The BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Part 2)

Wednesday (9/7/03) was the day that our 5-day GP weekend started. Nick had sought advice as to when the best time to arrive at Donington was, and the official word was to arrive early afternoon, so as to allow the GP paddock to arrive and get sorted out, before us 'wildcards' arrived. With this in mind, we arranged to leave at approximately 13:00, thus giving me a lay-in (probably the only one I'd get this weekend). Once up, I set about loading up my van, before pottering around and making sure I hadn't forgot anything. Only Brett, Nick and myself were making the journey up, with Nick returning once he had driven the other van up (I mean support vehicle) and helped to get us set-up.

With Nick having set-off pretty much on time, Brett and Myself finally set-off about 14:00. For me, it felt really strange setting off midweek (Well, I can't speak for anyone else), here I was, having had a week off work, setting off for the biggest weekend of my life in my now, lovely van. It was a beautiful day, and the forecast was good for the whole weekend. Roll on Donington.

As we left the M1 at junction 23A, I was amazed to find the amount of spectators already having set-up camp in the fields surrounding the main entrance, this was going to be a massive British GP. In fact, I still can't believe the number of spectators that had arrived at the GP before me, to be honest, I was gutted, I had wanted to be there from beginning to end, from the first person to the last, no chance of that then. Once at the paddock gates, it felt good to say Phill Desborough, 250GP wildcard, and with that we were in the gates. Just as well as we had no tickets/passes yet. Now in, it was just the saga of parking up! Sure enough, the main paddock was well on the way to being completely set-up as a GP village, from the massive trucks and awnings they bring to the Gauloises Playstation2 Moto GP simulator sit on bikes in their foyer. The Ducati village was pretty impressive too, and their were more DarkDog / Red Bull energiser cans kicking around than at the importer's! More on the paddock later.

Anyone, who knows Donington's three paddocks, will know what I'm on about, but for those of you whom don't I'll try and explain. There are basically three paddocks. No1 paddock, is the area directly behind the garages and pit-lane, No2 paddock is the area behind the executive boxes and parc-ferme. This is the area behind the buildings on the run down to the first corner (Redgate) from the pit-lane exit. Then there is paddock 3, unfortunately where all the 'wildcard's' had to go. Paddock 3 is situated just on the left as you enter the paddock main entrance. This in itself is not a real problem, apart from the small inconvenience of being a fair way away from the pit-lane. The real bind is that it is not tarmac but dusty gravel. Over the course of what turned out to be a lovely weekend, there was dust everywhere, and the gravel isn't exactly practical to work on, so it was a good job that we had some flooring that we had been lent from SHOWTRAX. While all of the Lorry Rigs of the GP regular's sat lining the perimeter of Paddock 2, we were out in the dust, but not on our own, oh no, we were sharing that with the smaller motor-homes of some of the GP250 and 125 star's, but it just ended up leaving us with less and less room. Ok that's my whinging over.

After half an hour of discussions as to where we could park (we were the second 'wildcard' to have turned up) we finally got the ok to park the two vans side by side. Enough room was left between them to wind out both awnings and have them meeting in the middle, with the plan to run my bike from my van and Nick's bike from the other van. While all this was being completed, I had found out where I was to go for my quota of paddock passes. The IRTA transporters were where it all happened for the rider's.

With that I set off in search of the truck, which was to be found just to the side of Parc-ferme. Impressive, the one word that comes to mind as I walked up the alloy stairs towards the double doors. Those very same doors open with a swish as the air control system operates, just before you are hit by the air conditioning of the trailer unit that seems powerful enough to cool the paddock down. I have to complement now, just how well run, friendly and helpful the IRTA staff was to us. Once inside, the lovely ladies behind reception informed me of all I needed to know. I was given our paddock passes, 5 Pit-lane/Paddock passes, and the 3 Guest/Paddock passes, plus any amount of pit bike passes I seemed to require. I was informed that should I have any queries at all, I should come to this very same desk, and also shown the locker room, where, I was allocated a locker and informed that all notices, timesheets, information etc. would be left in their for me. With that, I was handed the relevant paperwork necessary for me to complete, locker key, and told to check my locker regularly. With that it was back out into the humid and franticly busy paddock.

