight flights – eve at 4 AM on a Sunday morning ! “Luckily” I could turn off my hearing aids at night ……….
Next on the agenda was a mooch round the paddock. I wasn’t quite sure what the form was, because at other race tracks access is not often available on Practice and Race Days without a specific pass. Donington (for this meeting at least) was a bit more relaxed and the complete paddock was open to everyone.
For this young at heart guy, this was like a small boy being let loose in a sweet shop. Getting up close to the actual racing machinery was great, especially to see all of the specialised engineering involved. They may look reasonably standard on the TV, but close up is a different story. Another thing about the Friday of a race weekend is that the garage guys are more willing to talk, having ONLY (!!!!) scrutineering to worry about.
One thing that seems to have changed over the years is the amount of money being spent. Most of the teams had dedicated tented (or better) hospitality “suites”, presumably for VIP guests, etc.
Tyres also seem to be a big, big pre-occupation. The photo below shows what was needed for just one team – admittedly 4 cars.
I’d decided to have a quick look round and then spend more time in the paddock after walking round the course perimeter on Saturday during practice. So it was a very splendid home made coq au vin for dinner – I camp in style !!!
The weather forecast promised a dry weekend. Saturday morning started misty, but the sunrise was pretty pretty.
Walking boot on and round the track we go ! Practice for the BTCC cars was interesting (and noisy !) although Mr Goff in his SEAT Cupra Leon decided he didn’t fancy it any more and deposited himself into the gravel at the Old Hairpin – he saw out the rest of Free Practice 1 behind the safety fence.
Having completed my circumnavigation to get a better idea of what was what, it was back into the paddock for a closer look. Bit busier today, but access to cars/garages was still pretty good.
Talking to the Toyota guys, I was amazed that they were still using a basic “stringing” method for checking out alignment, although the loading measurement on each wheel was definitely a bit more sophisticated, with load cells, etc. There were also plenty of bespoke gauges to measuring under car clearances, overall car width, etc – some of these dimensions are ALWAYS checked on the first 3 placed cars immediately after a race has finished, so they have to be very, very correct….
For a change, I went to the inside of the circuit, which, very conveniently, includes good viewing using the natural topography, ie hills. You can get a good view of at least 3 corners just by being opposite Starkey’s Bridge.
Another great looking dawn on the Sunday – race day……..
Plenty of support races, including The Mini Challenge, Ginetta Juniors, Porsche Carrerra Cup and F4 single seaters. My main interest was the Touring Cars, so I decided to go to the start/finish/grids at the start of each of their 3 races, watch all the hullabaloo involved, then go somewhere else to watch the rest of the action – so did everybody else !!!!
Sensibly, the circuit provided several giant TV screens, so wherever you were perched, you could always see the rest of the action.
As is “traditional” at BTCC meetings, there were grid girls…. Some of them were not exactly overdressed, so must’ve been somewhat chilly in the stiff breeze.
What I hadn’t appreciated was the number of hangers-on/guests/etc ( as well as the attendant mechanics) that flooded on to the grid for all of five minutes, presumably as part of their VIP packages. See YouTube link below.
The day rolled on with some good racing in most of the categories – didn’t take many pix as I was busy watching the racing. The last race (Touring Cars again) was at 1720, so the sun was definitely on the wane, as you can see below. Getting cold as well !!!!
So then it was suddenly over. Made my way back to camp to take in the glorious sunset. I make no excuses for including several pix – it was spectacular, a great ending to a great day’s racing.
So that was my racing weekend. Packed up on the Monday AM and trundled back to Cinderford. I’m really pleased I made the effort to go. You see more of the action on the TV broadcast, but you don’t get the atmosphere, the smells, the noise, the contact with the machinery and all that other good stuff.
This trip, sadly, marked the end of my somewhat brief 2021 camping “season” – it was getting a bit cold at nights, even with 3 blankets. New tent proved to be pretty good and my single handed erection skills got better over time. Now we look to 2022, when (hopefully) things will be a bit nearer to whatever will be called “normal”.