I have been to many British Touring Car Championship rounds before this one ,but this one was very special. The story of why this weekend out was special starts a few years back but i will start later on.
In August 2001 i was severly ill in hospital and i nearly lost my life. This had a big effect on everyone as it was such a shock but i quickly recovered from my lifesaving brain operation. I had a totally different outlook on life and tried to make the most of everything.
While i was in hospital one of the nurses contacted The Make A Wish Foundation which is a charity which makes people up to 18 years of age wishes come true. This made me very excited as there was alot of things that i wanted to do. I decided to make my first wish to go behind the scenes at the BTCC and meet the MG Team and my favourite BTCC driver Anthony Reid. also i asked for him to drive me at full speed in a car around the circuit that i go to.
After a couple of months we heard from Make a Wish who told my family that we will be going to Silverstone in Northamptonshire. this was a circuit which i have never been to before and one which i have always wanted to go to.
The only thing that ia was told was that we was going to Silverstone ,staying at an expesive hotel (paid for by Make A Wish) and that i was going in the hospitality suite in the paddock on qualifying and in the VIP hospitality suite on raceday. I was told that i was going to be in for a real treat and that i would not have time to stop because i would be doing so much.
When the time arrived i was very excited and we arrived on the Friday at the hotel early evening. On the Saturday we got up early and was picked up in a yellow MG ZT Turbo. This car was fantastic and as soon as we arrived at the MG paddock we was greeted by some of the team. Rochelle ,Warren Hughes and Dick Bennets who is West Surrey Racings boss. Anthony was not around at that time.
The first thing that the team noticed was that i had a Ford Rally Cap and Polo shirt on ,so they sent Rochelle to sort out some MG X Power caps and MG X Power Polo shirts. As soon as we got them the weekend really started. We went up in the big truck which has a lounge with everything in it ,a kitchen and upstairs beds and bathrooms. I was very impressed at this as i had never expected it to be like this. Dick Bennets showed us in and we all sat in the lounge and chatted for a while about his motorsport career and his life. We found that everyone was very normal and easy going. Everyone was chatty and friendly and the atmosphere was very chilled.
After a nice chat with the team boss we was shown around the car transporters and was then taken into the MG pit garages. The pitlane was set out very neatly and parts were empty as the team was budled up in a corner surrounding the TV watching England playing the world cup.
I was shown around the inside of Warren Hughes' car and they was impressed by how much i knew about the technology in the car and how it all works. After taking a good look in the car and at Anthonys car i was told that Anthony had arrived and that is when i met my hero. This was amazing and we chatted about the tyres and things while he done his exercises. I did not really know what to say to him as i was a bit overwhelmed.
I did alot that day things that i would not have ever thought of doing. Once the qualifying session started i got to stand up on the MG pit wall with the team while they monitored Anthony's and Warren's progress. Eventually Warren came out with the Sprint pole with Anthony getting the pole for the feature race. This made the atmosphere in the MG camp even better and there was still more to come.
Soon after i was going around the whole pitlane looking for drivers to get there autographs and to meet them. All of the drivers knew that i was there and all said that they had been waiting to meet me. phil Bennet was one of my favourite drivers other than Anthony that i met as he gave me his very own sweatshirt with PSP (Petronas Syntium Proton) on it. I was very pleased with this and i got Phil and David Leslie to sign it. I met other drivers from all teams in the pit lane and talked to them all. I met Aaron Slight who has been through a similar experience to me when he was severly ill.
I was shown around Silverstones facilities ,like the medical centre ,the press center and i went to see the stewards and thier control base where they watch the race to find anything thats going on that is against the rules. this was amazing as i had always wondered how this all happens and what goes on in race control. We had a bit of lunch in the MG hospitality suite with the team and the drivers and after had pictures taken with the Team Atomic Kitten drivers Gareth Howell and Colin Turkington.
After a full day of action and excitement little did i know what was in store for me. I was told to follow Anthony ,Rochelle and my family down to the end of the Touring Car paddock where i found the yellow MG ZT waiting in the pitlane for me. This was a shock and i was so excited as this was my ultimate dream ,to have a ride on track with my hero Anthony Reid!
When i was signing the insurance form i needed to lean on some one and i struggled to write my name as i was shacking with excitement.
once i had my helmet fitted on and i got in the car Anthony was waiting for the British GT series qualifying to finish before we went on track. When Anthony got in the car he asked me whether i had ever been on a big race circuit before i replied with no. We was waiting in the car for about two minutes when we was told that when a GT car came into the pits it left some oil on the tarmack. But this did not stop Anthony. We left the pitlane and sped up to Copps corner which he took at full speed. We sped up towards the chicane and i was thrown around as we took Beckets. We slid sideways and he still managed to keep it straight on the exit. As we left the corner Anthony powered towards Abbey we lost the back end and as he braked i was thrown to the dashboard and Anthony threw the car around the corner and as soon as we hit the apex he powered down to Bridge corner. He hit the apex but slid out to the outside of the corner where we hit the grass. Anthony then swung the car over to the right hand side of the corner to turn into the left hander at Priory and then end up on the right hand side again for the left hander Brooklands. This leads onto the long right hander Luffield which leads onto the pit straight. We did another three laps of the Silverstone circuit and we reaced a speed of up to 140 miles per hour which is probably what Anthony would reach in his Touring Car.
When we arrived back in the pits Anthony decided to drive around to the MG paddocks where we had a picture with the team and found out that Anthony had taken a bollard out at one of the corners which made a dent in the front bumper and scraped the paint off. Altogether this day was excellent and became the best day of my life.
