A quick summary, i havnt even recovered yet and the van still needs unloading.
2 Days was a tough call ,very tough in fact, Saturday by far for me was the best day for the action, everyone was flat out all day trying to get onto the qualifying ladder for the finals Sunday morning, so from a spectator point of view, Saturday was the day to be there ( much to my surprise )
We had a "racing incident" which hasnt been spoken about which involved a car turning hard right into the tyres up the top end and being contained by the tyre bails ( they did a very good job ) the driver was ok and the medic was straight to the scene, see, i told you guys motorsport is dangerous, a full debrief with the racers will happen after the dust has settled as there are some quick guys out there not taking their safety seriously enough, lessons need to be learnt and quickly in my opinion and the the discussions need to take place openly.
Saturday night we had 150+ camping over, the rain lashed heavily, Bishopscourt was under easy an inch of water and any ideas of a race event on Sunday were a milion miles from my mind and having to babysit an angry drunk for the guts of 3 hours ruined my weekend. Luckily it blew so hard all night that when i woke at 7am ( after 2 hours sleep ) and jumped out of the van, the track was 95% dry with just a couple of small puddles, we were going to have a raceday afterall.
Typically we had a sensor fault in the left hand lane, right before the finals, after a drivers breifing and re jig, we still had a working tree, 60ft and full right hand lane e.t and speed so the racers agreed that we would call the win from the top end via 2 way radio and no times would be given in the finals, all the racers were more than happy with this and we got through them quickly.
After the finals, the left lane timing was fixed and we had an open track bar breaks for awards, all afternoon, Stevie Ross came down with his awesome granada and entertained with Micheal White, Jack Frost and some friends from Holeshot, but from a paying punters perspective, the two day thing breaks down right about there for me. ( a day and a half would do it all )
When you have a field of 60 cars, 15 dont show and 25-30 are just about working on a Sunday and a large amount busted on the trailers, thats no spectacle for the public, the racers all went nuts on the Saturday, bar the incident it was by far and away the best day.
I could post mortem the whole weekend, i wont, but i am firmly in the camp of go back to one day next year, the racers asked for it, we tried it, and although a lot did work and everyone went away happy, there wasnt quiet enough to justify 2 days for the public, i.e the lack of flat out racing on Sunday, to make it work there would need to be 100 cars present from day 1 to race.
Dave has been round for a chat, he didnt see the weekend the way i saw it at all ( what goes on to keep the thing going in the timing booth is crazy ), it was off the chart stressful for me, and i went home mentally and physically exhausted. Two months of preparation and at huge expense to family time in the build up has really taken it out of me. Everyone ive spoken to didnt have the view of the weekend i had, so maybe we were doing something right, 2 days was always going to be a push, and for me it was a bridge too far, thats my honest opinion.
Thanks to all of the Eircoolers that attended, i dont even want to look at my car for a week!!! (maybe even a month!!)
Cheers
Ben
