Sniff the petrol

Strong winds and cancelled flying adventures gave me the excuse for a motorsport fix today. I met up with my photographer pal Gary at Brands Hatch race circuit for the qualifying of the British GT Championships.

A sunny but cold afternoon and relatively quiet visitor numbers gave the afternoon a private event feel. I started out with coffee and a chin wag in the pit lane terrace cafe with Gary and one of the Autosport magazine journos as we reminisced about the Mazda RX-8 Formula Woman Championships back in 2003 when Gary and I first met.

As the qualifying sessions restarted for the afternoon I met up with some Castle colleagues over the other side of the circuit who were enjoying a motorsport weekend.

We soaked up the atmosphere, got excited about the sound of the Lamborghini racing past and chewed the cud over the virtues of vintage motorbikes. Norton or Ariel, Belstaff or Harley?? Hhmmmm such decisions.

It was my colleague Ian's first trip to Brands and I saw the day through his eyes with renewed enthusiasm. I've spent so much time around aviation lately I'd forgotten how much I loved cars too. Here's a link to a video of the action www.facebook.com/samilovetoflywilliams/videos/10153307271662363/

My photographer pal had the thankless task of photographing a rather tanned TV chef today who was not the most polite man you'd ever meet.

In contrast we had a lovely chat to a couple of the lovely Marshalls in the Paddock cafe who were not self-important at all. To me, they're the true superstars.