The weekend that was never meant to be...

All the hype for the 1st round of the season at Brands Hatch this weekend came quite literally to a grinding holt on Thursday night.

The day started with a fairly normal day at work, only difference being there was a transporter and the race car waiting for me in the car park ready for the drive from Gaydon down to Brands Hatch in the evening to join the rest of the Tucker Motorsport team... little did I know what was to come.

The calm before the storm

Heading south down the M40, everything seemed to be going my way, the truck was driving beautifully (with the help from a coach to slipstream) and with traffic seemingly dying down on the M25 as rush hour ended everything was going to plan.

However, at half past 7 the wheels fell off the wagon (not literally, think that may have been even worse) as the tensioner pulley for the cam belt made a bid for freedom with a rather loud bang, then engine instantly cutting out.

From there, everything went down hill very quickly. The 1st flat bed arrived and rescued me at 10pm from the side of the M25 with some difficulty due to the air suspension on the truck, and could only take me to Newport Pagnell services, where I would have another flatbed there waiting for me to take me the rest of the stint... or so I thought.

Instead the waiting game began as I spent the next 8 hours at the services, with 2 attempted pick ups (both with the same flat bed, would have thought they would have learnt after the 1st attempt but apparently not)

The transporter finally got back to base at 11:30am the following morning, 17 hours after the initial break down (Glad the RAC don't do Formula 1 pitstops). The next 7 hours became a time to catch up on some sleep after my 31 hour day, and with no way of getting the race car back down to Brands, the race weekend was officially over for me.

The end to a disappointing weekend before it even began

A steep and disappointing learning curve, but we move on to Pembrey next month with a determination to make up for the disappointment of Brands Hatch.

Wishing all the best to the Tucker Motorsport team this weekend, hope to see some strong results for the team.

Jack