27/09/05
A1 Grand Prix Brands Hatch by Shivy Gohil
The brand new A1 grand prix championship took place on Sunday at the UK's favorite race track, Brands Hatch in front of an enthusiastic 80,000 crowd. 'The World Cup of Motorsport' was hailed a success from those involved and even compared the new series to the already popular Formula 1 series.
A1 grand prix isn't a series for manufacturers; it’s a series for the fans and their nations. Each nation involved owns a team, with one car, all drivers, engineers and staff in that team must be that countries nationality. Every car, engine and tyre is of equal specification, machinery plays a very little if not any part in the outcome of a race, the difference between a front runner and a tail ender, is primarily the driver.
The brain-child and director of the series 'Sheikh Maktoum', wants A1 to be a family sport, something every member can follow and enjoy, also a national sport, where you don't support your team, but your entire country. The most impressive asset is its affordability, entry into a Formula 1 race would cost anything above £150, A1 was £29. I personally bought the grandstand seating and paddock and pit lane pass, altogether £59, compared to £1200 for a F1 race! Not only did u get the 2 A1 races, but some 6 more races throughout the day and the A1 grand prix official launch ceremony.
Pace setters during the entire weekend were team Brazil, with Nelson Piquet Junior behind the wheel, they utterly dominated from practice to feature race including setting the fastest race lap. The feature race proved to be an early indication of pace and cornering speeds these cars are capable of, with their slick tyres, overtaking is fairly straightforward and with your nation backing you, you wouldn't want to disappoint. I was situated at the 'Clearways straight', with an India national flag, once the race finished team India came passed, he saw the flag, stopped, waved and did a 50 feet burnout, just for me...a beautiful gesture in a sport where the fans have been left in the cold for so long.
Other countries who scored big included France, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, team GBR had the feature race in the bag after their pit stop, but retired due to technical gremlins, team India (who i support), didn't even get off the start line, the only disappointment of the day.The most spectacular accident of the day came in the form of team Italy running into the side of team Lebanon. It was an audacious maneuver, which didn't pay off, the Lebanese car flew in the air, barrel rolling and landing in the gravel, he escaped unhurt, but gave the crowd something to cheer about!
So is A1 the alternative to F1? Not yet, its too soon to compare, the ingredients are there to make a racing series like no other before, something we can all follow, like the football world cup. For years I've tried to get my Asian friends into motorsport, but they just stick to cricket because India has a team. Now India has a motorsport team, there is no excuse to not support your country in the A1 Grand Prix of Nations.
