ON
TRACK WITH RICK PEARSON No. 33
By Rick Pearson
Last week saw your intrepid reporter and mechanic setting off for the long haul to Misano, near Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy for the next round of the Clio Trophy. Whilst the thought of 1600km in an Iveco van fills me with horror, our budget doesn't allow us to travel any other way and it certainly makes for some entertainment!
After the usual palaver of having the wheels of the Clio V6 sprayed at Dover as part of the foot and mouth precautions, (I know I spend a lot of time off the circuit, but how many sheep graze in the Donington gravel traps?), the journey was slow and traffic bad all the way to Basel and the Swiss border. Where progress halted. Having been assured by the Swiss embassy in London that we required no paperwork to take the V6 through their country, and having encountered no problems on our previous visit we were a little surprised by our reception:
On approach to the border post, a woman on foot wandered out in front of the van, causing me to brake hard. A member of the public, she was clearly extremely unwell, wandering in and out of the traffic pausing only to turn and yell abuse at us if we got within six feet of her as she weaved her way to the border post. She was quickly grabbed by the Swiss border guards and dragged to one side, but she hadn't helped their moods.
Having first charged us for another carnet to travel their motorways, the border guard then requested our transit papers for the V6. I explained that we had been assured we didn't need them, he said, "OK, goodbye" and waved us back towards France, discussion over. Needless to say, I wasn't enamoured with the prospect of extending our journey further and the thought of driving around Switzerland didn't appeal at all, so I jumped out and attempted to reason with the border guard. Fatal mistake.
A long and somewhat heated discussion ensued, the details of which I will spare you but some edited highlights include: Border guard: "You are a thief, you steal this car, you have 2 minutes to leave Switzerland." Rick: "I am a racing driver not a thief and your embassy said I didn't need any papers." BG: "OK, You pay a bond based on value of the car, you can't prove to me how much you paid for it can you? Rick: "Not right here and now" BG: "OK, I say it is worth 10 million dollars, you owe me 1 million dollars." Rick: "Do you take credit cards?" BG:" You have 1 minute to leave Switzerland or you are going to jail"
Forty-five seconds later, we were heading back to France. I tend to stop arguing when they start unbuttoning their guns. Thirty miles South, we crossed into Switzerland at a different border post with no further problems.
So after some 22 hours on the road, we finally reached the Autodromo di Santa Monica, Misano di Adriatico (as it is known). Having held Grand Prix into the early 1980's, I was expecting a decent track, but I must admit it is an excellent facility. With lots of late apex hairpins leading onto fast sweeps and a couple of high speed chicanes including one onto the start/finish straight it is a great challenge for a driver, whilst banking surrounds the majority of the circuit ensuring fantastic viewing for the spectators.
With only 1 hour of testing to learn the circuit and adjust the new suspension kits to find a suitable handling balance, we were always going to struggle but I was very pleased to be within 1.5 seconds of the leaders and well up the order. Come qualifying though and the temperature had gone from hot, to seriously hot. With track temperature in excess of 40 degrees, the set-up on our car was melting the rear Michelins within a lap. Needing 2 or 3 laps to get up to speed on what was still an unfamiliar circuit, I couldn't put a lap together until after my tyres were shot: leaving me some 1.5 seconds slower than the previous day.Whilst the leaders were also slower, this still left me languishing in the middle of the qualifying race (or demolition derby as it is known).
Viewers of Eurosports "Car Magazine" program this week will be able to ride with me in the ActiveShop Clio as I complete a lap of the Misano circuit with a spectacular onboard camera, set into the front bumper. Since apparently the budget doesn't stretch to shipping a presenter to each round, a driver is hauled in at the last minute to provide a face on the spot. so look out for my TV presenting debut as a very hot and sticky Rick invites the viewers to join him onboard for a trip around Misano. Putting a race suit on in that heat that I had only peeled off some 10 minutes previously left me looking like Buster BloodVessel (Note to young readers, Buster was a very fat sweaty guy who was the lead singer for a band called BadManners in the early 1980's) so be warned!
Starting twelfth, I needed to finish top 6 to ensure I qualified for the main event. The usual quantity of carnage ensued on the opening couple of laps and two cars passed me under waved yellows, which didn't improve my mood. Repassing one of them I was up to seventh on the road but knowing the guy in front was likely to get penalised, I was set to qualify: however the last qualification slot is highly sought after and I took a significant number of impacts from the car behind before finally being spun into the wall, deranging the steering and ending my race.
Unimpressed, I limped back to the pits and set-off to see the Clerk of the Course for one of the most surreal debates of my life. Having to use a translator took some of the sting out of what was a very heated discussion, regarding driving standards and my requirement that they should tear up the guy's license that had hit me five times before smacking me off. They explained that they weren't going to do anything because licenses weren't really their responsibility; I explained that if someone got killed on their circuit, it was their responsibility.
Since I clearly wasn't going to get an exclusion of an Italian in Italy, I asked them what they were going to do about the yellow flag infringement. Recall, two cars passed me, nose to tail. They explained that the first guy had already had been given a stop-go penalty, but that they hadn't seen the second guy!!!! I thanked them for their time and assured them I too would be painting my car Italian Blue before my next visit so I could also be invisible to their cameras and knock off whomever I liked without punishment. Enough to make you xenophobic isn't it?
Have a good week one and all!