It was pretty cool walking through the GP paddock and having every right to be there. Paddock 1 and 2 were segregated from 3 by temporary wire mesh fencing, there were two entry and exit points that were marshalled by security guards, whose job it was to check those entering had the relevant pass around there neck. The atmosphere in the paddock was electric. Whilst there seemed to be a fair amount of hustling and bustling, everyone had a smile on their face, and seemed to find time to stop, and have a laugh and a joke with rival teams. This just helped to fuel the smile on my face, as unlike BSB (British Super-bike) I felt like we had been welcomed with open arms and not looked down on as just in the way. Once back at my new home, well for the weekend anyway, we finished off setting up camp and unloading the oodles of kit we had brought between us. Once both bikes were unloaded and positioned on their workbenches, it was good to stand back and checkout how nice it was to have two bikes painted up and at my disposal. I had brought the generator in case we had no hook-up points but I needn't have worried, as electric was on hand, as was fresh water. I handed out a pass each to Brett and Nick, along with Paul who had joined us to help set-up and informed them that they may wish to venture around the other paddocks and start living the high life if only for a few days.

With Wednesday night closing in, my focus of attention looked towards the 'Day of Champions' (Thursday). I was really looking forward to this day, as I felt that it was a day that I could just lap up the atmosphere, cruise around on my paddock bike, and generally enjoy, before getting down to the serious business of first qualifying (Friday). However there were a few important tasks that I had been informed I needed to carry out on the Thursday, including scrutineering, and attending the riders briefing, which is held for all riders that have not yet competed in a GP that year.

Thursday (10/7/03) 'Day of Champions'

The beautiful sun greeted us once again, as I slid open the door of my van. As I sat in the doorway eating my breakfast, I viewed the motor homes behind us, and read off some of the names (Poggiali, Rolfo, Sebas Porto). To be honest, we didn't see much of them all weekend, other than when they went scooting past on there paddock bikes, although if we bumped into anybody, it would always seemed to be Sebas Porto. We did however see those same riders other halves, quite often, which neither Brett or I was complaining about!!!

With Brett sleeping in the other van, I had to wait before being able to take a shower, it is so nice to have a decent shower in the van, rather than having to use one in the paddock. Although the bikes paintwork had been completed, I still had to decal both of them, so I spent my time waiting for Brett, starting this task. After having had a shower, I was ready for the exciting day ahead. Brett was set the task of cutting out numbers from fablon (we have to cut our own), whilst I got on with sticking transfers on. It wasn't long before Paul, Alison and Nick turned up, and helped to check the bikes over before we took them down for scrutineering (Technical Inspection). Technical Inspection was between the hours of 10:00 and 17:00, I wanted to get it done as soon as possible, so I would be able to spend as much of the day as possible soaking up the atmosphere. When 10:00 came around, it seemed that everybody was waiting for someone else to start the ball rolling, and get through scrutineering. Well, once we were ready, we got the ball rolling and pushed the two bikes up to the scrutineering bay.

It's nice to be able to just carry you're kit (Leathers, Lid, Boots, etc.) up, rather than wearing them, especially when the weather was as gorgeous as it was. Apart from the official IRTA scrutineer, the remaining scrutineers are those that you may see in a usual season around the circuits of this country. The main IRTA guy oversaw everything that went on at scrutineering, and basically checked that all the necessary paperwork was completed. The order of events went something like this; firstly my riding gear was checked to be in a fit state to ride in, once that was done the manufacture of all of these items was recorded in their relevant boxes on the paperwork, Texport Leathers, Alpinestar Boots etc. Then they asked me what I had for breakfast, only joking. The ironic thing with this was that I was actually wearing Brett's Alpinestar boots as I had wrecked mine in the pre-GP crash at Snetterton, and had been meaning to buy some on this very day.

Once the kit was done, the attention turned to the bikes. Both bikes were checked over, as they would be at any normal meeting, with regards to checking they were fit to be out on track with. Once they had been checked out fairly thoroughly, it was back to the paperwork. Once again the manufacturer of everything on the bike was recorded. This was all very strange, it's a privateer bike, its got on it what it came with when I bought it! Marchesini wheels, Nissin Brakes, Ohlins Shock, etc. After what seemed hours, it was on to the noise testing of the bikes, now, with the new noise limit allowed for the four strokes (Bloody Loud) I reckon we could have taken the exhausts off our bikes and they would still have passed the noise test. After I had nipped back to the van for some fuel, we fired the bikes up, no problems there.

