Arrows

At the time of writing this I do not know - nor want to know (I’m going to watch the highlights later) - the result of the Belgian Grand Prix. The band is playing tonight so this afternoon has been spent preparing for the gig. But a timely text from my friend John reminded me that it was 25 years ago this weekend that I was actually at the Belgian Grand Prix. The first - and so far only! - time I have been to a GP outside the U.K. We left work on the Friday evening, drove down to Folkestone and caught the first available Shuttle. We then drove through the night through France and Belgium, arriving just in time for the Saturday qualifying.
On race day, we had seats in the grandstand at La Source with a good view up the hill to Eau Rouge. Just before the race started there was a torrential downpour and we were absolutely saturated. By the time the sun came out, Schumacher had cleared off into the distance and eventually won by a considerable margin. I was supporting Damon Hill who was driving for the Arrows team, having been dropped by Williams at the end of the last season, despite winning the Drivers Championship that year. Quite strange seeing the car with the number “1” on it trailing around in the midfield with a world champion at the wheel.
After an uncomfortable nights sleep (we were camping in a very basic way!) we set off for home early on the Monday morning. Arriving back in the U.K. it was straight into August Bank Holiday traffic, and it was many, many hours before we finally got back to Kendal. A few more hours sleep and then straight back into work in the Tuesday morning.
I have many photos, a tee shirt and this mug to remind me of that trip, but it’s still hard to believe that it was quarter of a century ago!
Interestingly, the back of the mug reveals that there were only 17 races in the Championship in 1997 - this year there are 22. I can’t help but feel that it’s more about the money than the racing these days.