Life is never simple, is it? The poet Robert Burns had it right when he wrote that the best laid schemes of mice and men, often go awry… And, frankly, thank goodness for that because otherwise all motor races would long ago have been rendered deadly dull by engineers in pursuit of efficiency. It is the flaws and failures of motor racing, as much as the genius and the success, that make it a wonderful sport. You just never know… The top drivers know that all too often a nasty little gremlin with a grudge will leap out and detach a wire, stick a nail in a tyre or a dead fly in a fuel injector.
For me, today was supposed to be a nice easy drive home from the lovely English village where we stay, up near Daventry, to the arms of my wife in Paris. This meant a quite early start to avoid the chaos that the Tour de France brought to southern England today with squillions of fans driving to watch, road closures and no fewer than 1,100 support vehicles trying to cross the Channel to be in Le Touquet on Tuesday morning. All that was required for me was a whizz down the M40, round the M25 (south) and through the Eurotunnel to pop out in Calais and motor home from there, by way of Abbeville, Amiens and Beauvais. Easy.
So what am I now doing having a half-decent sit-down lunch on a Cross-Channel ferry, watching the White Cliffs of Dover slipping from view? The ship is filled with excited schoolchildren en route to field trips to foreign fields that are forever England or Rembrandt Museums in Amsterdam. The calmest place on a Channel ferry is always the “posh restaurant”. It’s an old trick we learned years ago when rushing back to England after countless Spa or Zolder races. If you want a little calm and decent food you don’t do the cafeteria… Ninety minutes is plenty of time for a decent feed and some coffee.
I heard on the radio on the way down towards London that there was something seriously wrong with the Eurotunnel. The people running it (always a loose term) were suggesting that passengers not even attempt to travel today. A broken train and the Tour de France arriving en masse, would create a right royal mess. You could not make this stuff up. I knew instantly that paying customers would be treated like dirt by Eurotunnel because ruining the Tour de France was an option they could not afford and thus they would give inevitably give priority to the Tour and other passengers would get screwed. I decided to bail out and rang my wonderful organised wife (hands-free) as I belted past the Gatwick turn-off on the M25.
Ten minutes later I had a ferry booking, while such things still existed. I diverted, by way of Canterbury, to the grubby old port beneath the White Cliffs of Dover, passing Bridge and Lydden on the way. The second is celebrated for rallycross and other such muddy pursuits, but the former is a bit more exotic, having been the home in the early 20th Century of Count Louis Zborowski, who created racing cars with his engineer Major Clive Gallop, including the celebrated Chitty Bang Bang, a car that was made into a film star by none other than Ian Fleming, of 007 fame.
Zborowski later died at the wheel of a Grand Prix car, as his father had done before him… Strange, but true.
So here I am, having a proper lunch on the ship as we sail towards France. I don’t even know the name of the ship but apparently that doesn’t matter…
F1 is far from my thoughts, probably a good thing after a busy busy weekend. The good news was that, for the Championship, it was a happy ending with Lewis Hamilton closing in on Nico Rosberg to keep the interest alive… Next stop Germany in 10 days.
Grand!
joeblogsf1 
Zbrowski died very young too if I remember correctly. From memory a seriously gifted engineer if slightly flawed character who didn’t know when to just slow down a bit, stand back and look..
Count Zbrowski – co founder of the RH&DR in Kent?
I didn’t know he did that. I remember it from holidays as a child. Went back a few years ago and had a ride. The carriages have go smaller 😉
Still. it beats working for a living Joe!
There is a blue plaque in Canterbury on the garage that Count Louis Zborowski used to build cars in..you really, really have to hunt for it…
Where’s that ?
Daniel, its at 16 St Radigunds Street, to the right of the Dolphin Pub.
Thanks ! I’ll take a look next time i’m in Canters.
I think I’m right in saying that there is an old garage in the back streets of Canterbury with one of those blue plaques to commemorate Count Zborowski and his Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
If Nico didn’t have his gear box problem, do you think he could have won the race?
