oldbloke's mutterings

On Saturday we went to Donington Park to observe the World Series By Renault. Tickets were free, thanks to a slip that fell out of Autosport that guided me to the WSR website. Hadn't been to Donington before, estimated the drive would take 2 hours. We decided on the Saturday as, though there were more races on the Sunday, we'd have a very long day indeed if we went for all of them, and there was oneof each series represented on the Saturday anyway: Megane Eurocup, 2ltr Formula Renault (British - there's a Euro series as well), British Clio Cup, and the 3.5ltr Formula Renault world series. I think Renault are givign away free tickets to try to boost the series' popularity, in an attempt to position it as a recognised F1 feeder.
The drive took a little longer, even discounting the trip to the supermarket to buy a picnic and the quick return home to pick up the tickets (in the event, nobody checked them at any point...)
Missing the turn off the first roundabout after you leave the M1 didn't help. But we got there in time for the first race, in fact we saw some of the last qualy session - and that was about the only time Jack showed any interest in the racing. What Jack did do was get a bit scared by the amazing loud Meganes in the first race. Even I was surprised. Lots of parents had given their kids ear defenders. We were down on the short straight leading into the Melbourne hairpin, just where they floor it after coming through a hard left - hard right chicane. After a couple of laps of being cuddled with his ears covered, he climbed into his buggy, where he felt safer. L took him for walk a bit further away from the track.
The later races weren't quite so loud, plus we moved closer to the hairpin itself, where they were slowing down with throttles closed. Jack was OK then, and played. I'd hoped the chicane and the hairpin might provide some incidents to watch, but not much happened - a couple of spinners, a couple of guys running wide, a few good overtakes - but nothing like what we could hear over the tannoy happening on the Craner curves and the Old Hairpin. I knew from televised BTCC and bike races that that's where the action really is, but with a buggy etc I didn't feel like dragging the family right around the entire course, especially with no guarantee of a decent place to sit and picnic.
It turns out I took 144 photos. As I still haven't got around to reading the manual for my Fuji S5600, I suspect 143 of them are rubbish - all focused on the catch fencing or something. Killed the batteries, anyway! I know the shutter lag made me miss a few cars altogether. A learning experience.
We wandered about a bit before trying to get out. And then joined a queue from the track to Castle Donington that covered the 2.5miles at 5mph. But oddly, once we got through the only set of lights in the village (which is rather pretty), the road was empty. The drive back up the M1 was quite pleasant.
A nice day out: I like looking at fast cars.