Brands Hatch Fri/Sat/Sun 17/18/19 May 2013

"And now for something completely different". My last visit to Brands Hatch had been in 2008 and the last time I'd seen the DTM was in 2007 so a long overdue visit to the Garden of England (Kent by the way...) was in order. The DTM or German Touring Cars is a window for the mighty German car manufacturers to showcase their wares across Germany and, on occasion, other European countries. The DTM have been coming to Brands Hatch every year since 2006 and 

                                                   















provide a grid of 22 cars between them. The cars are both aurally and visually spectacular with 4-litre V8 engines and were well worth the trip. I was a little disappointed to realise after I had booked my tickets that due to cost cutting measures the DTM don't practice on Fridays this season so it was Saturday morning when they were first seen on track with a 90 minute practice session with qualifying in the afternoon. The DTM follow Formula One's lead it seems as qualifying had the dreadful shootout system in operation. Designed purely for television, as a trackside spectator I've paid to see as many cars on track as possible not less. The final 4 drivers then set a 1-lap time to determine pole position so after the convoluted session it what somewhat apposite to find that Martin Tomczyk had been stripped of his pole position and been put to the back of the grid due to his BMW being half a kilo under weight. Mike Rockenfeller in an Audi inherited the pole and went on to win Sunday's 98 lap race fairly comfortably from Bruno Spengler's BMW and a superb drive from Gary Paffett in a Mercedes to finish 3rd (from 11th on the grid) was rather harshly punished for a yellow flag offence and he was demoted to 6th. As expected the cars were spectacular to watch but passing on the 1.3 mile Indy circuit wasn't easy. I watched at McLaren's/Clearways and didn't witness a single overtaking manoeuvre all race. Quite why the DTM don't race on the full GP circuit is a bit of a mystery for me. One thing to note of interest was that during the race Augusto Farfus stopped his BMW on the start/finish straight. In this day and age the Safety Car would probably have been called but no...A German registered BMW 4x4 appeared to my right at Clearways and under cover of a waved white flag Olaf und Harald simply drove onto the circuit and towed the car away to the inside at Paddock Hill bend in front of oncoming cars. Das it how we do it Ja!!!
Supporting the DTM were 3 races for the European Formula 3 championship, 3 races for the new for 2013 BRDC Formula 4, 2 races for the Lotus Elise Trophy and 60 minutes race for the Lotus Cup UK series. I was really impressed with European F3 at Silverstone last month and 3 frenetic races ensued at Brands. The Prema Powerteam drivers, Raffaele Marciello, Alex Lynn & Lucas Auer shared the wins but there was plenty of action throughout the 28 car field. It should have been 29 cars but American driver Michael Lewis suffered concussion after a big crash at Paddock Hill during Friday qualifying and withdrew from the weekend.
The 3 Lotus races provided some good racing and I'm sure the drivers enjoyed racing in front of a large crowd. The presence of F1 drivers, Jenson Button and Paul Di Resta, certainly helped put a few more on the gate. My first sight of Formula 4 and the 24 car grid provided some entertaining racing. Only 2 drivers in F4 were born the 1980's which makes me feel old! The series was created to bridge the gap between Karting and Circuit racing and seems to have succeeded in it's brief. As the season wears on it will be interesting to see who emerges as champion as the 3 races were won by 3 different drivers just like the first round at Silverstone. My tip is Charlie Robertson who finished 2nd, 3rd, & 1st at Brands and set fastest lap in all 3 races. One driver in the field to note is the 16 year old grandson of 2 times World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi, Pietro Fittipaldi who was taken out in race 3 and is pictured here waiting for his car to be recovered. The helmet design is just like his grandfather's and it will be interesting to see how his career develops.

After a long absence it was good to be back at Brands. Paddock Hill is one of THE corners in motor racing and as a spectator you felt that you were at an Event this weekend. At a MotorSport Vision circuit the spectator is part of the equation, not a hindrance that you feel like at certain other tracks. Weekend admission was £36 and an excellent programme £5.
PS: I dug the tent out for the first time in 4 years and camped at the circuit for the weekend. All I will say is that the tent is now residing in a skip in the Brands Hatch area.....Never again!

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