2CVs at Donington

[Nick Paton]

Well done all, the racing at Donington, (that I watched streaming from Motors TV), was awesome.  You put on a great show....

Congrats to Alec for winning, and to Clarkey for the most scary close call slide since Mallory......  The camera cut to Sammie's car (I think) and all we could see was the side of a Gadget!

N

[TIM FAVELL]

Was a brilliant day. Few of my pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152768244105294.1073741826.594675293&type=1&l=47b7a2e220

[Pete Sparrow]

I think a big thank you to all involved in this weekend's racing. Top job, especially to get that amount of cars on the grid.
Most friends can't be arsed to travel half way round the world to watch 20 minutes of racing so the TV coverage has been great at letting people see what we do. camera cars were great and showed clean racing and plenty of action. I certainly have had good feed back from the people that watched. My only gripe was the commentary, I wonder if we could push a little of the club/driver history their way, there is a lot of the same old jokes and a lot of time to fill on the green flag lap. Did we not used to have a folder with all this in it that we used to hand over to them at each race?
I think perhaps a camera on a datalogger or GPS speedo would give a better idea to viewers, they said we were doing the old hairpin at 50 mph, it was well over 70mph, people will then think we really are mad.
Just ideas, tell me to shut up.

[Mick Storey]

Good points Pete. The folder of driver info is an easy one to pursue

[marc n]

only saw the edited highlights version but plenty of good footage, will the full version be available to download online at some point, im sure your camera had plenty of action on it Pete :-). Would be a good idea for them to have some factual info about the cars and there corner speeds specific to the individual circuits rather than the random 50mph guess through old hairpin !!! for reference my best was 75mph through there however a grassy moment shortly followed :-)

cheers
marc

[Simon Crook]

It was nice too see you all again and even nicer to be racing with you all again we hope to do all of the races this season - I agree Pete I really do think that the commentary lets us all down, maybe a word with Magnus before the Mallory Live race, after all they want us to race on that billing as they did at Donington. I am more than happy to let the commentator have a go in my car during a practice session so that they can see whats what. 

[Trevor Williams]

The main TV commentator at Donington was David Addison, one of the most respected motorsports commentators in the English speaking world. He is the commentator for the BTCC coverage on ITV4, and also does quite a few circuit commentaries during the season. He can only work with the information he is given.
The file that you refer to is normally used by the circuit commentator, and in years gone by was provided to them by Ainslie when he was assisting with that unenviable task, rather than winning races like he did in the first one at Donington on Saturday
The other option is to make sure that you complete and hand in your commentator sheets (that come with your tickets) when you sign on, these can then be given to the relevant person......

[gadget]

shut up

[gadget]

well done all. great specticle of racing.
good mix of cars at front and mostly clean, but there are one or two.........
all our lot happy well apart from me and clarkey! bit of catching up to do.
see you all at croft.
gadget

[Ainslie Bousfield]

Yes there was a folder with all the information in which I used to collate as best I could from actual information and the lies, damn lies and statistics that were put on the various commentary notes.

This beautifully bound folder was obviously deemed such an momentus and historic tome that it was worthy of becoming a collectable. (Someone nicked it). This is why is is no longer available as it was stolen from the commentary box at Snetterton 2009. Whilst I expected to see it on thievebay soon after or even reappear sheepishly at a future event, alas it has never returned. No doubt Lord Lucan is reading passages from it to Shergar as I type.

Anyway, I gave a fresh copy of the new bumpertastic 2013 Snails Pace Annual to the commentary team before our races as I do every race weekend as Matt always supplies a few extra for me. (Great job Matt)

I know the commentators do hold our racing in high regard but we have to remember the purpose for them is to be the 'Ring Masters' of the show. A race meeting is a Circus, where everyone thinks their 'turn' is the most important. We do not create the 'ooohs' of the high wire act, nor the 'ahhs' of the acrobats. So perhaps were are seen as the clowns and perhaps some even laugh, but we entertain. Television is Entertainment. Racing is a Sport.



Off for a lie down!

[shorty]

Beautifully poetic, just like your driving.

[Martin Harrold]

I've not yet seen the TV coverage, but I'm told it's quite lively.

For sure, David Addison is a highly respected motor racing commentator, but as far as I am aware, he's not covered a 2CV race in recent years. On the other hand, Charlie Butler-Henderson has covered the 24hr quite recently so should have been reasonably well informed. The reality is that Magnus hired top people and we did not give them enough info about our cars, the drivers or the way we race on the circuit. As they say in advertising, good ads come from good briefs.

C B-H is leading the commentary team at this years 24hr. There is some talk of him qualifying and driving a car between commentary stints, but nothing is fixed.

There was some activity before the first race, as the programme did not make it clear which driver was doing the first race in two driver teams. Without such basic info, commentators will always struggle. I'm suggesting to Mervyn that teams be asked to indicate which drivers will do which race, and generally stick to that for the season. That way, with a bit of luck and with co-operation with Trevor Swettenham at BARC, the actual drivers will be listed for each race. This will help commentators, the media, spectators and officials. And racers too.

As for commentator info, we should all do our drivers info sheets. They ony need to be done once for the Championship series, succinctly written and neatly printed.

It should also be possible for some drivers who have done a circuit before to get together and agree to annotate a map of the circuit with app speeds and chosen gear. Again, it only needs doing once for each circuit.

[Matthew Hollis]

There was some activity before the first race, as the programme did not make it clear which driver was doing the first race in two driver teams. Without such basic info, commentators will always struggle.

They're not the only ones! It's a real struggle to do the race reports and championship table when I can't be certain who is racing which race.  Sometimes the result sheets are spot on, other times they just say both names and leave you guessing, and then sometimes they have completely the wrong names (I would like to congratulate Richard Hollis on finishing both races whilst standing on the pit wall)  ;)

[hemi442]

James enjoyed being a Hollis for the day, but I don't think he'll be changing his name just yet.   ;)

[Some Swede person]

I guess that, compared to my experience from 2012 1st race-meet, I should feel happy but for some reason the joy just cannot seem to arrive!
I mean, last year I got stuck in Amsterdam in transit and had no chance of arriving before midday Sat. Last WE I instead due to <insert various rude words> missed out on qualifying, but was at least allowed to start in both races, albeit from the back...

I then met the car I drove in 2012 24H in a rather unexpected way in the 2nd race so all-in-all I now feel persecuted by a higher power.
Looking forward, hmmmmm, well last year my 2nd race-meet I got DQ:ed for illegal chassis, meaning that the 2013 2nd race-meet "must" become a more joyful experience than the 2012 one.

I just hope the "more joyful" is not along the lines of what I had last WE at Donington but will actually see me qualifying AND finishing in both races WITHOUT any major issue or accident, plus being allowed to keep the results(whatever they may be) ::)

Many thanks to Alec for helping out with transport and mechanics, Sammie for taking time to fiddle with the carb and Merv&Tim for just being very helpful and friendly, thank God I got an easygoing and cheerful disposition else I do not know if I can take much more of this.

Most amusing was the look on all marshals faces when I drove onto the MG's qualifying-session, this to complete my mandatory 3 laps.