9th July and it's the first of two days at Cardiff for the 2010 British Speedway GP, the 10th of its ilk at the magnificent Millennium Stadium. This year is a special one for me because it's the first time that I have been able to work with my son David at Cardiff. He helped out last year on the Saturday but this year he will be working the pit gate with me, and that's special.
I didn't get much sleep after the Swindon home match on the Thursday night. The racing at Blunsdon had been right out of the top drawer and a good night had been had by all, except for a few disgruntled Eastbourne fans who seemed intent on letting their number one know what they thought of him at the pit gate.
Whether it was tiredness from the day or excitement at the prospect of two days at Cardiff, I don't know, but sleep was hard and I was awake some time before the alarm clock woke me at 6.30am. I had agreed with the other Swindon lads working at the GP that we would try to get to Cardiff for about 9 o'clock, park up and then head off for our "Eat all you can" breakfast in the closed market in Cardiff before taking up our duties at the stadium.
Dave and I left Malmesbury at just before 8am, the SatNav showing that a 9am arrival was on the cards. As it was, it didn't quite work out.
Before we had even hit the motorway at Junction 17 we received a text from Keith Johnson to say that the other car was almost in Cardiff already. Undeterred, we set off down the M4, coming up behind a light blue Corsa. "I know that car!" It was Michael Hunt, Clerk of the Course at Swindon, and, since he had passed his FIM Clerk of the Course qualification, assistant C o C for the GP.
Road works alongside the castle in Cardiff delayed us for about 20 minutes so it was some way past 9am when we pulled up outside Gate 4 at the stadium.
In previous years we had always been able to park up in the stadium itself for Press and Practice day, and then have a space allocated to us outside the Cardiff Blues club house on the day of the GP. But that was in the days when the name "Ted Hopkins" appeared to open all sorts of doors on GP day. Ted was responsible for supplying the vehicles for putting in the track together with track curator Colin Meredith.
This year, it was all different. Under an agreement with the promotional firm, Ole Olsen and his Danish team were taking over all the elements of track building and maintenance for all of the temporary tracks. The permanent tracks used by the GPs would still be under the remit of their own curatorial teams, but temporary ones would be handled by the Vojens team.
That had a significant impact upon the work that the Swindon team were to undertake. Most significant was that the tractor drivers suddenly found that their jobs had disappeared and that they would be allocated other tasks for the two days.
The significant impact that I felt upon arrival at Gate 4 was that no parking spaces had been set aside for either day and that the passes for the stadium had not arrived. After a frustrating wait in the caravan at Gate 4 while a young lady from BSI attempted to sort out the pass situation, Tony Steele arrived with passes and an apology for the lack of parking.
We found a slot in the Arms park car park, gathered all of our belongings together and made the short journey back to the stadium.
There is something magical about Friday morning at the Millennium Stadium. The roof is closed, the lighting is muted and the track looks just sensational. It is also so quiet; hard to imagine the mayhem that will ensue in 30 or so hours time and also hard to imagine that just 5 days ago the stadium had been empty of a speedway track and that by the following Monday afternoon it would all be gone again for another year.
We take up our positions on the pit gate and are soon met by two more of the Swindon crew, Richie Leniec and Steve Gobey. These two are responsible for putting up the start gates, of the sort that we use at Swindon, with two sets of tapes and poles.
The ramp up to the track, where the riders will enter the circuit, is already down and ready for us, made from heavily compacted excess shale.
The statistics behind the whole venture are stunning - hundreds of lorry loads of shale and tons and tons of steel works to hold it all in place. From the concrete and asphalt floor of the stadium up to the top of the walls that hold the track in is about 5 feet, massive steel components held together by equally massive bolts.
This year a new entry to the track has been made on the exit of turn 4. This will be used by the two grading tractors that will be used during the meeting. This is a significant improvement on previous years because it means that we will not have tractors going back and forth through the already congested pit gate area. Quite how we have avoided a tractor going down the tunnel and a rider coming up it at the same time in previous years I do not know.
Now all we will have to contend with is the water cart using the tunnel.
The moisture content of the shale has been very careful monitored for some time and at 7% moisture content the track looks in superb shape. There is a little bit of bounce and give in the surface, which has had a little more camber added to the corners than in previous times.
One tractor works its way round and round the track with a small set of spikes on it, just to pen up the surface. The roof is closed so there is quite a moist atmosphere in the stadium and little chance of this disturbance drying out the top surface. The spikes create a series of fine ruts that will hold the water that the track men wish to put down at about 11am.
By 10am the place is beginning to come to life but it does seem a much more relaxed build up to a GP than in previous years. Most of the pits are still empty and there's no sign of a rider at all.
