THIS ARTICLE IS EXTRACT FROM ALEX DIAS RIBEIRO BOOK “MORE THAN A CHAMP”

ITS A GREAT TEACHING!

 

FLYING LOW

 

Strange things were happening on Thursdays at Snetterton, my favorite track in England. The more superstitious among us thought that witches were loose around there after the death of three racing drivers.

Witches or not, I felt at home in Snetterton, not only because I lived close by and always practiced there, but also because it was there that I had won my first race in Europe. It had been a beautiful spring day, hot and sunny, in sharp contrast to the foggy, mysterious morning that I now faced.

It was September of 1974 and the weather was beginning to turn colder in eastern England, where I lived with three Brazilian friends in the small, quiet village of Wymondham, near Norwich, Norfolk. Our little house had two stories with two bedrooms upstairs. On the ground floor were the living room, bathroom, kitchen and a small office that served as my room and for which I paid a quarter of the rent. My colleagues were Marcos Moraes, also a Formula 3 driver, and his friends, Jorge Alexis and Cláudio César, whom we called Piauí.

Even though we hadn’t known each other very well, we soon became a happy family. Marcos cooked.  Jorge and Cláudio took turns straightening up the house, and I was responsible for mowing the lawn and fixing things – sinks, venetian blinds, wiring, etc. We were living in that far off place because we wanted to be near the factory of GRD, the team for which we competed.

We were all newcomers to England and to Formula 3. We were going through the struggles of Continue reading →

The final test session of the season saw Team RLR give an aspiring young driver a taste of what it is like to compete in the world’s most competitive endurance racing category.

 

Team RLR will now focus on developing it plans for the 2012 Le Mans Series and challenging for honours in what will be the top level of the championship due to the introduction of a new format next season.

James Rigby said:
“It was a great experience and I can’t thank Team RLR enough for the opportunity. Even though it was quite wet the MG Lola was amazing to drive, actually easier in many ways than what I’m used to as it has so much more capability. Being able to get some insight from Rob Garofall was really useful in understanding the commitment needed to drive the car to its maximum. It’s not that complicated to drive but you need to push it a lot more to get the best out of it. I wasn’t too far away from the other guys’ times by the end of the day which was pleasing. I think given better conditions there was a bit more to come from me too. It really is the highlight of my racing career so far and a bit of a dream come true. Hopefully I’ve shown that I have what it takes to be competitive in LMP2 and put me in the shop window for a drive.”

Team RLR team principal Nick Reynolds said: Continue reading →

 

 

Fishtail sets new lap record on the Gold Coast

 

Beautiful weather greeted the Auto one V8 ute series teams on Saturday morning with race 1 scheduled for a 10:15am start. Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher was starting from grid position 13 after some overnight steering changes to the car the team felt positive about making up some positions.

Fisher made a great start and picked up a position in the congestion through the first chicane unfortunately at turn 4 Charlie O’Brien simply ran
Fishtail into the wall on the exit which put him back to 14th.

The race settled into a pattern with Fisher moving to Continue reading →