Of my auntie had balls…
On Sunday morning I said to my wife “50 quid says that if Rosberg’s leading and Lewis looks competitive and in with a chance of winning his home GP, then Rosberg will suffer some sort of mechanical failure”
I’m sure you’ll disagree with me Joe, but it was all a little too deliberate for my liking. Merc needs two strong drivers for its title chances and Lewis, besides being rather immature, is prone to being rattled when he doesn’t get hos own way (I’m not doubting his driving skill) – but what a perfect opportunity/setting for a bit of a confidence boost.
Utter tosh
I expect Mercedes have hired the engineer from Williams who, in 1993, blew up Damon Hill’s car at the required time to ensure Prost victories.
Ha ha I remember saying that very thing at the time, I imagined the Renault engineer with his finger poised over the big red button to destroy Damons car
Hehe back in the late 90s my then-girlfriend used to joke about the big red button in the McLaren garage for Coulthard’s car…
what’s the bet Hamilton has a mechanical failure in Hockenheim, to give Rosberg his home win, then Hamilton can win in Hungary because that’s his circuit, and ainsi de suite, to keep the championship halfway alive…
I’m hoping Nico’s failure will stop the ridiculous conspiracy theories surrounding Mercedes sabotaging lewis, the FIA being against Lewis, everybody being against Lewis. Then I saw it was a false hope as they are still at it. enjoy your journey Joe!
I love unpredicatable journeys. It might seem like a pain at the time the disruption happens, but can sometimes be good if the outcome is a more pleasant journey. I think this love of unpredicatable journeys stems from my childhood, when for the summer holidays we used to pack, load up the car (we used to go camping), and then when we got in the car ready to set off, only then would we say “Right. Where shall we go to?”
Yes we used to do something similar with our kids, except we did book for a week or 10 days somewhere, and then we would take 2-3 days each way to get there and back in the car, stopping wherever on the way. It always added some adventure to the holiday! And as Joe mentioned, we also have used the Restaurant Method of channel crossing, get in the proper restaurant, you won’t be charged much more, if at all, than in the self service, and it is quieter!
Welcome to the world of the paying public Joe.
you should try Silverstone from a fans view.
When they say covered grandstand , they exclude the ends where the rain blows in and soaks you if you happen to occupy the end 6 rows of seats
The food selection ranges from burgers to chips to pizza to jacket potatoes .
The car park was ankle high wet grass.
No wonder the sport fails to attract youngsters , the service, the delivery and the understanding of what 21st century spectator sport is about .
And to crown it all the commentary was from bygone wireless type age comparing how Silverstone is the HOME of motor racing, whining on about jimmy Clark, james hunt and Nigel Mansell.
What about now! The cars the technology , the physics of the new cars, meet some engineers etc.
might I suggest you offer your services for pit lane walks , circuit tours and add some life and meaningful knowledge for the spectators rather than some duffers rambling on about years gone by.
For Joe Public you actually never feel valued ,that they rely on your money or have any understanding of the competitive nature of peoples sporting leisure time choices.
Safe drive home!
Sorry, did you attend the same race weekend that I did?
The tickets are expensive. The in circuit catering is expensive. There will be long queues for the loos. This is not much different from any major sporting or music event in the UK.
The race makers (volunteers) were fantastic and helpful even on Sunday.
Your ticket only covered your seat on Sunday (I was sitting in the open air at Stowe C so might have missed the rain) on Saturday you could have sat wherever you wanted bar 3 stands. I got to Becketts at 1215, got a great covered seat for Qualifying and got a little bit of spray on me as the rain was driving down hanger straight (in contrast I’d imagine somewhere like Club or the International Pits were extremely dry) you can’t stop the rain getting in unless you put glass up.
I ate baguettes for breakfast, Thai Noodles, Lebanese Kebab and sandwiches for lunch and for dinner rode down the quiet Dadford Road about 3 miles and ate at the Robin Hood pub in Bluffers Halt. On Saturday night we popped down into Buckingham for a really nice curry.
As for the commentary, yes it was no Brundle & Croft and the screens were too small/far away to read the info but what do you expect this is a large open former airfield not your living room!