Dave and I wander off to see Krzystof Nypa and Michal Ciurzyinski and the rest of the lads from Team Holta. Rune was flying in but the rest of the team had made a visit to Swindon the night before, so we'd all me up there. Michal was just beginning to set up the Holta pit area but assured us that everything was under control and also commented upon how much they had all enjoyed coming back to watch racing at Blunsdon.
Much has been made of the tracks at Cardiff. That they made for exciting racing was beyond doubt, but the quality of material used was often inferior to that used for temporary tracks on the continent. Of course, the improvements in temporary tracks over the last 10 years has been immense. Permanent tracks have often been down for years and need to be lovingly tended throughout the year, both during the season and outside of it. Indeed, at Swindon we work on the track every Thursday of the year, with the exception of Christmas week and Ronnie Russell, and Gerald Richter before him, worked countless other days, just to keep the track in order.
Putting in a temporary track is a logistical nightmare. First the superstructure has to be assembled (once the existing pitch / stand / what ever else was there before has been removed). Then the hundreds of lorry loads of raw material need to be brought it and carefully laid. The material cannot be too wet nor too dry - it must be layered and rolled and then layered and rolled until the material is deep enough o provide the foundations for the racing surface. The material must then bind together to withstand the ravages of fiercely spinning rear wheels from massively powerful speedway bikes for hundreds of laps.
The material that was used last year was an immense improvement on years gone past. There were no gaping holes after practice and no ruts to thrown riders off line and create the mayhem that had been at the core of many of the previous Millennium Stadium GPs. In fact, last year's surface had been so durable and good that I did read somewhere that there had been criticism for the lack of on track action. This year the task was set to create a suitably smooth surface that would stand up to wear and tear and yet still reward the riders with plenty of grip to make terrific racing.
Quite whether it would at this stage we were unsure.
Work continued out on the centre green as Richie and Steve put in the mountings and electrics for the starting gate. The gates wouldn't be used during practice - all riders would be made to start their laps on a temporary start line on the back straight to prevent massive damage to the main line.
Sponsorship is essential to all sport and banners were all around us, although I did think that that lettering on one prominently displayed on the boards on the back straight was unusual - who is this JAKAS? Let's hope that it meant something other than that to the Danish Federation.
And still the light grader made its way around the track. We were joined by the Assistant Clerk of the Course for the GP, Michael Hunt. Other than when we'd past him on the motorway, the last we'd seen of him was wielding a fire extinguisher on the centre green at Blunsdon as the firework at the end of the meeting kept on re-lighting itself.
The tunnel entrance had been filled by the huge road roller that the team had used to pack the material together. When it rumbled off down the tunnel the whole area shook.
It was time to meet up with an old acquaintance - one of the Danish crew (who bears a striking resemblance to a younger Arsene Wenger) who is in charge of the air fence panels at the GPs. His English is much better than my Danish but conversation is limited to the odd nod here and there.
Mid day and Tony Olsson appears for the first time at pit gate. The ex Reading and Swindon (amongst others) rider is now the Race Director for the whole GP series, taking over the reins from Ole Olsen, although the latter is i/c the work at Cardiff and the other temporary tracks.
We make our introductions and we chat through the timetable for events, with practice starting at 3pm. Torben Olsen, Ole's son, is the "Operations Manager" for the GP series and also takes some time to explain who can go on the track and who should be prevented. In previous years we've had a bit of a rugby scrum at pit gate as the time for practice approaches with the "whole world and his mechanic" wanting to come out and kick around in the dirt. This year it is very quiet. Perhaps everyone is feeling that much more confident about conditions.
And then the water cart comes out. Pulled by a vast tractor which pretty much fills the tunnel to the track, problems appear before the driver has even made it up the ramp.
The engine roars, there is frantic movement in the cab, but the tractor does not move. More frantic gesturing from inside the cab results in a flurry of activity from the Danish crew. Suddenly the tractor lurches forward through the pit gate and out onto the track. From the gesticulations of the head track man it seems as if water should be issuing forth from the back of the tanker but there is none. Half way into turn 2 the driver is halted and there is much "tooing and froing" between the cab the back of the tanker. Once again the engine roars but now it is accompanied by a sound that is reminiscent of of a pump trying to draw in water. From the security of the pit gate we surmise that the pump should be pumping out water not trying to draw it in.
The tractor makes its doleful way around the track before being ushered back off through the pit gate and then down the ramp to where it fills with water. The engine is cut and the pressure released. Ole has come down now and there is much head scratching. The area at the foot of the tunnel is now awash with water.
