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.
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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