 Rockingham 13th April 2008 |
|
Between the wind and rain showers, the sun shone brightly at the Rockingham speedway this weekend. Martyn dusted off his Ray-Bans and Lynne her Tescos. Then Marcus rediscovered his Foster Grants at the back of his pristine spanner drawer where he had kept them safe since we last saw the sun in December 2006. We all knew it was going to be a good day when we watched as Erkut casually donned his spare pair of Pradas.
Matt.net was looking forward to coming back to Rockingham. It was here last month at media day that young people queued patiently for his autograph and his other collection of fans followed his progress around the pits and paddock holding on to his every word. Fame at last for Matt.net This weekend it was Matt who was seeking autographs for a future competition prize. Watch out for it on Crash.net
Steve K. who joined us this year as one of our official photographers has acquired a fan of his own to follow him around the circuit, so much so quickly Steve. You look likely to have your own posse by the end of the season.
However once the rain started even the hardened snappers disappeared to the warmth of the Media Centre and left Steve and Bob out there alone to get some of the best pictures of the weekend.
For qualifying on Saturday afternoon rain looked likely. Rockingham circuit is unique in the UK for its banked turns and concrete walls. The licence only allows the use of one of the banked turns, the dreaded turn 1. Martyn competed in the first official race at the Rockingham Speedway in the Kumho BMW championship. He won the first pole position in the first race. Unfortunately a lot of over enthusiasm from the pack to win the first race caused several red flags and eventually the spoils of the first race win went to another race as the Kumho BMW's were sent to the naughty corner and banished to the last race of the day. So Martyn has a bit of experience around Rockingham Speedway. However he is as ever happy to listen to advice from other more experienced drivers and Martyn was given some sound advice by another professional driver. ‘For turn one Martyn, keep as close to the wall as you can' ‘'Will that make me go faster in the wet?' he asked. ‘No' came the response ‘but it will not hurt as much if you hit the wall from that distance'
Tech-speed motorsport prepare and run the Arkas Racing Vauxhall Astra Sports Hatch Cars. They are assisted on race weekends by Martyn's regular crew. Visitors will note that Marcus, chief mechanic on Car 15 is a very organised and tidy person. Everything is neatly lined up, cleaned and in it's place. Cups of coffee, half eaten sandwiches and other general mess are banned from his work areas. It all paid off on Saturday when we had to sit out the second test session while he led the crew to change the engine in record time in readiness for Qualifying. That was a new experience for the Barrow & Goxhill Mafia, it is not something we had to do with the BMW. However once the change was completed you would not have known the garage had been busy at all. Everything was still neatly lined up, clean and still in its proper place place. | |
|
