Since my days as a child (some of you still think I am) motor sport has been prominent in my life. Be it banger racing at a farmers field near Hempnall and Swaffam stadium to see nutters try and run each other off the road, along with an attempt to be the first over the line to secure that tacky trophy! Or the other end of the spectrum, the high financed & political world of Formula 1, all forms of "lets put a engine in it and race it!" have claimed a very soft spot in my heart.
Sunday, 29th July; Destination Snetterton Circuit Norfolk.
My good friend Mr Howard Mattochs invited me along to rounds 19, 20 & 21 of the Dunlop MSA Touring Car Championship. Howard being one of the support races HGV driver was able to aquire me a paddock pass for the day, which enabled me to walk freely umongst the teams spread over the circuit. Some people think motor sport is a glamourous affair, but whether you be in bangers or F1 you all share the same facilities at the given circuit, which in the case of most British race tracks is a couple of concrete buildings which constitute your pit area, of which the bigger teams or featured racers have priority, or if you are the supporting racers with just enough money to get the car on the track you have to make do with a tent in the car park tacked onto you transporter, all very glam...
After an early start we arrived at the circuit for the first race of the day which was Formula BMW, we had a vested interest in this, as Nexa who gave us our passes were competing. Their drivers are Valle Makela from Finland & Kimiyada Sato from Japan. We said hello and good luck to Valle, who seemed pleased to meet us, but had to rush as the grid was calling. So Howard and myself positioned ourselves at the end of the back straight to give us some sense of speed as they hurtled themselves down into the 'bombhole'. Unfortunately no podium for both drivers in this first race, but later on in the day in the second race in this formula Valle would bring the team a hard fought third, with Valle's car sans a few body parts!!! Other supporting formulas were Porsche Carrera Cup, these were very fast, and Tim Harvey a former Touring car driver made it a first position in both his races. Renault Clio, Formula Renault, Seat Cupra and Historic Touring Cars made up the rest of the supporting field, the Clio's and Cupras having the highest repair bill of the day!
The Dunlop MSA Touring Car which were the feature can only be described as 'Big Kids Racing'' It's supposed to be non-contact racing, but these guys seem to forget that! I would say none of these cars came back to pits without some sort of dent, scrape or body panel hanging off. Don't get me wrong this is one of the reasons the British Touring Car Championship is so popular amongst its fans. Hard, gritty and determined racing with some bitter rivalries all make it great to watch, but therein lays a problem. Watching motor racing at a British circuit has its problems, because unlike the massive crowds of F1 who can watch the race on giant screens and tune in to 'race day radio' lesser formulas have to make-do with where you can get the best view of the circuit and make do with the 'rather poor' Tannoy public address system. The Indy track at Brands Hatch is the only one I can think of where you can see the whole track.
Despite viewing problems it was a great day out. Racing started at nine o'clock a.m and didn't finish until around seven in the evening, this was due mainly to a problem getting five smashed- up Cupra's off the start/finish line... There was never more than a few minutes between races and should you be tempted to go in future the £27 admitance fee they were charging seemed very reasonable indeed, but bring your own food and drink - £4-50 for sausage & chips, I think not!
