The last time I was at a British Touring Cars event was a short fortnight ago at Donington Park. Two weeks ago I was singing ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by The Beatles. This time, a song about rain may be better and there are many to choose from. So far, first practise has taken place for Matt Neal and Gordon ‘Flash’ Shedden in the Honda Yuasa Racing Civics. The wet tyres have been tested. So far, so good.
Matt & Flash arrive here at Thruxton this weekend gagging to get on the track. It’s one of the quickest circuits of the BTCC season and with the boys on a roll from Donington (with no less than five podium finishes between them) I’m confident we’re in for another brilliant display of driving. In the drivers’ standings, Matt is currently in third place on 78 points and Flash in fifth, on 72 points. Gordon Shedden will also celebrate his 200th BTCC race this weekend here at Thruxton with Matt Neal having celebrated his 500th at Donington, two weeks ago. You should have seen the cake for Matt! In fact, you can, have a look on our Twitter feed and you’ll see the pics! @lloydbell
Putting this all into an analogy (and bear with me) a circuit is called such because it is complete. Today, here at Thruxton, my broadcasting career comes to its first real full circle (and I hope there’ll be many more. (Is this sounding a bit Alan Partridge, already?!)). Anyway, my very first paid radio job was here at Thruxton, ten years ago, almost to the same day for the British Touring Cars. The difference last time was the BTCC was over the second Bank Holiday weekend in May, not the first like this year in 2013. The buzz of all of this was there for me ten years ago and it’s still here today, only stronger. This time, I’m in amongst it all, behind the scenes – getting to know Matt & Flash, working closely with Honda Yuasa Racing and this time I don’t have to pay for my own food! At the end of the day, these are the perks, and let’s face it, free meals excite us all. Being honest, the free food isn’t the main highlight, I’d be a pretty sad case if it were. The perks are being here, feeling it all around you and reporting it all back to the (great) British touring car fans.
So between this blog, our Twitter feed (@LloydBell), our FaceBook page and the podcast we have on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/honda-yuasa-racing-2013-podcast/id629250853) you can see and hear what’s going on during each round at the BTCC.
In the meantime, I’ve just had a coffee and a brief of the weekend ahead with my lady boss, Sam at LloydBell, the sun has just come out to say hello and looks like it’s here to stay. So maybe I’ll be able to sing ‘Here Comes The Sun’ after all.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmm……! Bring on the weekend! Matt, Flash – go for it!