CROFT SUNDAY 26th MAY 2002
I woke bright and early on Sunday, having spent the
previous day convincing the boss that time off was a necessity for this event
(he eventually relented). My wife Claire isn't a morning person so the trip to
Chester-Le-Street to meet my brothers, Phil and Dave, was an unusually quiet
one. Dave was to be Phil's navigator for the day as he is very soon to be the
third family member to purchase a MK1 and was very keen to sample the club
event.
Having had one cup of coffee too many at Phil's, I realised that my
"trademark" lateness was going to manifest itself as we now had twenty minutes
to reach Scotch Corner. Pushing a "little" over 70 (I promise) and just 10
minutes on the road I heard an uneasy dull "Thud!" and looking in my rear view
mirror I felt sick as I saw something long and black fly off my car. Frantic
headlamp flashing finally caused Phil to pull onto the hard shoulder and a five
minute inspection failed to turn up anything missing so we continued.
Having arrived at Scotch Corner (20 minutes late) we were soon joined by Paul
and Becky, then spent the following 15 minutes with Paul contemplating making
Becky stand in the corner of the car park (she's bought a MK2!). It was at this
point that I realised that the long black thing that I saw earlier was the
strip, which runs across the top of my windscreen, still it could have been
worse.
We set off for Croft having arranged to meet Mike Johnson there. Rain had
dogged our journey and it seemed that the closer we got to Croft, the heavier it
came down. By chance we arrived at the gate at the same time as Mike and
parked the cars. It is the first time I had been to this circuit and I was like
a kid with a new toy. We had a good hours trawl of the pit area prior to any
racing and one of the things that impressed me was the fact that you could get
right up to the "garage" areas and watch the mechanics prepare the cars for the
races. The GT cars were fabulous and it was awesome to be able to see just how
they are made up. Suddenly the roar of engines caught our attention and we
realised that the TVR Tuscan Challenge was about to start.
Paul decided that the best vantage point was going to be up "Sunny Out" and I
must admit you could see a lot of track from the hillside. The rain continued to
flow as we all huddled under brolleys. The wet track certainly spiced things up
as far as spinouts and near collisions were concerned, however following the
TVR's and the F-3 it soon became obvious that the best action seemed to be
occurring at the end of the starting straight, so we decided to grab a bite to
eat and move further around the circuit.
Lunch was supplied by a choice of fast food stalls, and although prices were
a little steep the food was very good. We had just finished eating when a
miracle occurred, it stopped raining and the sun came out. This seemed to
improve the atmosphere all round and we began to make our way back to view some
of the cars parked within the ground, one of which was a rear engined 2 seater,
3 litre, V-6 Renault Clio Sport which I drooled over. My family motor is a Clio
Sport but not one of this calibre and I suddenly had visions of putting my 10
year old daughter up for adoption and buying another 2 seater, but 23 grand for
a Clio, '' I think not!!''
Having returned trackside, we finally found a good spot on the hill over
looking the start and finish straight just in time for the start of the GT race.
This was a good as it gets, there was plenty of action and the first few laps
saw a Dodge Viper and a Lister Storm trading paint. A few laps later one of the
Ferraris went into a spin and sent the tyre barrier sprawling all over the
track. Eventually the pack opened up and the race continued without incident,
until 5 minutes before the end the thunder and lightning began. '' Its ok ''
said I '' the winds blowing that way, it wont come near us.'' WRONG!!! The
heavens opened and I've never seen rain like it before. The brollies came up and
we were going to try and stick it out when Paul Woods came up with the quote of
the day, '' I feel really safe standing in this flat open area with a metal
umbrella in a lightning storm.'' Suddenly the sanctuary of the MR2's seemed more
appealing and we made a run for it.
We eventually made it out but thoroughly enjoyed the day, despite the
weather. This event was a fantastic day out, a whole days entertainment for very
little outlay and well worth it. I'm already looking forward to the Touring Car
meeting in August here at Croft when the club will again be attending this
fantastic circuit, I only hope the weather will be better.
JOHN MOORE
