Brands Hatch SBK 2000

This weekend was a Superbike round at Brands Hatch. This is an awesome track just south of London - by the M25 motorway. The only problem is access, and you can read about fun and games exiting the circuit later. Richard and Theresa arrived on Friday night as their flat had been cleaned out by the movers ready for the shift back to NZ. One-Ear was a bit suss of this new flat. She slinked out of her cage with the lowest belly I have ever seen. I'm surprised she could walk with her legs that bent. She hid behind the table well out of sight. This was her haunt for about a week whenever Theresa and Richard weren't around. But, she came out Friday night when we were all asleep, as I woke up and heard her breathing in my ear. Theresa and Richard returned to their flat Saturday to clean it from top to toe. Sunday, we left quite early, but it was still a long queue to get into the Brands Hatch ground. We stocked up on McDonald's breakfast before joining the car queue, so we had enough sustenance to make it through the crowds.

As it was a gorgeous day, there was a huge crowd, and rumours Fogarty might not race again, but would have a few laps here, meant people were here just in case it was the last time to see him on a Superbike. We found a patch of ground on the opposite side of the track, and settled down to watch a good days racing and munch our way through food (we had a disposable BBQ which was very nice). Aaron Slight didn't have his best day out, and came off in the second race. Bit of a disappointment.

Leaving the circuit afterwards became a bit of a mission. It took us nearly two hours to get out of the paddock and onto local roads. Richard went and got us all an icecream from a Mr. Whippy truck. Needless to say, he didn't have a problem finding us when he returned (we'd moved a car length in that time). A funny thing though. A girl pushed her way through the bushes between us on the road and the campsite she'd just left. She was so occupied with getting out of view of the campsite to go to the toilet that she had neglected to see the hoards of cars idling their way down the road behind her. She found a bush, hidden from the campsite, in plain view of us, and crouched down. Mike wanted to hoot the horn, but I thought that would be cruel. So we all averted our eyes and continued creeping down the road at a snail's pace. In all, when I checked the mileage when we got home, it had taken us 3.5 hours to go just over 50 kms. Brands Hatch just cannot move cars out fast enough.