Summer '10

On One Day Race Meetings...

I started racing in club races in England in the 1980s. In those days, you would arrive at the racetrack at around 8 a.m., having started out from home around 5. I used to live in the Midlands of England, and Silverstone, Donington, Oulton Park and Mallory Park were all less than two hours drive away, even towing a trailer, so start out time was usually about 5 a.m.

Upon arriving at the circuit, we would park up and unload the racecar, at that time a 1958 Ferrari 250 GT TdF Berlinetta and later on, a 1974 Porsche RSR. (Pit garages were almost never used, these being for the “Star” cars of the meetings.)

We (Paul Mackley, my mechanic) and I would then push, or drive, the car over to scrutineering (tech inspection), get the necessary sticker (decal) and I would suit up and get out for a thirty minute practice session, usually around ten o' clock. Qualifying was usually around noon, then break for lunch and the ten lap race would be around three. Afterwards it was load up and go home time, usually arriving around 7 p.m., just in time for dinner! One of the amusing sides to this, I remember, is that we were nearly always the race after the Formula Fords had their ten-lap race, which nearly always didn’t complete the required ten laps, as one (or several!) car(s) would hit each other or the scenery, such was the aggression level of 17 year olds attempting to prove that they were the next Nigel Mansell, thus requiring us to be in our cars, ready to go out rather sooner than most of us expected. But I digress...

These memories came back to me after having attended, first of all “Classic Le Mans” and then the Can Am reunion at Road America, the “KIC”. At both these races (and many more today) the meetings have now stretched out so that the transporters with the racecars leave base around Monday or Tuesday, get there on Wednesday for setting up, test on Thursday and then run through until Sunday afternoon, when it is load up time and get back to base on Tuesday or Wednesday, a huge commitment of time by all concerned.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a long weekend of racing activity but at the end of the weekend, everyone is pretty much exhausted (not always from racing!) and almost dreading the next weekend, when the whole process is repeated. One person remarked to me about the forthcoming Monterey pre-Historics and Historics, “two weeks away for two hour’s track time, is it really worth it?” Well, I can’t answer that but perhaps it is time to consider downsizing a little in terms of time?