PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE

PADDOCK STORIES: ROUND 9 : DONINGTON PARK - 26/27 JULY 2003

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• If you think the PMFC chaps sometimes get out of hand in hitting each other on the track, that's nothing to what the DTM drivers were doing to each other. They seemed incapable of completing a lap without someone crashing into someone else, even team-mates, and it was not just the odd tap - it was full on: doors off, back ends gone and whole carbon fibre noses crunched. Is that what the telly viewers want to see? The engines made a lovely noise however,
  
  
• With all the drivers having been lectured by the Clerk of the Course about driving standards, including a special reminder that qualifying is not meant to be a race, it was a shame that Phil Burton launched his 360 into Henry Lawson's 355. Burton was fined and reprimanded and with the front end of his car quite severely damaged he tried to switch to his spare. This, however, would have necessitated the signature of every other competitor and it was felt doubtful that Lawson would agree...... Poor Jason worked non stop and managed to get the original 360 back into racing order for Phil to take an excellent fifth place.
  
  
• Speaking of the JMH squad, it was a pity to learn that Big Jim had left, feeling the pressure of never-ending weekend work and a wife. We wish him well - he was good company.
  
  
• Occasional racer David Ward got on to the grid by the skin of his teeth. Late in from the States he missed qualifying and could not even claim familiarity with the circuit as the previous PMFC race he competed in had been over the short circuit, but suitable humbling in front of the Clerk of the Course got him on to the back of the grid, from where he raced very well to get himself half way up the field by the finish.
  
  
• Somebody somewhere has to have a picture of this: Mark Cale going off in practice and collecting one of the huge advertising hoardings from DTM sponsor, Vodafone. Apparently it looked wonderful draped around his 360 but no-one seems to have caught it on camera.
  
  
• The poor marshals. When Morley's 360 stopped out on the track the usual breakdown truck was sent to recover it after the race. Stories vary but the up-shot was that the marshals told him where to put it and disappeared again, leaving the 360 behind. The Damax lads were forced to send out their own trailer to recover it. It's yet another retirement for Ollie, who has now slipped down to fifth place in the points table in a season that he could have thought would have been his.
  
  
• Latest news from the Roden Equipe:
  

  Most disturbing was the sudden appearance in the paddock of Lucie's younger brother, already apparently an accomplished kart ace. Will we see him in the PMFC in 2006 driving a Roden Motorsport Enzo/Ch? His embroidery work can't have been all that good because we were disappointed to see that the "Chairman" label has already fallen off Chris Niarchos's overalls.

• Jim McWhirter made one of his occasional, but very welcome, forays into the PMFC world. He is busy doing the European 360 Challenge but brought along a very smart equipe with lots of mechanics. Their shirt budget alone would have put some of the smaller teams to shame. He drove well too.
  
  
• In the assembly area Swifty's 308 soon had a small puddle underneath it. Spannerman Dan said it was just the right-hand nitrous oxide bottle leaking but we suspect it was more likely to be rain water coming out of the front spoiler. It was nice to see the two 308s, nos. 10 and 11, parked up together, a throwback to another era when these old modified tipos dominated the racing. It needs to be remembered that the Swift 308 was an outright winner in its early days. Both the car and the driver.
  
  

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