2010. July 26. 18:56 | no comments yet.  author: Viktor Adorján

Brands Hatch made us amazed. We loved the venue, realized how a race should be ran everywhere, suffered with the small available space and got frightened by a horrific crash. This is just an excerpt from the selection of our memories from the UK, check the rest after clicking on the title.

Wonderful Brands Hatch

This is the very first image that we captured on Friday morning when we got a view for the magical Brands Hatch Circuit. it is not overdramatized to state that it was a shocking experience and several team personnel reported repeatedly how impressed they are by the facility which is successfully keeping up its traditional atmosphere while hosting a world championship event.

Brands Hatch is simply an awesome place for any racing enthusiasts, it is very hard to find a circuit which is able to create this such a unique atmosphere that catches the mood of everybody. Additionally the event itself is ran as every world championship weekend should be: it was very hard to find anything that was not put in place in Brands Hatch.

Starting from the fully operating wifi network in the entire paddock area, the outstanding work by the staff, the very rich official program up until the great management everything was working like it should be and this is something that is really deserves admiration. If a case study were written about how to organize a WTCC race weekend, Brands Hatch would be likely to end up the example.

"I'm bored like hell"

It has become a regular routine that WTCC drivers get a 30 minutes test session on Friday afternoon before the program really start on Saturday morning with the Free Practices. This session was deleted from the schedule in Brands Hatch leaving Zengő-Dension Team's lead driver Norbert Michelisz without any tracktime on Friday. The Hungarian driver didn't hide his restlessness as he had no major obligations on Friday apart from the Drivers' Briefing and the regular track inspection that is usually scheduled for Thursday afternoon with his race engineer Arnau Niubó.

Therefore Michelisz needed to look for things to do while he was sidelined and decided to substitute for Gergő Bári, race engineer for the SEAT Leon EuroCup cars while he had to concentrate on other tasks. Michelisz grabbed the radio headset and acted as the spotter for his former opponent Duarte Félix da Costa while the Portuguese driver claimed his best qualifying performance to date. Ironically two years ago it was da Costa who took Michelisz out from Race 1 of the SEAT Leon EuroCup but now they both smile on the incident that is considered as an unfortunate racing accident.

"We're in a small hole again"

Portugal was a great relief for the whole team as the state of the art Circuit Internacional do Algarve featured quite large garages for the WTCC teams to operate around the cars. Space usage is a typical problem for the teams as most of the circuits offer very limited possibilities in terms of garage allocations which means that working around the car is a very uncomfortable environment for the mechanics.

Despite the fact that Brands Hatch is an amazing venue it is clear that a world championship event needs more space for the infrastructure and it is not a surprise that Team Principal Zoltán Zengő was not impressed by the look of his outfit in the garage. It might sound like a harsh complain but space allocation is something that should be thought over as servicing a racecar in such a big challenge for everybody.

Being a part of the nature

We've already noted the capturing atmosphere of Brands Hatch but the importance of the nature around the circuit should be highlighted as well. Biking on the service road around the circuit is a similar experience to do the same in Monza or Imola but still a unique feeling to meet a surprisingly wide range of animals including squirrels, eagles and rabbits in the silence of the forest.

Today the usage of the Brands Hatch GP Circuit is strictly limited to a few days each year due the aims to reduce the environmental impact of the facility and despite being an admirer of the track and its history it must be understood that Brands Hatch truly lives if it can stay in symbiosis with the nature around it.

Getting to be a regular in the media centre

It is a very encouraging to note that Norbert Michelisz is getting to be a regular participants on the press conferences following the qualifying and the races on Sunday afternoon. Michelisz did a hat trick in Brands Hatch by being the best of the rookies in qualifying and on the races too which meant that he was welcomed in the media centre following the podium ceremony.

Meeting Norbert up there is not just a reason for being happy for us, it also helps the way we can interact with our driver. Norbert has been a very friendly guy at an outstanding level and he remains so while his obligations as a WTCC driver often take him away for longer periods over the course of the weekends so it is relaxing to have a chat with him in a silent and air conditioned press room before he is heading back to fulfill his next commitments.

Michelisz Sr is watching

Every professionally operating teams have key personnel who always provide outlook for the world beyond the gates of the racing circuits. Norbert Michelisz's parents Mr. András Michelisz and Mrs. Terézia Michelisz are certainly these kind of people for the Zengő-Dension Team. Our lead driver's parents are present on the majority of the European races to support their son and be a part of his uprising to the highest level of touring car racing.

Michelisz Sr. was spotted on the trackside before the qualifying session for the Race of UK where he told us with warm hopes in his words that he is having difficulties with staying in a place when his son is racing and quickly brought up many memories from last year's race when Norbert Michelisz participated in the SEAT Leon EuroCup and the WTCC as well. Later he obviously came onto the grid before the start of the race to capture another moment in Norbert's life the way we'll never be able: from the point of view of a dad whose son has achieved already something that is given only to a limited selection of drivers around the world.

On (the racing) line

From our point of view Brands Hatch brought a small but important breakthrough as we were honored to experience what is it like to be followed real time. An experienced pair of eyes is able to notice the differences among the levels of expertise that the crowd gained over the years and it was remarkable to feel how prepared are the British fans.

On the top of this a few members of the crowd truly showed what it is like to take a motorsport weekend as a social event; tweeting from the trackside or uploading a horrific video of what just happened are activities when we form a community of people interested in racing with cars may us be fans, team members or drivers. Technology and its smart usage bring us together.

Where there is not enough money

Places attractive for tourists are often tending to be overloaded by shops and other places to buy gifts but the more prestigious locations are housing stores that are worth to visit because they offer pieces that are only rarely available or have a unique part in the culture of the place we visit.

Brands Hatch is like that; there are quite a few shops that should be visited including the small but impressive bookshop in the back of the grandstand but rare memorabilias, artistic products and the average merchandising items are also easy to find, only our pockets need to keep up the pace that our temptation dictates.

A moment of silence

There was topic that everybody was looking not to bring up over the course of the weekend; it was none other than the still very sad memory of Henry Surtees' fatal accident last year that took away the young driver's life in Brands Hatch. This year's race marked the anniversary of the accident but the truly enjoyable weekend seemed to make the people move on for a while and concentrate on the action on the track.

It was like until Race 2 of the SEAT Leon EuroCup which saw the most dangerous and the most serious accident in the short but notable history of the series. Following a usual contact Portuguese driver Francisco Carvalho crashed into the barrier and his car fell among the marshalls outside the track. It was only down to pure luck that the worst case scenario didn't appeared but the view on the TV screens was enough to make everybody speechless and frightened by the pictures. It was truly a moment of silence as everybody's favorite game turned into a threat for life which should make us to take seriously the "Motorsport is dangerous" signs on the passes and on the trackside.

Rush to the airport

The accident during Race 2 of the SEAT Leon EuroCup brought a disruption into the plans of several team personnel who were in a hurry to take the flights back to home on London's Luton and Gatwick Airports. Chiefs of Zengő Motorsport and Dension prepared to leave quickly after the end of the 2nd SEAT Leon EuroCup race but the suspension and later the cancellation of the race made them to rush to check in and turned the job of the remaining team members in the media centre into a traffic dispatcher.

It should be similar in Brno which is the closest location to Budapest so on Sunday night everybody should be able to sleep in their own beds as the harder half of the European leg of the season is coming to its end in the Czech Republic.  

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