Racing Rivals at Rockingham

[Amanda]

We went to Rockingham this weekend and had an excellent couple of days out.

The SEAT village is amazing! I have never seen anything like it ~ all very professional. It would be great to see this championship as part of the TOCA package next year.

It was great to catch up with an old friend ~ Jason Plato! I am fed up with people knocking him, he was the same old Jason with me! Jason was filming when I first saw him, he waved and as soon as he had finished came over for a very long chat. I hadn't seen him since May so there was lots to catch up on. I think Alan prefered meeting Nell McAndrew! :D

We spent most of the weekend at SEAT. Everyone was very friendly and I have made a new friend in Hamish Gordon.

The racing was very close, if a bit too action packed for my liking! I think a lot of the drivers were up before the Clerk of the Course after race one. All I can say is roll on Thruxton!

[Jamie P-E]

Originally posted by Amanda
We went to Rockingham this weekend and had an excellent couple of days out.

The SEAT village is amazing! I have never seen anything like it ~ all very professional. It would be great to see this championship as part of the TOCA package next year.

It was great to catch up with an old friend ~ Jason Plato! I am fed up with people knocking him, he was the same old Jason with me! Jason was filming when I first saw him, he waved and as soon as he had finished came over for a very long chat. I hadn't seen him since May so there was lots to catch up on. I think Alan prefered meeting Nell McAndrew! :D

We spent most of the weekend at SEAT. Everyone was very friendly and I have made a new friend in Hamish Gordon.

The racing was very close, if a bit too action packed for my liking! I think a lot of the drivers were up before the Clerk of the Course after race one. All I can say is roll on Thruxton!





WHAT A FABULOUS WEEKEND!!!!!!!
:D :D :D :D



The Seat setup was fantastic and the drivers were really down to earth especially Amanda's new friend but I had a soft spot for miss Barratt. :o :o

I am really looking forward to thruxton and will follow them more closely in 2004.

Jamie

[Alan]

You ain't kidding!!!:D :D :D

Only had a short chat with Nell but struck me as a very nice lady.

Jason was as chatty as usual - he doesn't change.

They were both very busy but still made time for us.

Good racing all weekend, but did not enjoy seeing Katherine Legge doing a loop in her F3 car, she was very lucky.
SEAT's were good racing, given the variation in experience they generally put on a good show, with just a couple of exceptions.
TVR's were absolutely brilliant - particularly the second race.

[lauz]

i was at rockingham at the weekend aswell. the seat village was cool. it was the first time that i have seen the seat's but they were great. the racing was great aswell. i can't wait til thruxton but i don't know if im gonna go coz race day is my birthday.

[Jamie P-E]

Originally posted by lauz
i was at rockingham at the weekend aswell. the seat village was cool. it was the first time that i have seen the seat's but they were great. the racing was great aswell. i can't wait til thruxton but i don't know if im gonna go coz race day is my birthday.


Lauz, What a great excuse to go to the race at Thruxton. The races are going to be a scorcher, I can guarentee that.


see you there:D


Jamie

[Amanda]

Lauz ~ a day out at Thruxton would make a great birthday present!

See you there.

[Claire]

It certainly was a great day. I agree with everthing Amanda has said Seat have definatley got it right as far as the village and getting to see the drivers and cars are concerend.
The racing was good, when they weren't putting each other off, I was quite surprised by some of the driving standards that were going on and I let their mentor know my feelings as well!!
Jason was very approachable and happy to have a chat, I have my fingers crossed that whatever his plans are for the next couple of years they involve some racing within the BTCC.
Looking forward to the next round at Thruxton, should be very interesting with the top 3 all able to win the big prize. :D

[bramble]

I had a great time. In a way it was a shame I took a load of my mates with me as I didn't get to look round the paddock!

During the first F3 I was watching the first corner and seeing the lines the cars were taking. Its very bumpy there and I got the feeling that the way some of the F3's were leaving the ground it was only a matter of time before something like Katherine Legge's flip happened.

And what about the Seats? Ben Winrow's smash in Turn one is not one i'll forget in a hurry.