Next on the list, were weighing the bikes. With the fuel tanks removed both bikes were weighed, and there respective weights recorded. I have to say there was a surprising difference between the two similar bikes. Just when I was thinking that was it for scrutineering, the next potential hiccup was just around the corner. With leathers and bike through scrutineering, we were informed we needed a certificate to validate our fuel and two-stroke oil for the weekend. Now, I had been given a pre-warning about this, and we had spoken to our fuel supplier who had faxed us a copy of the invoice with the fuel batch number on. Having been asked for the certificate, I showed the IRTA official our faxed invoice and batch number. Unfortunately, this wasn't what he required, but he told us to go and see the ELF lorry, show him this fax, and he should be able to sort out a certificate. Sure enough, with fax and two-stroke oil in hand, of I trotted to the ELF lorry. Despite them being busy sorting out the fuel requirements for the paddock, they were very helpful and simply checked the batch number against a list in his van and duly printed off a certificate. Similar with the oil, he took one look and printed off the certificate for that too. Sorted! After returning back to the scrutineering bay, and handing over the paperwork, that was that, scrutineering was completed for us. All I had left to negotiate now, was the riders briefing, and then we would be out on track.

After checking out my mailbox, and confirming the riders briefing wasn't until 17:00 (ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY), it left the rest of the afternoon to enjoy the show that was 'Day of Champions'. First things first though, I had some boots to get. With the usual display of trade-stands in the centre of the circuit, Brett and I headed off on the scooter to go and see what boots I could afford. Having now passed through scrutineering with Alpinestars, I felt I ought to look for some Alpinestar boots to keep the continuity. The crowd on this day was as big as ever, and negotiating the trade-stands took a little effort, but was well worth it just to watch people's faces as we flew around on the moped. It was obvious, those spectators that checked us out thinking who are they, trying to figure if we were anybody they recognised (Not Likely). After an unsuccessful trip in search of some boots, despite nearly purchasing some from the rider's for health tent (second hand GP riders kit) we headed back to the van to meet some more guests who were coming up to see us.

One of the guests coming up, was a man who had saved the day for us after the testing crash. John Mitchinson had come to the rescue after I had flattened one o the exhaust pipe's on Nick's bike. At very short notice, and at some un-timely hour of the day, he wasted no time in getting the exhaust back to a fit shape to use. Top man, I needed the entire armoury I had in our fight to qualify. So when he came up on his bike with his son, he had the luxury of spending the day mixing it with the stars in the pit area. The next few hours were spent walking around the pits (and up the pit-lane walkabout) and finishing off decaling up the bikes. Brett had a busy weekend cutting out numbers and stripes, but he loved it really.

When the time came for the riders briefing, I thought it best if both Brett and I attended. I figured there was a slim chance he may remember something, that I may forget, and need to know later in the weekend. All the wildcards, Jay Vincent, David de Gea and a Yamaha Kurtz entered rider were all in attendance. Rumour was, not to be late for this briefing, or the license that you required too take part, might not find its way to your hand. However, nobody was late, and so there was no problem. The briefing consisted of a run through the 'Do's and Don'ts', items such as the Pit-lane speed limit, Start procedure, Stop and Go procedure, Wet and Dry races, Behaviour during Practice and Race, Flags and Lights and items such as the time the pit-lane is open for, before the race. We also received some paperwork to help us remember, which was very handy to look at once we had walked away. Once we had been through all of this, they wished us an enjoyable, successful weekend and we received our license. Whey, that was it, tomorrow would bring the GP proper, and all of the potential hassles were dealt with for the day. Excellent.

With our pit-area tidied up, Nick, Paul, Alison and all our guests returning home, we helped Neil McCarthy (Bridgestone) park and get his stock sorted out, before retiring to the 'Redgate Lodge' (Bar-Café) for a well deserved meal and a beer. Neil joined us once he had sorted out his caravan, which he was gutted to have to have on the campsite. After some food and a beer, a visit on the moped down to the campsite was in order, where I cruised around amongst the spectators of which I have been one, on so many occasions. The 'fair' had finished setting up their roller coaster and dodgem's etc, and the crowd was busy barbecuing and drinking the night away. It was getting pretty chilly now, so I headed back to the van, having had my dosage of the campsite, to reflect on the day gone, and the day in front.

It had been an enjoyable day, although it had gone way to quickly. I still didn't have any boots, nothing like leaving it to the last minute. It would have been nice to be able to spend the whole day without anything to do, but it seemed that with one job done, the focus of attention just turned to the next task. The help of those around me was invaluable. Their help had stopped me from stressing out. With tomorrow being the first day of qualifying, Rick, Tony, Dave, the entourage of my parents and family including, Grandma, John (Dad's brother), Andy and Christian and Jamie (Uncle and cousins) would all be up to offer their support and witness the biggest day of my life. But for now, after a gorgeously hot shower it was off to bed, so as to be ready for the 11:15 Free Practice.

End of Part 2....

.....Part 3 to come soon.

See the Photo pages. Main Photo page, Photo page 1 & Photo page 2