As for young fans, all the kids I saw were fascinated by the cars. They didn’t care for cost and I’m sure it it made them get hooked. A British winner, some spectacular crashes, great battles and some good overtaking!
Yes the grass was long but it was okay to Motorbike across it!
Beat that!
in 1968 or 69, I had to drive one of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bangs from Pinewood Studios, where it was stored to central London for the EMI launch of their LP of the film’s sound track. As I recall it was based on an old Morris van chassis with a Ford Zodiac engine and that model had an auto gearbox, as it was assumed that Dick van Dyck would not be able to drive a manual. I got the job, as I was used to driving edwardian cars without front wheel brakes. I recall talking about it later to Roland Emett, who was an old family friend. He said he had wanted to make the car more exotic/fantastical looking but was overruled by the producers.
Wilson
Thanks for that…
(One just never knows who might stop by…)
Wilson,
I believe they built serveral. One is often on display at Brooklands, not sure if it’s there now. I’ll check tonight!
Sorry Joe, love your posts but the tour started in Leeds on Saturday and passed through South Yorkshire on Sunday for an absolutely fabulous day. Avid motorsport fan but recorded coverage to watch the tour on the Côte de Midhopestones. Huge attendance and proud to have been a small part. Congratulations to the organisation for making it possible!
It was in London town today though. Cambridge to Buckingham Palace in three and a half to four hours.
I am well aware of the road. Hence my post. Those who have never encountered the Tour probably do not understand the mess it creates. London was shut today. I encountered a dozen or so TdF trucks in the UK and went nowhere near the event.
“Those who have never encountered the tour probably” had a fantastic day,
I did it once in Paris years ago with my son. We stood around for hours with a poor view. We saw a bunch of promotional floats, Pom Pom girls and so on. The race came past us eight times but it was just a blur. On thé way home we agreed that the parade was better than the race. And, for the record, the Tour de France remains the sporting event with the biggest environmental footprint because of the huge numbers of spectators who drive to watch it.
“…sporting event with the biggest environmental footprint ” is a bit of a daft statistic IMO. So the lowest footprint is an event no one watches and that would make it better? It does also assume that anyone who drives to the event would not have driven somewhere else instead. F1 and TDF have one thing in common, if you want to watch the race use the TV, if you want and experience go and watch live. The TDF is free….
I fear you miss the point. The environmental footprint of any event must include the spectators. Thus the British GP, for example, has a bigger footprint than Melbourne or Canada, to which people go by public transport, rather than driving. The comment was made because rabid environmentalists are always attacking motorsport, without understanding that the TdF creates far more environmental damage than an entire season of F1 races. 13 million spectators… We cannot come close to a claim like that, despite 19 events.
As to other comparisons between the two sports, I do not see the relevance of your comment as this was not the subject under discussion.
‘Thus the British GP, for example, has a bigger footprint than Melbourne or Canada, to which people go by public transport, rather than driving.’
Though I wonder how many of those folk flew into Melbourne or Montreal – We flew from Brisbane to Melbourne, then obvs used the tram to get to the track (and bloody good it was too..).
I bet at least 50% of the spectators weren’t local to either city.
The planes would still be flying race or not. Cars are different!
Actually that was my point above, The ‘footprint’ of driving to a GP is net of any ‘footprint’ those same cars would have made doing something else instead of driving to the GP, Airlines makes schedules to suit demands. By the logic of ‘they would have flown anyway’ the many hundreds of thousand of miles I have flown have had no environmental impact as the planes would all have flown anyway!
‘On the way home we agreed that the parade was better than the race’ – That was my girlfriends exact sentiments as we held on for dear life on the tram back into Melbourne CBD after the race. ‘Qualifying was exciting, but the race was boring’ – I couldn’t disagree with her.
Completely oblivious to the TDF we drove to Durham on Friday; a five hour journey took 8 hours. We couldn’t understand what all the traffic was about. Even when we saw the motorway signs warning of delays the penny didn’t drop. It was only when we got to our hotel and put on the TV that we realised the jams were a consequence of spectators. 2 million people apparently.
