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The
Pirelli ladies caused a few turned heads
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Stewart
Roden explains 360 secrets to the Culvers. Wonder why?
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Only
a replica - Alan's new horse
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Damax
continues to multiply, there were six of them now
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Hethers
tells Brian where it all happened
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The
Red Arrows were great but may have caused a short race
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PE
faces the home video
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Skid
needs to think about that one
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No
argument: Avery and Simons clash, as per the video
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Dave
Jones gets the Driver of the Meeting award from David Wilkinson
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Ben
Cosby did well, in a competitive car at last
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Fans
came from far and wide to admire the Ferraris
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(pics by CMDigicams)
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PIRELLI
MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUNDS 9 & 10 : BRANDS
HATCH : 21 & 22 JULY 2001
PADDOCK STORIES
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click
for Results & Points
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- The hospitality
unit provided by Ferrari UK was a huge success. At £85 per ticket
one was not sure how many takers there would be but suffice it to
say that they sold out immediately and every place was taken. Apparently
on Sunday there were over 900 meals served. Both the food and (unlimited)
wine were excellent, the service efficient and friendly and for the
lazy there was even a first floor balcony from which to watch the
racing. Ferrari UK's John Newman looked a bit stressed on Friday,
though, when the hospitality unit was far from complete!
- Those trousers really
looked as if they had been painted on. The Pirelli girls patrolling
the paddock were a distracting sight for many a driver trying to concentrate
on the race ahead. Wonder if Swifty can arrange for them at a few
more PMFC rounds.
- There was an inordinate
amount of coming and going between various teams as cars were
bought and sold and plans made for the 2002 season. At least
five more 360/Chs are expected to enter the series and the "C"
class too will have an abundance of runners for next year. But what
about "O" class, which only had four starters at the flagship
Brands meeting?
- At first it looked
as if the Cosby horse had been retrieved from the horse thieves but
a despondent Alan pointed out that it was just a replacement. Still no
sign of the original, then.
- Lunchtime demonstrations included
two Ferrari F1 cars: an ex-Schumacher F399 and an ex-Prost 641. Whilst
the 10-cylinder 399 howled its way beautifully around the Indy circuit,
the 12-cylinder 641 was clearly a handful. The tiny powerband of the
engine caused it to kangaroo at anything other than near full throttle
and full throttle is not something done lightly with one of these
cars. Especially if, like Elliott Kinch, you have hardly driven it
before. A brave man.
- As at Spa, we had a direct comparison of lap times between the PMFC
360/Chs and the European boys. Nathan Kinch's qualifying time of 1:35.348
would have put him ninth on the grid of the 360 Challenge (West) race.
His quickest race lap of 1:35.997 compares with 1:33.517 achieved
by Javier Diaz in the 360 race. Concensus has it that the Europeans
go testing a lot more often than our own racers but one would have
thought that things might have been a little more even on the Brands
GP circuit, which was an unknown quantity to everyone. Still, Nathan
is in his first year of racing whereas some of the European lads have
been around for a while.
- It has been pointed out before but PMFC driving etiquette is not
getting any better. There was hardly a car without dings, dents and
scrapes and the amount of car-to-car contact was frightening. Peter
Everingham, minding his own business in the second half of the field,
said he had never been hit so many times by so many cars. It seems
the only way to stop someone passing is to whack into them and the
only way to pass someone is to nerf them out of the way. Something
needs to be done about this.
- Another reflection on the topic of driving etiquette. Is it getting
worse because so many of the cars now have near-equal performance?
Or is it something to do with the increasing number of rental cars
where the driver does not have quite the same affection for his precious
Ferrari bodywork?
- There was much grumbling after the second race was red flagged as
to whether the real reason was the arrival of the Red Arrows. Whilst
it is accepted practice that races can be shortened if a meeting runs
behind, surely it is an entirely different and highly cynical matter
to start a race knowing that it will be red flagged when another attraction
turns up. At least two of our drivers overhead a grid marshal's walkie-talkie
giving the message that the race could go ahead but would be red-flagged
if necessary in time for the Red Arrows.
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