The tanker turns round, is re-filled and then makes its way back up the tunnel, pulled by the vast tractor. Entry to the track is much improved this time but when the water is at last released it comes out more like a drizzle than a track wide fan. After two laps water has been sprayed onto pretty much all the track but then, as the tractor slows down in preparation to leave the track, a deluge escapes and leaves an unsightly puddle right on the racing line approaching turn 1. We all hold our breath but the track man thinks that it will soon be all right. We are less than convinced with practice a mere three hours away.
The first riders make their appearance. Amongst the early groups are Tai Woffinden and Ben Barker. Ben has always been very pleasant and communicative whenever I've come across him before but I must say that Tai is a revelation. Last year I was worried that all the fame and adulation may go to his head. I know that the past year has been a very difficult one for the young man but I must say what a pleasure it was to work with him this year. Very polite and considerate - well done young man!
Scott also appears and, after a brief wander around the track on turn 1, takes a long look at the dark stain on the track where the puddle had been.
Back down in the pits the bikes were appearing. Nicki Pedersen already had two bikes out and set up, with a group of mechanics on hand. Next door, other than the advertising and sponsorship boards, all that was to be seen of Team Holta was a sign.
Freddie Lindgren, quiet and composed, posed for a photograph in his pit area while further down pit lane, Team Zetterstrom was boasting three immaculately turned out. And to think that just a couple of years ago he was riding Premier League speedway in Britain as captain of the Somerset Rebels. I was not alone in being worried that he might not be able to come to terms with GP racing after his surprise qualification from last year's GP Challenge, but he seems to have found his feet very quickly and is certainly not out of place in the lofty world of the GP superstars.
Jarek Hampel and Chris Harris have their pit areas set up and ready, although neither is present as we make our way back up to the interview area in readiness for the draw.
Tai and Ben Barker pose at Tai's pit area while Scott and race director, Tony Olsson are happy to pose near the Players' entrance in the tunnel that now doubles as the pit area at Cardiff.
At the very end of the pit complex are the two bikes that Barry Briggs and his son have been riding around on as a part of their fund raising scheme for injured and disabled riders. Barry will do a lap of honour during the GP as well as signing copies of his book at the speedway fayre and the Fans' Zone in the middle of Cardiff on GP day.
Dave and I make our way round to the area where the motor homes are parked, under the main thoroughfare to the stadium. It is noticeable that the vehicles are much smaller than they once were. Only Nicki Pedersen's present set up is anywhere near the size of the huge trucks that we once saw the likes of Tony Rickardsson appear in. Much of this is down to the fact that many crews stay in local hotels rather than "camping out" as they once did.
The Team Holta Mercedes Truck is further round. One of his two bikes (the others are back in Poland in readiness for Rune's appearance for Czestochowa on Sunday) is ready, the other is in bits still. Michal and Krzystof greet us as if he were long lost friends. We hand over three Blunsdon Blog "Team Holta GB" T shirts - they are apparently impressed.
Rune's two bikes are called "Sidney" and "New Flemming". The "Flemming" part refers to Rune's tuner, Flemming Graverson, but where the "Sidney" bit comes in is a mystery. One is quick from the gates but lacks a bit of top end speed. The other is blisteringly fast but is slower out of the gate. Which one he chooses will depend upon the practice session and also his gate positions come the GP.
As time approaches one o'clock I hand the camera over to Dave and make my way up to take a turn of duty on the pit gate.
Most of the attention now is at the bottom of the tunnel in the area around the interview space and the main draw boards.
Barry Briggs and Miss Wales are to make the all important draw for the GP. Ole Olsen takes them through a brief rehearsal and then Steve Brandon checks the timings and camera angles for television broadcast.
Once they are all ready Miss Wales holds the bag while Barry reaches in to pick out the first of 16 cubes, each with a number. Nobody wants number 1. Number 1 means that each of your 5 rides is immediately after a track grading and there is no telling how the track will have changed after a grading and possibly a watering, especially on a temporary track where the margins for error are so much greater.
Barry pulls out the number 7 - Rune!
After all 16 cubes are extracted from the bag and placed on a small plinth in front of the draw table, Barry and Miss Wales pose for photographs while a GP steward explains to the waiting press about the relevance of the draw.
Ole puts the pre printed names up on the main draw sheet at the back.
Heat 1 will feature Rune (red), Chris Holder (blue), Nicki Pedersen (white) and Tomasz Gollob (yellow).
Rune, his manager, Sveinung Haugvaldstad and the two mechanics make their way off for something to eat an to begin preparations for the organised mayhem that is GP Practice.
The Speedway Control Board has apparently set aside an area for track staff to sit and eat some food, but I never got to work out where it was.