I’ll add that I live on the route of the 2012 Olympic bike races and there has been a race every year since. It’s a complete bloody pain. I live in a Cul-de-sac so am stuck! Not to mention the rest of the year when the road is infested with Bradly Wiggins wannabee’s.
I’ll add I do cycle, but not on the roads, too bloody dangerous.
hope you now have your feet up! – nice article – your travel stuff is always good to hear
Bridge also used to be notorious for speed traps.
I believe Count Louis Zborowski and Captain J.E.P. Howey also built the wonderful Romney Hythe and Dymchurch light railway, which runs along the coast of Kent. Although it is a “miniature” railway, it is used by the travelling public on a regular basis, including a school train. When I found that out I immediately envied every school child who ever went to school on a miniature railway!
There are tales of hair-raising high speed rail adventures from the original era…
I went on that a few times as a kid !
I lived in Hythe for a few years as a kid and remember drives in Dad’s SD1 to ride the train.
Hi Joe,
What do you make of Niki Lauda’s comment that it was crazy to stop the race to repair the Armco barrier?
Although it would have been extremely unlikely that another car could have hit that exact same barrier, I am surprised by Niki’s “lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice” attitude.
It is something that has to be done
Why does the FIA continue to allow the use of Armco barriers at F1 circuits? If NASCAR no longer uses it, it seems rather incredible that the FIA persists.
Money
NASCAR still have Armco at the road courses they go to. At the ovals, they have concrete or SAFER barriers – but even then the SAFER barriers aren’t around all areas of all tracks. There are inside walls that don’t for some or others only have it in the corners (e.g. Indianapolis).
I’d argue that Ovals are completely different than road/circuit tracks. Ovals have little to no run off so need a different barrier than circuits which usually have run off (acres of it in F1’s case). Correct me if I’m wrong though – this is just a guess
His comment about the armco was misplaced, but in general Niki’s right, F1 and its drivers are both being quickly engulfed by the narcissistic nanny state
Not at all. Those with memories will remember that Clay Regazzoni was crippled because a previous incident was not properly removed.
And those with even longer memories will remember Helmuth Koinigg and François Cevert, and the carnage that can be inflicted by poorly secured guardrails. Not to mention Lauda’s own vocal opposition to the inadequate armco at Montjuich in 1975.
Whether or not today’s barriers are sufficiently superior to earlier ones to protect adequately after an impact like Raikkonen’s is a point that I’m not qualified to argue. But the mistakes of the past do not bear repeating.
Did Sir Jackie comment on Niki’s comment?
Niki called for drivers to boycott the 1976 race at the Nurburgring due to safety concerns, yet here he seemed to criticize the repair of the barrier as it could cause viewers to switch off?
Yes, it took a long time to repair and yes, some viewers may have switched off but what is more important, viewing figures or safety?
I don’t have a problem with them replacing the damaged Armco, but surly with so many brilliant engineers in the pits, they could design something that could be replaced in less than 10 minutes. Taking a full hour to replace one section of Armco is both nonsensical and potentially very costly. for both fans, promoters,and TV sponsorship.
I’m guessing the main time-eater was it being in place for more than a decade… plus, I think they wasted time trying to remove bolts right where it was bent… but, whatever…
In the spirit of your observation about F1 doing things quickly, here’s what I wonder: Why can’t they change brake pads it 12 seconds? Or adjust the rear wing with a few turns?
You have to feel sorry for the bloke paying for the global live satellite feed!
A Formula One pit stop to change four tyres takes under three seconds,
yet it takes an hour to change a small section of dented armco…
Lauda said he was paid to drive, not park…
Lydden was almost bought in the mid to late 90’s by McLaren. They had visions to turn it into a test track. I think it was overruled by some local NIMBY’s.
No, it was bought.
I thought it never went through. I believe now it’s owned by Pat Doran of former rallycross fame. I wish McLaren had turned it into an F1 test facility.
