I had an excellent weekend there too, I arrived on Friday for the dinner and it was great meeting up with some new people as well as seeing the usual suspects again
We would have been in earlier, we were were sticking to the plot and meeting at the paddock entrance and after we waiting 30 mins for Claire & Jon we discovered they were already inside and they hadn't let Mary know
I got my Nori leathers & helmet signed by him and got last years poster (he wasn't signing them for some reason last year) signed by Michel. C/C affecting Ducati as this year they were signing postcards and last year they were 18"X24" posters. The food was excellent especially the tiramisu
Then there was an auction for a paddock jacket as worn by the teams which was a lot of fun and quite exciting too.......
The combined DOC and DSC stands were impressive with a Desmo and the new Supermono and an excellent mix of the other models.
Saturday practice was quite exciting and I think the new qualifying makes for a bit more too see.
Saturday night Ducati party at the launch pad was more promising than it was in reality. There was a band playing quite competently to an empty room as everyone was outside talking. Ducati could have saved themselves a lot of money having a DJ and spending the money on some food instead. At £12.50 I would have expected something to eat and if that was going to be the rudimentary BBQ that was being prepared the fire service, health and safety had a different idea and closed it down.
A burger van was brought in and although he reduced the price by a £1 I thought it was a bit much.
You could have gone without buying a ticket, there was nobody at the entrances taking/checking tickets and the stubs we taken in exchange for a raffle ticket. Then at the end of the night when over half had left they remember to do the raffle of a cap, T shirt, a polo and a jacket and I thought that was a bit cheapskate considering there were about 250 peeps there.
Nori turned and spent about 5 mins there and DT made an appearance too but Michel was the star, going down to where all the bikes were and sitting on them and their respective owners taking photos. His English has improved a bit and he is a lot more confident as if he has emerged from under the wing of Troy
Sunday I had a seat in Redgate and the £35 cost had the made sure it hadn't sold out, as there were only about a 1/3 of the seats occupied.
I don't know who the commentator was but he spouted @@@@e for the whole duration of the race, hardly pausing to draw breath and the pa was so loud that I had to put my fingers in my ears to hear him, it was really painful and a lot of people had either fingers or earplugs in so it wasn't just me! He even drowned out the sound of the bikes
Standing round at the hairpin the pa was so bad I couldn't understand a word!
Trouble is for me I have to sit down as I can't stand all day like I used to but I won't be paying £35 for the MotoGp. I'll be taking a chair with me
If Donington charged £10-£15 they would have sold out and got more money!
Saturday night I couldn't find my camera and on Sunday I asked a few of the stewards and thankfully one had found it and been honest enough to let the other stewards know about it and I got it back
The stewards were OK but they were employed by a security company as apposed to Brands Hatch who have the same stewards on the same stands for every event.
I doubt there will be F1 there as the place is very scruffy and won't come up to Ecclestone's exacting standards.
Shame politics have stopped the Brands round as I think more would have gone
