Author: Daniel Puddicombe.
Here's the second part of my BTCC weekend with AUTOSPORT (check out part 1 here). As ever, comments are welcome on here and Twitter. Sorry for the delay in this by the way – I was looking after my neices so couldn't write!
I actually slept on Saturday night, which was good news as I needed the rest. Like my F2 weekend, I was shattered after a day of running around paddock. That's not to say you should feel sorry for me though; I thrive on running around and love to find out things. Still, Sunday came nice and bright again; it was race day, it was going to be busy, and boy was I looking forward to it.
Getting into the circuit was a bit harder than the previous day mainly due to more people coming to the circuit. It was a lovely day and touring car were on the bill. What could be better? It was a lot easier to find the media centre in the morning than on the previous day, so I was set up nice and early, said hello to everyone and went for a wander before the first race. There was nothing really that interesting to write home about from the wander other than Honda confirming to me that Flash's car was fixed. We'd have more Honda-related troubles before the end of the day, though...
Wander complete, I went back the media centre to watch the first of the day – the Ginetta GT Supercup was out and anyway I needed to be around the media centre for the second race of the day, the Porsche Carerra Cup which I was covering. Plus it allowed me to go on about Louise Richardson on Twitter, more of which you can read later. Louise, incidentally, got a podium in her class, and I still had no idea who Emily Jane Williams was. She was, according to the Ginetta PR person someone who won a competion to be a grid girl. I'm not sure how she added 'much needed glamour to the Ginetta weekend'.
The Porsches raced and I made some notes which I discovered were hard to read the next day, picked up a results sheet and went down to the paddock again during the Ginetta Junior race because I needed to find out how to get on the grid for the for race for the touring cars. As it tourne out the answer to the previous question was 'very hard'. After explaining to the marshal that yes, I was part of the media and yes, I was allowed to go on the grid, I got told that I was at the wrong end of the pit-lane and that I should go to the other gate. So I traipsed through the paddock (good job I was organised and sorted it out early, eh?) and made it to the other gate only to be told that I had to go to the gate that I went to the previous as that one was the right one for grid girls and journalists.
After explaining this to the Marshall I got let into the pit-lane and followed everyone because I didn't really want to stand around like a lemon in front of the prying public who were really confused as to who I was and why I was in the pit-lane. Everyone seemed to go towards the other end of the pit-lane so I followed, only to be told by a marshal that I wasn't allowed on the grid-walk and that I had to exit the pit-lane using the gate that two minutes earlier I was told I wasn't allowed through. Of course, this had to take place in the background of Steve Rider introducing something...
At this point, as I was once again walking towards the media centre, I was annoyed. I had been told that I was allowed to go on the grid walks, but the huge palaver had put me in the wrong frame of mind so as I walked into the media centre, I noticed a man wearing an MSV shirt walking out, and explained that the conflicting information given to me was very annoying.
'Come with me. I'll get you on' he said reassuringly as we walked towards the gate for the third time. This time, I breezed past, oozing with confidence and walked into the pit-lane, then through a little gap in the barriers and onto the grid. I had finally made it. I then got a tap on my shoulder. I thought it was a marshal at first to tell me to get off, but no, this person said my name.
'Hi Daniel'
I racked my brains. Who was this man? Why did he know me? Was he someone I was meant to know?
'Erm, hi. I don't know who you are. Can you, erm, say who you are please?'
'Ha, yeah, I'm Jack.'
I still didn't know who this 'Jack' person was. Had I met him? Maybe he was a random Twitter follower? Clearly, Jack saw the lack of memory in me.
'I'm Jack Nicholls. I met you at F2'.
Ah! The light bulb went off in my head. I remembered Jack. Well, I did, but I hadn't spoken to him much over the weekend as he was doing the commentary and asking the questions in the Press Conference, but anyway, I knew who he was, finally. By this time, the grid was really filling up with other people who had managed to slip through unnoticed, or people who were meant to have been there. (I fall into the latter category, contrary to what the marshals had said)
It turns out Jack was at Snetterton with his dad and had blagged his way onto the grid. Still, we were on the grid; so we did a grid walk. Well, when I say we did a grid walk, I mean we walked the first three rows of the grid and then got turned around by a marshal (I don't have anything against them by the way; they were doing their job) because it was time to get off the grid, and make my way back to the media centre to watch the race.
I'll skip to the end of the day from here as I'm sure you know what I did between the end of the first touring car race and the end of the day. In case you don't, it went something like this: Go down to paddock, find someone to talk to, go up to the media centre to put what they said online, stay in media centre to watch support races and go on grid walks. Repeat.
So instead I'll fast-forward to the end of the day after the final race. Everyone was hurrying along tapping out their copy and the teams were trying to pack up as quickly as possible. I was also trying to get out of the circuit quickly, but I came across a couple of obstacles. Namely one being the lovely Louise Richardson. As I was walking out of the media centre towards the paddock for the final time – it's a strange arrangement at Snetterton where us media folk have to walk through the paddock to get to the car park – I once again heard my name from behind. I turned around to see Louise.
'Hi Dan, I noticed you were jabbering on about me on Twitter earlier during the race? Thanks'
I was taken aback. Somebody actually read my tweets over the weekend? 'Erm, yes, you were doing really well'.
And so it carried on for the next twenty or so minutes, Louise and I just chatting away while everyone else was trying to pack up and get home. I think that because of the small age gap – she's two years older than me – it must have been refreshing to meet someone in the media who was a similar age. And she was making herself known to me as I guess she figured I'd write about our meeting and get some free publicity. Finally though we had to say our goodbyes as she was in rush to get back home and I had dad wondering where I was. (Louise, if you're reading this, there's a chance of me being at Brands. Catch up again?) So I carried on through the paddock, just coming up to Rob Austin's garage when...
'Ah, Daniel. Do you want to join an impromptu party in our garage?'
It was Rob Austin who had sprung from nowhere and he was inviting me to a random party. Suddenly all concept of time flew out of the window and I agreed and went into the garage to hear some loud music and a lot of jolly faces. I'm still not entirely sure why he was holding a party at the time and even more confused now because he's not got a lot of money. Maybe he spends it all on random parties? I have no idea.
When I managed to drag myself out of a loud garage (I know, it's tough being a journalist...), I finally made my way back to the car to find a very confused dad when I told him of my tales. We were one of the last to leave – it was near enough 8pm, two hours after the final race had ended – but it was worth it. Still, we wouldn't be in any traffic on the A14 would we?
Wrong...
Thanks to:
My dad for transporting me to Snetterton and spending two days by himself while swooned from party to party and wrote a few things. Actually, that's not quite true – I 'only' attended two parties all weekend.
AUTOSPORT, Snetterton and the BTCC for having me.
Louise Goodman, Toby Moody and the great Kevin from MSV for giving me great advice and helping me out a number of times throughout the weekend.
KX for giving me free drinks all weekend.
Everyone (well, almost) from the paddock for being so friendly and kind to me over the weekend.
And finally, my friends in and around the paddocks and media centre for putting a smile on my face all weekend. Cheers guys. Anyone for Brands....?
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