Hi all,
I have today spoken to Ian Watson to express my disbelief at how the 2nd race was organised. He told me that no one else had been in touch and that there had been no other mention from his staff??
As far as I am concerned, it was a complete FIASCO. I made it clear that it is not acceptable to start a race and then change the duration without at least telling the drivers. If that was not possible then at worst put out a last lap board.
To just leave the duration of the race as a total surprise to the drivers sitting in the cars is just a joke. Can anyone imagine the discussions after a Formula 1 race!! if no one knew how many laps it was going to last??
Ian did apologise for how it was done and said he would try to make certain that it would not happen again. He did say that they have been doing it long enough to not make this sort of mistake.
He also said that the Caterham driver was still critical but stable and in an induced coma and that is all they have been told.
See you all at Brands Hatch
Gadget
Good point very well presented.
Was there a last lap flag for the 1st race.
If there was then I know of 3 people who didn't see it myself included.
There wasn't a last lap flag in the first race.
There weren't any last laps boards all day for any races.
The other issue is that the length of qualifying for Q2 was presented in a very vague way and I was given the impression the 2CVs were put to the back because they were quiet and that they would run the 20mins, however, the TSL clock started at 10 mins before they went out and with still 3 1/2 mins left they were putting the chequered flag out. Again poor communication. I intend to send an e to BARC at some point this week.
On a separate note: Great close racing, still grinning, what fun. ;D
The Caterham drivers aren't exactly best pleased either:
https://www.graduates.org.uk/forum.asp
Thanks for checking up on their injured driver. It's never good to see the air ambulance and such a long delay. Hoping he makes a full and speedy recovery.
I hadn't realised this had happened reading the other forums, blimey its sounds a mess!
When I finally get around to posting my in car video you will see how angry I was about the race finishing early without a last lap board. It cost me a place with two corners to go as I would have defended if I had known it was the last lap. In effect we lost something in the region of 15 minutes (nearly a quarter) of track time if you include the shortest qualifying ever so I wonder if the club gets a reimbursement seeing as we pay upfront for track time?
Obviously the circumstances could not have been predicted and I hope that the Caterham driver is able to get back to full fitness.
We've now had two of the three meetings this year shortened which if anything suggests to me that unrealistic timetables are being produced. I don't think I have ever been to a race meeting with 26 races - obviously great value for money to the spectators but must be a nightmare for the officials and ends up with the competitors being short changed.
I would like to add my support to the competitors in the sprint series that have been short changed. Though I am not competing this year it's bad to see mess up's and have their day spoiled by largely avoidable errors. The Cadwell weekend started off with the 2CV's being missed off the paddock layout and went downhill from there. I know there was a nasty accident we all I'm sure hope for a good outcome from that, it put's a lot pressure on the organisers. The real bad bit after that is that no response has been published with regard to organisation that the cockup's won't happen again ?
On another subject if anyone fancies a testing session for guest drivers etc Javelin track days run a sprint series. There is a meeting at Blyton on the 23 July I know it's a only a week before Brands hatch but for northern types it's a chance to make sure your car is sorted before a long drive to Brands the Entry is £ 139.
Colin W