Home » Blog » Allan's Blog » STILL HECTIC DESPITE LACK OF RACES . . . TESTING . . . STAG WEEKEND & WEDDING . . . AUDI FUNCTIONS . . . SMRC AWARDS . . . NOW OFF TO THE STATES . . .
22 December 2009 | Posted in Allan's Blog
I’ve been testing the R15 TDI in readiness for 2010. A big Michelin tyre test in Misano where there was pretty much all the important runners from the top categories that are running with Michelin. It was quite interesting because we could see Peugeot and have a little look to see how competitive we were in those conditions against them which seemed to be following on from Petit Le Mans pretty strong.
But during that time there has been a lot of social activities going on. A very good friend of mine, in fact I have known him since he was a young boy, Marino Franchitti, got married and before every marriage there is also a stag night. However this turned into a complete weekend up in Scotland. It also happened to be the weekend of the Scottish Rally so there was a lot of fun had by all, but certainly I don’t think it would be appropriate to be telling you too many details on this forum.
His wedding was superb. It was really cool because, like I said, I have known Marino since he was about five-years-old and obviously seen his career develop as well to the point where he is certainly marked out as someone I reckon will be going for championships in the next year or two in the American Le Mans Series.
The Audi programme also has been pretty extensive on the party front too. I had the Audi Finale which is where the 2010 plans were announced but also a time when we can look back at this year for all the members of Audi and some of the suppliers and partners.
As for 2010, I’m very pleased we’ll be doing the Spa 1000klms as a lead up to Le Mans 24 Hours and then after that the new Intercontinental Cup which is going to take in the Silverstone 1000km, Petit Le Mans and also a race in Asia at a venue still to be defined.
This Intercontinental Cup idea is a very strong one and I look forward to see the evolution of that in 2011 when I know the ACO are intending it to be much wider and stronger. So I would expect that all the challengers will be at all those races as well so I can see some pretty tough events coming up in next season. This is not video (thankfully for you!) it’s an audio blog but if only you could see the smile on my face as we speak about these races, I’m really up for that one.
Also the SMRC (Scottish Motor Racing Club), of which I’m President, has got a tremendous history. As you know, not just necessarily concerning only car drivers but motorcycle riders, engineers, and mechanics – we have strength in depth North of the Border.
It was really cool to see the current crop of guys coming up to support the dinner with David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti, myself and Paul De Resta in attendance. The only one I would say was missing, and who had a good excuse because he was on his honeymoon, was Marino. It was a very nice night with about 260 people present and if you think about it, when the rest of the world is in such a slump and economic struggles, the SMRC has been able to have full grids pretty much every single race and the actual annual dinner as well has increased in numbers by about 10% every year so they [SMRC] certainly must be doing something right.
I now have one little task to do which is going towards the Jim Russell Future Driver programme and I’m literally just leaving from Jewson, one of my personal sponsors events, to go straight across to the United States and look at 40 young drivers that I think we are going to be able to have a tough job of finding two candidates for the Jim Russell Future Driver Search programme that will lead them into two free seats in the Jim Russell championship in 2010.
When looking through the CV’s last night I can tell you there are some pretty quick kids in there and so I’m looking forward to seeing them get out on track at the Infineon Raceway north of San Francisco. But enough of that from me for now.
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