Highlights were the trip to Le Mans and the trip to Long Beach, California, for the American Le Mans Series and Indycar races. In fact I was going to write the entry while watching the season ending race for the Indycars from the Las Vegas 1.5mile oval track (same size as Rockingham, where I’ve been this weekend).

The build-up did it’s job, the race started, it looked crazy with 34 cars jostling for position on a sub-30second lap. Then it happened.

13 laps in, what can only be described as hell broke loose. Cars touched and flew over each other. As cars slowed, unsighted cars came piling over the top. Cars caught fire, cars broke apart. 15 cars were caught up in it. It was over in seconds, and it was devastating.

When the race was stopped, attention was being drawn to two cars. One was upside-down and being righted by the safety crew, and the other was wheels down, but worryingly missing it’s all important roll hoop from above the drivers head. British driver Pippa Mann (still recovering from a cracked vertebrae sustained less than two months ago) was helped from the rolled car into the ambulance. The other car with fellow Brit Dan Wheldon onboard was still being attended to.

The power and the peril of social media went into a frenzy for the next hour or so, while the tones from the track became more sombre. Drivers who had given confident interviews to camera shortly after the crash were now in team tents openly crying. Then it was confirmed that Dan Wheldon had succumbed to his injuries.

I feared it was coming. After seeing some of the photos and footage, if most people are honest, they would all have suspected it was coming. But it hasn’t happened for so long in such a high-profile event, that when it does, it’s a dreadful shock.

If it had been a driver with a reputation, or a dark side, or a reckless streak then the comments I’m seeing fill my Twitter stream now would have been massively different to what I am seeing. Dan Wheldon was a good guy, a professional driver, a respected driver, a multiple Indy 500 champion, and the guy given the responsibility of developing the new car that all the drivers will race next year. Drivers-for-hire don’t get those chances, but respected drivers do.

I’ve rambled enough, but it helps me get the thoughts out of my head. I’ll talk about my season and the plans for next year another time. One less driver will be part of those plans.

Rest in peace Dan Wheldon, and condolences to family, friends, colleagues and supporters.

At this moment in time, my sister, brother-in-law and their daughter are enjoying the first night of their holiday on P&O’s Ventura, heading to the Med (comp upped into a suite, thank you very much!). This weekend I should have been in Atlanta, Georgia, for the Petit Le Mans sports car race, my second stateside marshalling trip of the year after Long Beach in April.

Much earlier this year, I decided that the trip would be too much, and used some of the holiday days elsewhere, and committed to marshalling this weekends 24hr Britcar race at Silverstone.

However this morning I got itchy feet, wanderlust, whatever you want to call it. Knowing my sister was going, and after seeing my Twitter feed full of comments from drivers, journalists and other marshals already at / preparing for the weekend in Georgia, I wondered if there was any possibility of there being any late flights or package deals. The next two days are rest days from work, and the time’s already booked off work for the Silverstone weekend after all.

That’s when the fun started. A quick glance showed flights out on Wednesday (tomorrow) and back post-race on Sunday being available, and not out of reach price-wise. There are plenty of hotel rooms and car-hires available, again within budget. It was do-able, but would mean giving back-word for Silverstone, where I am in a position of some responsibility for 1/2 of the main 24hr race, and we’re already short-handed. I was umming and ahhing.

Then I screwed up. My cash is in the bank, but I needed it on my pre-load credit card. While I was still thinking, I set up a transfer. As soon as I accepted it, I realised that it would take 3 days to happen. Plans knackered there and then with a click of the mouse.

If I’d have gone to a local shop with top-up facilities, it would have been on my card in 15mins. Looking at the ATM tonight, the cash is gone from my bank, but floating in the ether waiting to credit onto my card. In the meantime, there’s no point looking at the travel plan any more because I would need the card & deposit tomorrow for the car hire and probably for the hotel check-in, and I don’t think the current balance of £46 will get me very far. The race-track isn’t close to downtown Atlanta, so public transport isn’t an option, and I’ve been stung by cab firms before to race circuits (Laguna Seca a few years ago cost a fair bit!).

So now, in some ways annoyingly but in others enthusiastically, I have the 24hr race at Silverstone to look forward to this weekend. I’ll have the radio, timing screens and news feeds coming from America, but I’ll be very much in Northamptonshire. The worst thing will be on Thursday night or Friday morning when I get the text message saying ‘your funds are now available on your credit card’.

Too late, was the cry. Too late.

February

• 26 – VSCC Pomeroy Trophy @ Silverstone

March

• 20 – HSCC @ Donington

April

• 14-17 – American Le Mans Series / IndyCar @ Long Beach, CA, USA
• 23-24 – BARC Trucks @ Donington

May

• 8 – BRSCC / Britcar @ Donington
• 14-15 – BRSCC @ Donington
• 21-22 – MSV @ Cadwell Park

June

• 4-5 – FIA GT @ Silverstone
• 8-12 – Le Mans 24hrs, France
• (the rest of June is pretty much dedicated to Glastonbury )

July

• 7-10 – British Grand Prix @ Silverstone
• 16-17 – World Touring Car Championships @ Donington
• 23-24 – British GT @ Donington

August

• 6-7 – BRSCC @ Donington
• 13-14 – MSV @ Donington
• (music festivals intervene again, this time Leeds Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend)

September

• 3-4 – British GT @ Rockingham
• 9-11 – ILMS @ Silverstone
• 24-25 – British F3 / British GT @ Donington
• 29-2/10 – American Le Mans Series Petite Le Mans @ Road Atlanta, GA, USA  —OR— Britcar 24hr @ Silverstone (I’d like to go to the ALMS, but will see how finances & plans look later in the year)

October

• 8-9 – British GT @ Silverstone
• 15-16 – BRSCC @ Donington
• 29 – MSV @ Silverstone

November

• 5 – BRSCC / Britcar @ Donington

December

• 26 – BARC Plum Pudding Meeting @ Mallory Park

So in no particular order…..

• I wish I felt better (had a dose of man flu last week which has left behind a pesky cough and a complete lack of enthusiasm)
• I wish I was somewhere less rubbish (mostly the fault of weather and politics)
• I wish train operating companies would just get their act together and stop making excuses and actually tell customers what is going on.
• I wish I had any other job than trying to justify what the train operating companies are doing.
• I wish I hadn’t screwed up several years ago. Personal, financial and  vocational.
• I wish my room wasn’t such a tip (alright, in the grand scheme of things not a massive issue, but this is my venting so back off).
• I wish I’d checked the coolant before trying to drive my Land Rover yesterday. I fear a cooked and warped engine.
• I wish I knew the 6 numbers for the next lottery.
• I wish I could speak my mind.

Thanks, I needed that.

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