The McLaren application to turn Lydden into a private testing venue was turned down. Also there was opposition from within the team, as people did not want to move to Kent. I believe McLaren still owns Lydden but it is leased to Doran.
We always tend to use the ferries rather than Eurotunnel. A brief respite and a chance to get a decent meal before driving on.
Hamilton winning on home soil was obviously very popular with the partisan crowd. Just a shame that he was gifted an easy victory after Rosberg was forced to retire from the lead with his gearbox woes. We were robbed of what should have been an excellent race out front between the two Mercs.
Highly understandable, if rather unsporting, when the predominantly British crowd went wild with excitement when Rosberg retired and Hammy swept into the lead. There was the same fervour shown at the BGP last year when another German called Vettel was forced to retire from the lead too. A tad embarrassing to be British when such behaviour occurs, but I guess it happens in most countries when fate favours the local hero.
There is nothing wrong with patriotism. Nationalism is different.
Agreed, Joe. Still a little distasteful to see so many Brits again cheering the misfortune of a driver. Lewis’ victory would have meant so much more if he had beaten Nico fair and square. Still, that’s racing as luck and the opposite sway between the pair and at least it’s closed up the drivers’ title fight.
People are people. They do the same everywhere.
Spanish GP 2009 and the spaniards booed every single mention, sighting or reference of Lewis for the entire weekend, air horns, hissing, booing, everything and in any way they could. They even booed his dad when he appears on one of the screens. I’m not sure the English were that partisan.
…. wan’t some moron caught riding his bicycle thru the tunnel … adding to the Chunnel’s usual mess ? As to the TdF … it didn’t even begin leaving Blighty till late Monday afternoon so I rather doubt that had anything to do with the delays . Put it all down to those Chunnel folks I’m afraid . But errr even if the TdF had created the delays … hate to say this Joe .. but in the overall scheme of things lately the TdF does take precedence over F1 . To paraphrase the book ” Animal Farm ” Two Wheels Good ; Four Wheels Bad .. in the press as well as the world overalls mind
As to Hamilton winning . Go ahead . Somebody try and convince me that in light of England getting eliminated at the WC … Andy Murray taking his leave at Wimbledon and then Cavendish going down in flames on Saturday’s TdF stage that that Lewis’s result wasn’t ever so slightly … ‘ fixed ‘ A bit too convenient and coincidental if you ask me . Not that results in F1 have ever been ‘ fixed ‘ in the past mind you ! To quote the bard Randy Newman ; ” I might be wrong now … But I don’t think so ” 😉
I’m not sure if this relates to my post, but what the Hell…
Utterly barking.
Yeah a German manufacture retires their German driver on purpose for the sake of British sport, do me a favour!
If they wanted to do it purpose they could just delay him in the pits and still get a 1-2.
Depends which Auntie you had in mind!!! I thought you might have had fun today getting home. Thought of you as my very efficient UK East Coast trains did the business well getting me 600 miles to and from London for meetings – and not a bike in sight! Well done your wife!!!
What a brilliant race weekend! Who said the new F1 spectacle is ‘boring’?
That Vettel/Alonso battle was legendary.
We are a ferry user as our Discovery is LPG-fuelled and not allowed in the tunnel.
A nice relaxing trip across to Holland with a cabin to have a snooze in after an early start is just the job.
Enjoyed the post, Joe, and GP+.
Joe! You write so well you could be a journalist! For info, Lydden is also a super little club racing circuit. No facilities to speak of, just a demanding piece of Tarmac. Bernie would love it.
And while nit picking, the real Tour is of course the Tour Auto for historic cars.
Carry on writing and entertaining us!
Amnon
Quite. We attended the FIA British rallycross meeting there in May, so much genuinely close racing for a bargain price, fantastic atmosphere and really exciting racing. Fantastic event.
In the end the top people on the tour went by air, the rest and all the kit went by P&O boat. (If the bbc got the facts straight ).
You obviously did the right thing,in changing to the ferry. Apparently 400 people were evacuated from a train 7.5 miles into the tunnel! How that works or what happens to all the cars is a mystery. Still crippled this morning too.