Motorsport is one thing that I love a lot and for a time I was able to go to a large number of events.
Now Britcar was a UK based endurance racing series. Think of Lemans, but with cars that are either Group N converted for racing to FIA GT3 spec with some interesting cars thrown in that.
This was 2010 when I attended and somehow my friend (who was official media that weekend) and myself were adopted by Lotus cars, who were running the new Evora GT3 cup car, run by a collection of former BAR Honda F1 reserve drivers (one even migrated to Force India for the role) so we were allowed in the pit garage and granted photo privilege with them, hence this pitstop in action during night practice.
This was access I never expected to have in a million years and yet here I am this close to the action (while keeping to the sidewall!)
This is live refuelling practice in prep for how it would be during the race.
And full tire stops as well.
The type of cars on display were so diverse as well, such as this Swedish racer, the Aquila CR1 Sports GT.
Which is seen here at speed on track.
This is the CR1 stripped down showing all its goodies.
Sadly the car didn't go far in the race due to a technical failure that they couldn't repair.
The race itself was pretty much a soggy affair, with it being red flagged during the night due to the amount of rain coming and surface water not shifting. But it did allow for some reflective shots when racing resumed, as we can see with the Mosler MT900R
Moseler MT900R in the pit garage, where it was at least dry!
Refuelling practice on this converted Renault Clio Sport
But cold and wet it was within the pitlane between sessions.
But one car did cause a lot of interest, as it was a return of an old racing name, that being Chevron!
This had added value in that it had BTCC racer Paul O'Neill in it, so was a serious effort, but also amusingly it had Neil Primrose from the band Travis involved too.
Sadly this was another car we did not see much of on track, its race was over within half an hour with a catastrophic failure. And to memory, I've never seen this car raced again (although if anyone knows better please let me know!).
Wet pitlane, wet paddock, wet race, we know the theme here, wet ;)
Still, the teams worked hard to get all cars working and finishing the race, in some cars you wouldn't expect, like the 1 Series BMW or a Rally favourite, like the Escort Cosworth.
I think except for that pre-race and the first couple of hours, the entire weekend was soaking wet, but at least I could say I attended my first 24 hour race!