[Les]

that I did not like to see.

My friend had only been saying that the corner was her favorite photography spot so when I saw the car hit where she had said she was going to be - my nerves were frazzled somewhat. Mobile out, call made and as it happened she was sitting the other side of the track (premonition perhaps?).

Still think that pit lane exit is a massive accident just waiting to happen.

[bramble]

It wouldnt take much to fix that, just move the fence back a bit and add a bit more tarmac. i think they'll wait untill theres been a nasty accident before they'll do that though.

[touring fan]

Takes a bit of common sense from the drivers too. Some of the driving standards were rubbish. I thought the tuscans were the best races (but the minis were good too), F3 would have been good on the oval if they'd managed to get that sorted. The title "racing rivals" is a bit tacky too.

[Alan]

Neither of the accidents were caused by the pit lane exit location, but by the chicane!!
Mind you - you are right, with alot of cars on circuit there is a good chance that there will be an accident there one day. I rather think that the cars on the track get a good view of cars coming out of the pitlane - whether they are able to take evasive action or not is another thing of course.

It isn't quite as easy as adding a bit more tarmac either - the main access tunnel runs under the circuit just there so it would involve alot of work to make the changes suggested.

As for the SEAT that crashed there - the foam barriers obviously did their job well and the driver walked away (may have been a bit stiff Monday though!).

[Paul Rayner]

What a fantastic day. I've said before that I love Rockingham, yet again they put on a great meeting, and at a great price - £1!

There was a great atmosphere - as Alan pointed out on the radio commentary, you got a big "oooooh!" whenever anyone went off/made a move and, although I take the 44,000 official crowd figure with a dose of salt, there were a LOT of people there.

Some said that with ASCAR the 40,000 crowds were just there for the pop act, and maybe some were, but even in GTs at the end of Sunday, when the Sugababes were performing behind the grandstands, there were still more people watching the racing than were there for Touring Cars in June. What Rockingham is managing to do with these events is make a real family day of entertainment out of a visit to a race track - and that's a point I think Touring Car, and other race organisers, often miss.

I've taken casual race fans to races at circuits before, and they always left underwhelmed. At Rockingham this weekend there were a couple of people I know who visited the place for the first time, and they really enjoyed it. They weren't even bothered about the music part; it was everything else - the toilets, the seating, the racing, the view, even the traffic management - that impressed them.

The TOCATour could go to Knockhill next year to race in front of 12,000 people. Or it could go to Rockingham with a pop band and entertain a crowd of 40,000.

[Les]

I know the teams enjoyed themselves immensely racing in front of that lot and as you say even when the GTs were on the grandstand was still impressive. We needed a longer pit lane walkabout - there were crowds of people that couldn't get autographs etc. It was a smashing day.

[Invincible]

Originally posted by Paul Rayner
There was a great atmosphere - as Alan pointed out on the radio commentary, you got a big "oooooh!" whenever anyone went off/made a move and, although I take the 44,000 official crowd figure with a dose of salt, there were a LOT of people there.

Some said that with ASCAR the 40,000 crowds were just there for the pop act, and maybe some were, but even in GTs at the end of Sunday, when the Sugababes were performing behind the grandstands, there were still more people watching the racing than were there for Touring Cars in June. What Rockingham is managing to do with these events is make a real family day of entertainment out of a visit to a race track - and that's a point I think Touring Car, and other race organisers, often miss.



Something similar did happen at BTCC rounds in the 70's involving Radio 1 when Noel Edmonds and Mike Smith were big names on the wireless.

They were able to encourage big 70's bands like the Bay City Rollers and Shawaddywaddy to racing events round Britain and like Rockingham they charged a small price and around the same amount of spectators turned up (Whether or not they were a bunch of screaming girls there to see the pop stars or not I dont know)

And maybe that's what the BTCC needs...If only we could get Kid Jensen involved....

[Les]

suprised you can remember that far back Invinicble!!! ;)

Ahhh Showaddywaddy and BCR - blasts from MY past!!!!