Race Day !

21st of April 2002 and it is the morning of Petes first race. By the time AO arrives in the paddock of Brands Hatch, the team of Trevor and Pete have already gotten the car off of the trailer and errected the Gazebo, no mean feat given the strong breeze. Overall the conditions seemed perfect, a warm day with bright sunshine and a stiff breeze.

Pete was ready to go to the staging area to begin his qualifying session, so we retired to the Grandstand on the main straight to get the best possible view of the proceedings. Qualifying went well with Pete managing to post some respectable times and keep out of the way of some of the other seriously fast drivers. The only hiccup in the proceedings was when the checkered flag was waved immediately before Pete crossed the line at the end of qualifying. As a result Pete didn't see the flag and went on to do one extra lap. Not a major problem, reflected by the fact that the clerk of the course saw fit to overlook the incident. Even though Pete posted the slowest qualifying time, the Auto Italia rules ensured he was near the front of the grid, and as such, in the thick of things when the lights went green, but more of that later.

 

Back to the pits and with plenty of time before the racing, it was time for Petes mum to bring out possibly the most impressive spread of food ever seen in the pits at a race meet, and definately preferable to the burger consumed walking from the car to the paddock (well it was a long way!) Entertainment was provided by a friend of Petes who owns the Diablo on the left. This car pre-qualified for LeMans a couple of years ago, has been extensively modified has incredible power and torque and makes an awesome sound. This car probably drew more attention than any other car in the pits.

As the hour of the race drew closer, Pete's nerves began to show through, normally a guy with a large appetite, his mums culinary efforts looked like they might go to waste. And Pete had every right to be getting nervous, shortly not only was he going to be racing on track for the first time, but he was going to be sharing that track with the likes of Graham Scott (Lancia Stratos replica) and Julian Birley (Ex-ITC Alfa 75) both very quick cars and drivers , neither of who will give an inch once the racing starts, nor make allowences for novice drivers. Scotts Stratos shown below has an Alfa V6 making over 300bhp powering it. As the time approached for Pete to make his way to the staging area, last minute pieces of advice were passed along to him, along with words of encouragement.

 

 

 

The Race

For the race we retired back up to the Grandstand with members of the Dietsch family, a feeling of tension fell over everyone, Pete even got a cheer as he passed by on the warmup lap.The start of the race was to be a rolling one, Pete had been warned that he needed to get to the inside of the first corner at all costs. As the lights went green and all hell broke loose, Pete somehow managed to get to the inside line safely. The picture below shows the melee that occured at the first corner, at the very front of the field you can make out a white Alfa 156 that is facing the wrong way!! Pete can be seen in the middle of the picture with Graham Scotts on the immediate outside of him, and Julian Birleys Alfa 75 outside of Graham.One the right of the picture you can make out a monstorous De Tomaso Pantera and a fairly wild looking Lancia Stratos Evolution replica, which when running correctly was amazing, but unfortunately retired in great plumes of smoke in the later stages of the race. The spinning 156 caused Pete to have brake heavily to avoid the confusion, but luckily he made it up to the hairpin without picking up any damage. Not everyone was as lucky, one of the many Alfa 33's in the race picked up damage to its oil cooler in this incident which resulted in it dropping oil onto the racind line and later retiring.After all the excitement at the start, Pete settled into the race and got down to the business of completeing the laps and staying out of the way of the faster drivers. On the left you can see Pete emerging from the dust after avoiding spinning Alfa's at the first corner of his first race. Talk about baptism by fire.Although Pete was never going to challange for the lead in this race, that was never the goal of the exercise. Finishing the race, and finishing in one piece to get the all important signature was always going to be more important than final standings. However as a result of the first corner comings together and several mechanical failures during the race, even though Pete was last on the raod he was by no means last in the overall standings. On returning to the pits Pete was quite obviously on a high after completeing the race unscathed, a blow by blow and gear change by change account of the race was recapped , the food was brought out again , and this time Petes appetite seemed to have returned with a vengence.

When the race results finally appeared, after a long delay because of a protest by one of the teams , out of 23 starters Pete's final standing was 15th, with 8 did not finishes.Pete got his licence back with a signature and almost everyone went home happy.

I don't think anyone could have wished for a better introduction into motorsport. Perfect weather, friends and family all having a good time, good food, finishing the race with no mechanical failures or damage. What a way to start a racing career!!

 

Pete has recently changed jobs so at the moment racing has to take abit of a back seat at the moment, however you can bet as soon as work commitments permit it and the finances are available Pete will be back behind the wheel grinning manically inside of his helmet and having the time of his life.

 

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